[kyp275]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

In that situation the player doesn't know anything but what someone in the game told them. But the SAO players know they're stuck in the game and no one in the real world is getting them out. That doesn't make sense unless Kayaba's threat is credible. And there's strong evidence that the LCs believed it due ot the simple fact that they didn't kill themselves to escape the game.

maybe, maybe not, and that's part of the issue - there are so much reasonable doubt to go around you can probably build a bridge to the moon with it. Also, many players still believed that they'll be rescued eventually, hence why they stayed in the starting town and never left.

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

They are illegal acts on their own which you probably would be prosecuted for, but you'd still be prosecuted for the murder itself, and you would be even if hacking the system and altering the prescription were legal.

you've completely missed the point, without those you cannot establish murder in the first place. You're more the welcome to have your own definition of murder, but when it comes to a court of law, your personal definition doesn't mean anything.

Also, you can't just say you'd still be prosecuted for murder if hacking and altering prescription were legal, it'd be akin to saying someone would be prosecuted for murder even though shooting people in the head with a gun was legal, it'd be a factually impossible situation.

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Not when SAO started, but we have no way of knowing what laws the Diet came up with in the intervening two years.

I point you to Ex Post Facto law - which are prohibited in Article 1 of the US Constitution, and Article 39 of the Japanese Constitution. Also attempting to apply laws passed during the two years where the SAO players were locked into the game and cut off from the rest of the world would also violate Due Process - as there is no way for them to know of the new laws that were passed.

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

If the stats include "Player X (IP: 256.001.100.001) killed Player Y (IP: 187.123.001.020)" or there were witnesses within the game, then prosecutors absolutely could prove the act. Then it's just a matter of convincing the jury that a reasonable person in that situation would've believed Kayaba -- and I'm sure there are plenty of SAO players who'd be willing to offer their testimony on that count.

And any halfway decent lawyer would rip those witnesses apart. Time and time again in the novel we were reminded on how nobody really know for sure if what Kayaba said is true, Kirito himself included.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Uh, no. Negligence wouldn't arise in a murder trial - at least, a British trial, which is the paradigm I approach from

yup, though I was referring to the possible manslaughter charges with the negligence part.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Also, Jack Thompson would have had a field day with this poaching-murder-sex simulator game.

oh boy, that guy....