The line between real and virtual worlds has become more confused than ever. Two weeks ago, a woman was arrested after "killing" her virtual husband who had divorced her in an online game called "Maple Story." She was arrested not on charges of murder, but on charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data. She was taken to face real charges in Sapporo, where the real man whose "avatar," or online persona, was "killed" really lives.

If all this is a bit confusing, it does not get much clearer by considering that after his virtual online "murder," the man actually called the police. Stranger things have happened, but with the continued proliferation of online communities, adventure games and fantasy lives, stranger things are ever more likely. The ever-larger numbers of people in the virtual world need a reality check to remind themselves exactly what real consequences exist.

After Americans and Brazilians, Japanese spend the third largest amount of their real lives in these interactive online worlds. In many countries, from the United States to the Netherlands, abductions, theft and other crimes have started in virtual worlds and then entered the real one. Last summer a 16-year-old boy was arrested in Tokyo on charges of swindling virtual currency with a stolen ID and password. Clearly the same human weaknesses people have in the real world show up online.

Then, to compound all this confusion, another online petition was circulated last month seeking to legalize marriage between humans and manga and anime characters. The author of the petition used a Japanese male name, but who knows really? He claimed that he is no longer interested in anything but the two-dimensional world and that he is unable to love anyone but a fantasy character. The petition would seem more satirical than a result of genuine despair, but the confusion in the minds of many is more real than ever.

One would have hoped that, in the fantasy world, virtual actions would have retained a spirit of innocent play, an important element of human life. Everyone dreams of a "Second Life," the title of one of the most popular virtual worlds. However, recently, virtual worlds appear to have become just as dangerous as the real world.

One wonders whether the future will need new laws to account for virtual marriage, virtual property, virtual crimes, and other activities spanning the divide between virtual and reality. And, yet, without virtual problems in the virtual world, perhaps virtual newspapers would have nothing to write editorials about.