A formal complaint brought against a Keelung man for insulting a fellow online gamer was dismissed by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office.
The man, surnamed Chen (陳), had not committed slander when he referred to another online gamer surnamed Lin (林) by various insults, prosecutors said.
Chen’s use of the terms “useless person” (廢物), “Taiwanese independence alternate serviceman” (台獨替代役) and “mixed breed” (雜種, which has a similar connotation to “son of a bitch”) did not constitute criminal behavior, they said.
Gamers normally use Internet handles in place of their real names and because people outside of the game cannot determine their true identity, there could be no harm to their real-world reputations as a result of insults made within the game, prosecutors said.
Chen in June was playing the popular multiplayer online role-playing game League of Legends when he made the comments in a chat window that was visible to five other players.
Chen during questioning said that the chat was not visible to anyone other than the five active players and that he was not familiar with them, as they were randomly assembled by the server.
The comments were about a politician, not Lin, and he did not know Lin personally, Chen was quoted as saying.
“Although the League of Legends server Chen was playing on is unrestricted, users take on fantasy roles within the game, which along with the use of handles keeps their identity private,” prosecutors said.
Regardless of what insults Chen made toward Lin within the game, nobody seeing the interaction could possibly tie it to Lin in real life, they added.
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