But when a game like this completely goes beyond satire and truly blurs the lines between virtual crime and actual crime, isn't that even worse than the complaints about this game being a murder simulator?
It would instead become a more realistic simulator for actual larceny, which then makes this an actual crime game. That sounds more damaging since I think people are way more willing to steal from each other than actually kill each other in real life.
Thing is no one actually needs to buy cash, cash can be earned in any number of ways. If people are willing to gamble with their own cash and realize the risks, it isn't that terrible if they don't guard their assets and such.
I can go out and buy some ship for EVE Online that costs hundreds of dollars in real life, only for it to be destroyed in any number of ways.