{"id":55066,"date":"2025-12-18T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=55066"},"modified":"2025-12-18T13:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:56:20","slug":"digital-sex-crime-or-just-a-game-aion-2-players-sexualized-depictions-of-real-life-celebrities-could-constitute-criminal-and-civil-offenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/digital-sex-crime-or-just-a-game-aion-2-players-sexualized-depictions-of-real-life-celebrities-could-constitute-criminal-and-civil-offenses\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital sex crime, or\u00a0\u201cjust a game\u201d? Aion 2\u00a0players\u2019\u00a0sexualized depictions of real-life celebrities\u00a0could\u00a0constitute\u00a0criminal and civil offenses, attorney says\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aion 2,<\/strong> a sequel to NCSoft\u2019s hit fantasy MMORPG from 2009, launched in South Korea and Taiwan in November 2025, with a Western release also planned down the line. The game\u2019s initial reception has been rough so far. While dissatisfaction over pay-to-win game mechanics is a big part of it, there has also been controversy of a different kind \u2013 sexualized depictions of real-life celebrities, including minors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For context, Aion 2 comes with a \u201cStyle Shop,\u201d an open marketplace where players can upload presets of the custom characters they create. Other players can purchase and use these presets, with proceeds being split<\/a> between the publisher and the original creator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aion<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Aion 2 features an extremely elaborate character creator with deep customization options, it seems some players have been using this to create near identical depictions of real-life Korean celebrities and selling them as presets. Moreover, according to GameMeca<\/a>, many of these have been listed on the Style Shop under the idols\u2019 actual names, leaving no space for coincidence. Given that Aion 2 features numerous highly revealing costumes and that many of the celebrities being recreated in-game are minors, the issue has become quite controversial. Naturally, it has also led to a split between people who condemn the act and those who feel entitled to do as they please within the confines of the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what about legal implications? Jeong-Mok Kang, a South Korean attorney writing for GameMeca<\/a>, recently offered his opinion on the issue, based on actual law and relevant court precedents. Shortly put, Kang considers that both players who engage in this behavior and NCSoft, who provides the environment for it, could potentially be held liable (note that this is based on machine translation, so exact nuances should be taken with a grain of salt). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Korean laws related to digital sex crimes and deepfakes, a crime is established if footage, video, or audio targeting a person\u2019s face, body, or voice is edited or composited (against the subject\u2019s will) in a manner that may arouse sexual desire or cause sexual humiliation. Although the Aion 2 case revolves around 3D models rather than real photos, Kang says that deepfake-related cases don\u2019t generally delve into the technicalities of how the offending content was made, but how it\u2019s perceived by others. In other words, if most people would recognize an MMORPG character as a specific idol, and especially if that idol is a minor, then dressing that character in sexualized outfits and sharing the images can be treated as a real-world sexual offense, much like deepfake abuse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aion<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, even if punishment related to sex crimes doesn’t apply, Kang says a civil lawsuit related to infringement of personality rights is highly likely. \u201cWhen users share custom character presets modeled after idols or celebrities to boost views on their YouTube channels, attract attention in-game, or otherwise gain benefits, this constitutes a textbook case of unauthorized use of another person\u2019s likeness.\u201d   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the attorney also notes that Aion 2\u2019s publishers\u00a0likely\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0be able to pull a \u201cyou control the buttons you press\u201d should legal trouble arise from\u00a0the case.\u00a0Given that\u00a0NCSoft\u00a0has control over all in-game data (including what\u2019s publicly displayed on the Style Shop)\u00a0and that the company profits from selling the revealing outfits that make sexualized portrayals possible,\u00a0the developer\u00a0could be seen as\u00a0jointly\u00a0liable if it\u2019s determined that\u00a0they\u00a0knew what was happening but didn\u2019t do anything about it.\u00a0Of course, there are no actual proceedings\u00a0being held against Aion 2 players\u00a0nor the\u00a0developers, but users are hopeful the latter will\u00a0crack down on behavior that could cause\u00a0harm to\u00a0idols and\u00a0celebrities. With games growing increasingly realistic and customizable, this seems like an issue\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0bound\u00a0to become more frequent going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aion 2’s Style Shop, where players can make and sell custom character presets, has become controversial for hosting recreations of real people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":55067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-55066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDigital sex crime, or\u00a0\u201cjust a game\u201d? Aion 2\u00a0players\u2019\u00a0sexualized depictions of real-life celebrities\u00a0could\u00a0constitute\u00a0criminal and civil offenses, attorney says\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aion 2's Style Shop, where players can make and sell custom character presets, has become controversial for hosting recreations of real people.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/digital-sex-crime-or-just-a-game-aion-2-players-sexualized-depictions-of-real-life-celebrities-could-constitute-criminal-and-civil-offenses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Digital sex crime, or\u00a0\u201cjust a game\u201d? 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