Mike Weatherley, a British MP and David Cameron's chief advisor on intellectual property, has asked for theft within online video games to be punished in the same manner as real-world theft.

In a House of Commons debate on Monday, Weatherley asked ministers to consider legislation "to ensure that cyber criminals who steal online items in video games with a real-world monetary value received the same sentences as criminals who steal real-world items of the same monetary value."

The Conservative politician spoke to Buzzfeed about his proposal:

"The perception from some people is if you steal online it’s less of a crime than if you steal physically. If it genuinely is someone who’s paid in the game and they've had that stolen, that’s probably no different to something in the physical world."

Weatherley is an active gamer himself, and often plays the popular fantasy game World of Warcraft.

However, he believes prosecution should only be brought against large-scale crimes:

"If it was a minor thing, a £5 item, then I probably wouldn't bother with anything, but if I found someone doing it a thousand times over then it’s obviously a problem."