Playing in an ongoing D and D world in the late 70s, a member of our party stole a large amount of gold and a couple of magical weapons. Since none of the rest of us were powerful enough to challenge him, the DM allowed us to travel to the nearest city and report the theft to the local constabulary who employed a very high level wizard who could recover the lost goods. Of course, in face to face paper and pencil games that have a moderator, much of the behavior noted in the article is lessened but that does not mean that gamers might not be willing to behave in ways that they would not in the real world.