[Intrepid Homoludens]

Screw the recent finger pointing at GTA: San Andreas!! THIS is far more newsworthy!!

A Shanghai online game player has stabbed to death a competitor who sold his cyber sword for real money.

The sale created a legal dilemma because China has no law covering the ownership of virtual weapons.

The China Daily newspaper reported that a Shanghai court was told Qiu Chengwei, 41, stabbed competitor Zhu Caoyuan repeatedly in the chest after he was told Zhu had sold his dragon sabre, used in the popular online game Legend of Mir 3,

The online game features heroes and villains, sorcerers and warriors, many of whom wield enormous swords.

Qiu and a friend jointly won their virtual weapon last February and lent it to Zhu, who then sold it for 7,200 yuan.

Qui went to the police to report the theft but was told the weapon was not real property protected by law.

"Zhu promised to hand over the cash but an angry Qui lost patience and attacked Zhu at his home, stabbing him in the left chest with great force and killing him," the court heard.

'Private property'

Newspaper reports on the incident did not specify the charge against Qiu but said he had given himself up to police and already pleaded guilty to intentional injury.

No verdict has been announced.

More and more online gamers are seeking justice through the courts over stolen weapons and credits.

"The armour and swords in games should be deemed as private property as players have to spend money and time for them," said Wang Zongyu, an associate law professor at Beijing's Renmin University of China.

But other experts are calling for caution.

"The assets of one player could mean nothing to others as they are by nature just data created by game providers," an unnamed lawyer for a Shanghai-based Internet game company said.

ABC News Online, 3/30/05

[artwking4]

I see this as being one of those weird CSI cases in a year or two... They're always having someone resort to murder for the most ridiculous reasons.

[DartFrog]

Unbelievable!

[Zygomaticus]

Wow

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Like I said, screw the recent finger pointing at GTA: San Andreas. This one trumps that ten times over.

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Like I said, screw the recent finger pointing at GTA: San Andreas. This one trumps that ten times over.

Whured. Some girl in my feature writing class asked me if I played "Grand Theft Vice City," and I said yeah, and she said "Oh man, it's so bad for you." As if I were eating gallons of crisco

[Intrepid Homoludens]

You know, you could have come back at her by saying: "Well, it was either that or becoming an alcoholic and chainsmoker." And then raising a single eyebrow at her before walking off.

[LauraMac]

Hey I use to aim for small critters with my car til a few sessions with GTA San Andreas more properly directed my road rage.

WOOO

Seriously - killing for a cyber sword is definitely out there, but I am sure this guy was sooo normal before

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by LauraMac

...I am sure this guy was sooo normal before

That's what makes it even more disturbing.

[Crunchy in milk]

It doesn't matter how long a person slaves over a hot mmorpg for the latest and greatest piece of digital content. The ownership of the sword, the character and everything else rests entirely with the software company.

You sign a contract for service and they provide a service with most reserving the right to alter the content at whim. Buying mmorpg content from other players should be illegal since its really the sale of someone else's property anyway, even if it is digital they have laws regarding the legal sale of MP3s.

Most companies just don't bother to enforce 'no sale' rules, Blizzard recently targeted gold farmers who sell WOW money for real $

Its not the first case of murder over a mmorpg disagreement.

[JoeX111]

Well said, Crunchy.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

So Crunchy, you're saying that the makers of Legend of Mir 3 should have been the ones to stab that guy instead?

[JoeX111]

While searching for a Lorne Lanning quote for a different thread, I found this tidbit that might be worth mentioning here.

"I believe that the world we live in has a tendency to make us feel very small and quite powerless, and as human beings we need to find antidotes for these feelings. The more withdrawn we are the more likely we are to escape into virtual entertainment experiences, and maybe even find more gratification from these experiences than we get from the real world. Many people tend to escape from social activities and gravitate towards television, films, plays, games, and even books. It’s true that when we feel insignificant or wronged then we can often feel better by beating or shooting the hell out of something. When it’s not in a game world, it’s with the real world.

It’s not that I think that people have stopped thinking today; it’s just that I’m fairly convinced that a good portion of them have never thought much to begin with. Throughout history people have been conditioned to be afraid, angry, and often times overly accepting of the propaganda that governments and industries use to persuade popular opinion. Uninformed, scared, and poorly educated people are easy to control. A government that is truly democratic and honest is going to have an extremely difficult time governing its people. So I think the problem of people "not thinking" is a timeless one. In the scheme of things, mindless video games are the least of our problems."

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

So Crunchy, you're saying that the makers of Legend of Mir 3 should have been the ones to stab that guy instead?

Nearly on target. MMORPGS actively generate a sense of worth to their digital rewards and so yes, responsibility should lie in part with them as well.

The sanctity of a players items and characters is guaranteed by the developer only as a necessity for customer relations. They will never allow you actual ownership rights of it. If players where made more aware of this (and frequently) they might not get so attached to their digital avatars. But that isn't in the interest of the developer.

Everquest and its competitors are often likened to crack or some other addictive drug, and its something designers clearly strive for. How much water does a contract signed with a drug dealer hold? Especially when that deal boils down to "I will always control supply, don't skim off my profits"

As crazy as this guy might have been before playing the game, it and the sword where the catalyst that drove him to that degree so dismissing this as entirely the act of some crazy guy should be avoided. Perhaps some kind of Surgeon General's Warning Label should feature on all MMORPG boxes

Can you imagine it?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

That would only increase the sex appeal of the games.

[Ninth]

That's hilarious, in a tragic way.

[Titan]

My sympathies in this Shanghai matter reside entirely with the Qiu. The little Zhu, who reminds me of an ex brother-in-law, got about what he deserved. I'm surprised the brother in law is still alive.

[Kero]

Originally Posted by JoeX111

While searching for a Lorne Lanning quote for a different thread, I found this tidbit that might be worth mentioning here.

"I believe that the world we live in has a tendency to make us feel very small and quite powerless, and as human beings we need to find antidotes for these feelings. The more withdrawn we are the more likely we are to escape into virtual entertainment experiences, and maybe even find more gratification from these experiences than we get from the real world. Many people tend to escape from social activities and gravitate towards television, films, plays, games, and even books. It’s true that when we feel insignificant or wronged then we can often feel better by beating or shooting the hell out of something. When it’s not in a game world, it’s with the real world."

I think JoeX111 has made a good point here. There are those who feel more impowered through the fantasy world of gaming then they do in real life. Considering the kind of government they live under in Singapore I can understand their wish to become totally emursed in an RPG.

There is another aspect to this of course - human greed. If you notice in the original post - Qui did not stab Zhu because Zhu did not give back the money and return the sword to Qui. He stabed him because Zhu was slow in handing over Qui's share of the money!

[Ninja Dodo]

I think JoeX111 has made a good point here. There are those who feel more impowered through the fantasy world of gaming then they do in real life. Considering the kind of government they live under in Singapore I can understand their wish to become totally emursed in an RPG.

That must be why games are so big in the US...

[Intrepid Homoludens]

So can you then imagine a MMORPG set in a virtual country where you have the freedom to do anything, like be a millionaire, run for president, be a movie star, host your own talk show, be a drug lord, a pimp, write trashy romance novels and make millions from it, buy bankrupt corporations and turn them round and sell them for major profits, fuel conspiracies, cause huge oil spills, become victimized by terrorism, run mega chain store empires.........