Online gamer killed for selling virtual weapon
 

Found this intresting

Online gamer killed for selling virtual weapon
By Amalie Finlayson and Reuters
March 30, 2005 - 2:08PM

A Shanghai online game player has stabbed to death a competitor who sold his cyber-sword, the China Daily said.

The incident creates a dilemma in China where no law exists for the ownership of virtual weapons.

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 newspaper said a Shanghai court was told yesterday.

Legend of Mir 3 features heroes and villains, sorcerers and warriors, many of whom wield enormous swords.

Qiu and a friend jointly won their weapon last February, and lent it to Zhu who then sold it for 7,200 yuan ($A1,129), the newspaper said.

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 was told.

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AdvertisementThe newspaper did not specify the charge against Qiu but said he had given himself up to police and already pleaded guilty to intentional injury.

More online gamers were seeking justice through the courts over stolen weapons and credits, the newspaper said.

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

Other experts called for caution. "The 'assets' of one player could mean nothing to others as they are by nature just data created by game providers," a lawyer for a Shanghai-based internet game company was quoted as saying.

Virtual gaming is fast becoming a very popular worldwide trend. Games such as Legend of Mir 3 are known as "massively multi-player online role-playing games" (or MMORPGs).

The worlds created in them are incredibly detailed, and can develop and change even when players are off line.

They have attracted an enormous amount of subscribers and, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review, gamers are attracted to them because they have overcome the biggest problem in traditional computer games: loneliness.

Games writer Jason Hill said that while MMORPGs make up only a tiny percentage of the virtual gaming market, those who do play them tend to be very dedicated, spending a lot of time in these cyber-worlds.

"The actual items in the games, be they property or tools, become valuable because of the time people have spent building them up," he said.

"In a lot of games people might have to forage for the raw materials and then take them to a smelter [if they were making a sword or sabre, for example], otherwise the item might be a reward for completing a difficult quest.

"All of that means the item will be difficult to get, and the popularity of these games among certain groups means that these items then become very valuable."

Legend of Mir 3 has not yet been released in Australia. MMORPG enthusiasts here are more likely to be playing the very popular Everquest, or a new contender, World of Warcraft.

"These two are both fantasy games, with a niche appeal, but when people get into it they really get into it," Jason Hill explained.

The case of Qiu Chengwei and Zhu Caoyuan follows a report in the Australian Financial Review over the Christmas break, which told how 22-year-old University of Sydney graduate, David Storey, bought a virtual island - for $35,000 - on December 14 last year.

The island included an abandoned castle, some beautiful beaches ready for development and the potential for the development of lucrative hunting and mining industries. However, it only exists in cyberspace, inside a multi-player computer game called Project Entropia.

Now that Storey owns the island, if any other players visit it for a spot of hunting or a bit of a mine, he is entitled to a percentage of their takings. Every month, for the next twelve months, he can sell five plots of land on his island, which could net him as much as $40,000.

Reuters and smh.com.au
source;
http://smh.com.au/articles/2005/03/3...862440188.html

As far as the "stolen" sword... What a load of bunk, crap and trash... let's hope this type of nonsense does not make it's way into western court rooms... :roll:

With regard to the stabbing, it's simple murder... right?

crazy :shock: :shock: :shock:

fuck! what the hell is wrong with that guy, its a goddamn game :shock:

Took me awhile to figure out the "stolen" sword was digital. I assume a lot of the fighting that was involved in the killing involved a lot of flailing and slapping since these guys never leave home.

One less Chinaman. J/k Stupid idiots.

only in china :lol:

:shock:
So I could make money AND waste my time? Man, I've been doing this videogame thing all wrong!

atleast it wasn't Dungeons and Dragons

If someone sold my damn sword, I'd kill his ass to!



Oh wait, this happened offline.... Very bad.

This is rather disturbing. People take games too seriously nowadays. Wasn't there some kid who killed himself after his parents stopped funding his Everquest addiction a few years back?

Well, it would be murder here in the USA, yes. But I have no idea what the laws say in China about malice aforethought, mental contition, etc... I would hope that the authorities would enact a similar punishment as we would over here.

No wonder they call it "Evercrack" :lol:

I heard also a story of a"Raganok" player in Koera screwing a guy over online on the game, the guy with a few mates found him in an internet cafe and shot him point blank.

@Ronin005, virtual weapon >weapon on a videogame. eg Virtual car, a car on GT4 for instance.

I found the concept intresting, in that the virtual actions have real reprocussion. The concept of "Virtual property and Virtual real estate" is intresting, like with GT4, does your GT4 virtual garage have rights under the law?!?! Stupid yes but intresting.
I used to play FF12 online when it came out, I found it intresting that weapons and materials I had can be sold on e-bay for real money! But in fact its more fun to have a REAL job and is more rewarding than FF12! :lol: :lol:

@RC45, murder all right, the oldest offence in the book catylsted by the newest(?)

Nah - the courts should not even waste time on this one... this would be like trying to lay claim that the hotels and properties I "owned" while playing Monopoly at the local old age home were tangible property - until Old Man Smith went and sold my Utility company to Granny Bloom... after I expressly told him he could only collect rent from it... :)

lol :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Yeah your right, well I should of said from a Philosphical view, your right the courts shouldn't have to deal with something this stupid, they are already full of frivolous law suits anyway, courts are there for seriuos matters, like the murder that sparked this matter.

Geez you'd think at 41 you'd know better?!

LMAO, what a plonker!

I dont think killing someone is justifiable unless you did in self defense. If he didnt kill him his friend selling his virtual item could've been a ground breaking case.

Friend's obviously a dumbass.

Nutters :shock:

Ground breaking how?

If the "owner" of the virtual item were to sue his friend for selling his virtual item in Chinese court it would be ground breaking case in China.

In a sense the virtual item is an intellectual property of the murderer.

China's notorious for not enforcing intellectual property rights.

what a pile of crap. I guess nerds found a "world" where they can be tough and respected.

I think it was only a matter of time before situations became this way,a nd with computer games vecmoing ever more powerfula nd popular, i think we may be hearing of more of these cases in the future....still, for now, you have to say, what a bunch of cock ends.

Bullcrap... this "virtual" property is no more intellectual property than my "holdings" in a game of Risk - or ,my position on a chess board.

The property is IMAGINARY - you do not NEED to computer to have the virtual property be available for use... it could just as well be board game and the weapon be a score value.

That's it.

Period.

Done.

Finished.

I really hope that this does not receive further attention... this "virtual" scores from games being akin to intellectual property.

Now, if the guy wrote the program to make the game and THAT source code was stolen - or copied - then THAT is a different story.

But when he started playing the game he was then just using the playing pieces as invented by someone else.. :)

Agree completely. Take it from someone who deals with Contracts and Intellectual Property issues daily...

What the fuck is a hamster?