NationStates Jolt Archive

In Beijing a gamer was murdered over the sale of a virtual weapon. I think it's a bit of an over reaction, although the other guy should have asked before selling their cyber sword. It exposes an area of legislation that the Chinese government hasn't quite got to yet. What do you think about this cyber-theft?
Source (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12700877-13762,00.html)

Gamer murdered over cyber-sword sale
From correspondents in Beijing
March 30, 2005

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

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 7200 yuan ($1129), 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.

The 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.

:p

so this guy lent a virtual sword to another guy, who then sold it to someone else, then guy number one stabs the second guy?

this has got to be better than the guy who died after playing everquest for 48 hours straight.

wow, thats dumb and embarrassing to true gamers. Don't game and drive!

If it had been the digital representation of real world funds, would the law be just as vague. Virtual things have value. (I wish my bank account did, but others do). To sell something of value that does not belong to you has to be theft. Or can I now obtain the passwords of some stupid rich guy and sell his bank account to anyone in China without commiting a crime?

people like this make sitting here reading random news articles fun.

Who'd get that worked up about a game?

























Where did my orcs go? I kill you!!!!!! :sniper: :gundge: :mp5: Stab you're eyes out motherf@#&*@#$^

Let me guess: The police never found the weapon the guy was stabbed with?

moral of the story .
Greatest things in life are free.

VThis is the first death I've heard of attributed to video games. The funny thing is, this was a 41 year old, not some 12 year old kid hopped up on sugar playing Halo. Maybe the ratings should go the other way? ;)

Steal Raster after I camp him for 30 hours, will you? I'll show you!

Camp stealing would be virtually eliminated if games providers would release the home addresses of their players.

VThis is the first death I've heard of attributed to video games. The funny thing is, this was a 41 year old, not some 12 year old kid hopped up on sugar playing Halo. Maybe the ratings should go the other way?

The very first one you've ever heard of? Hey, did you hear the one about Columbine?

:p

so this guy lent a virtual sword to another guy, who then sold it to someone else, then guy number one stabs the second guy?

this has got to be better than the guy who died after playing everquest for 48 hours straight.

While working for EA, and setting up Motor City Online, we were told about a time when a player of Ultima Online walked into the Origin Studio Lobby, with shotgun in hand, and threatened to kill someone if his Online account was not reinstated. From that time forward all of EA's Studio's were built with security so you just couldn't enter.

There were even a few instances with Motor City Online that people came into our Seattle Studio and asked to see "Jack Ryan", that was the name I used for the character I had on the Forums as well as in the Game... Needless to say, I never went out to meet any of them.

Regards,
Gaar

The very first one you've ever heard of? Hey, did you hear the one about Columbine?


There is no evidence that video games had an adverse effect on the shooters in the Columbine shooting, there is also no evidence that playing video games, listening to certain music, or seeing certain images entices violent thoughts or actions.

As for the Chinese Government not having legislation for virtual theft, no one does, the US doesn't, Canada doesnt, it is a new legal barrier that is a perfect opportunity for thieves. Online Identity theft is already a crime, downloading cd keys or cracks is a crime, so why not extend that to virtual items within those very games.

As for the Chinese Government not having legislation for virtual theft, no one does, the US doesn't, Canada doesnt, it is a new legal barrier that is a perfect opportunity for thieves. Online Identity theft is already a crime, downloading cd keys or cracks is a crime, so why not extend that to virtual items within those very games.


does that make it illegal for the game companies to wipe accounts? :p

if you own the virtual items, can the virtual item manufacturer take them from you?


if i own a car, can honda take it back?

then why can Blizzard take my +5 gauntlets of Ogre strength from me?
disclaimer: i do not play WoW, so i have no idea if that item exists or not. don't hurt me if it doesn't and you spend the rest of your life looking for it

Virtual items should not be able to be obtained using real money, and real money should not be used to buy virtual items. Why not use virtual money instead?

Posted by the Satanic Priest, Lord Medivh

That was a dud. A heated argument over Columbine and violence in video games was supposed to erupt. I think the problem is that we don't have anyone to take the stance opposing the violence. I don't think I can do it and keep a straight face.

If a idoit goes out on a shooting rampage from playing a video game, then that idoit had serious mental problems before ever playing a video game.

Posted by the Satanic Priest, Lord Medivh

Video games dont make people go on gun rampages. They just hone the hand-eye coordination for them.

this has got to be better than the guy who died after playing everquest for 48 hours straight.


O_O most ive done is 35 hrs straight...omgwtfbbq!! i almost died :rolleyes: :eek:

Trade at your own risks virtual people!

It's also an unpleasant sign of human greed when an intangible non-valuable (in real world terms) article is traded for hard cash. At least with collectible card games like Yu Gi Blow there's an actual card involved. This? It's all a bunch of coding and data that could get screwed up easily.

MMORPG's the biggest scam in the history of scams. 100,000 people paying £15/month, that's an income of £1,500,000 a MONTH. Even if server costs are half a million/month, you're still making a crapload of profit.

Which is why I fully intend on making one soon-ish.

MMORPG's the biggest scam in the history of scams. 100,000 people paying £15/month, that's an income of £1,500,000 a MONTH. Even if server costs are half a million/month, you're still making a crapload of profit.

Which is why I fully intend on making one soon-ish.

Well, I hope you have the minimum $3 - 5 Million in development costs per year, and the 2 to 3 years it will take to put it together...

That doesn't count ad costs and all that... Or the wages of the people you will need to support it and continue to build fresh Game content once it is released.

Not to mention what you have to pay in taxes...

And that 100,000 people would be a fairly successful MMORPG.

Regards,
Gaar

I think the problem is that we don't have anyone to take the stance opposing the violence.
Yes we do, we have Hillary Clinton - http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7660

New York senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton has launched an attack on violent videogames, singling out Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto titles as a "major threat" to morality.

Clinton, who is reportedly planning to seek the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2008 election, has aligned herself with hardline right-wing Republican senators in order to pressure Congress into researching the impact of electronic media on children.
Has anyone else noticed that she has gone completely off the deep end?

Has anyone else noticed that she has gone completely off the deep end?

YES!

She just lost every male Vote between the ages of 18 and 35... :p :D :p

I guess the Democrats will be looking for a more viable candidate in the very near future. Either that, or they can just hand the next Election to the Republican's, just like they did the last one.

:D

Regards,
Gaar

One lost sword, and one guys stabs another in the chest and kills him. :eek:

I used to play Diablo II. I failed to log into my accounts for thirty days, and lost 3 accounts with 24 characters...several hundred dollars worth of "virtual" items, and the fact that I had essentially wasted hundreds of hours on something that had vanished into digital nothingness.

By the standard set (1 sword = 1 dead person), I should have been going on a non-stop killing spree, Natural Born Killers style, ending with my bloody suicide when the cops finally corner me. :p

By the standard set (1 sword = 1 dead person), I should have been going on a non-stop killing spree, Natural Born Killers style, ending with my bloody suicide when the cops finally corner me. :p

If it's going to be one of those "cross-country" killing sprees, you wouldn't mind heading "East" and not "West" when you do, would you?

:p

Regards,
Gaar

Oh of course I would have headed west. LA has to go.

Although I can't remember now where Blizzard is headquartered...I might have to stop by there. :D

Meh...it happened more than a year ago. I swore (albeit VERY loudly and profanely) for about 2 minutes...then I got over it.

I was thinking of starting to play Everquest, but I do have that tendency to get too worked up over games. So I won't. That has nothing to do with any game inspiring "violence", it's a personal choice - I worry that such a game would affect me, and so I'll stay clear of it.

Oh of course I would have headed west. LA has to go.

Although I can't remember now where Blizzard is headquartered...I might have to stop by there. :D

Meh...it happened more than a year ago. I swore (albeit VERY loudly and profanely) for about 2 minutes...then I got over it.

Cool.

But just in case...

http://www.blizzard.com/inblizz/contact.shtml

I'm up in the NW, so as long as you are heading to Cali, I aint gonna worry!

:p

Regards,
Gaar

The very first one you've ever heard of? Hey, did you hear the one about Columbine?

HAHAHHAHAAA! You mean Dylan and Klebold went crazy not because they were nutcase Hitler-worshipping victims of bullying, but because they shot demons in DooM? Because I gotta tell ya, several million players of DooM Disagree!

Hey, why was this guy bitching anyways? He got like 3600 yuan right there! I mean I love my games, but Jesus, I'll take a few hundred dollars over a single item without a second thought!

Imagine playing a communist RPG.. Everybody works for the good of the others.

When you kill a goblin. The you get is divided equally amongst everybody else. When you find a treasure, it's divided evenly. When you get a magical sword, it gets passed around.

Heck.. When you kill something.. And get experienced. The experience is shared. And everybodies the same character level with same abilities.

Wont that be friggin fun?

Imagine playing a communist RPG.. Everybody works for the good of the others.

When you kill a goblin. The you get is divided equally amongst everybody else. When you find a treasure, it's divided evenly. When you get a magical sword, it gets passed around.

Heck.. When you kill something.. And get experienced. The experience is shared. And everybodies the same character level with same abilities.

Wont that be friggin fun?
Soo, no PvP I assume?

Actually it would be pretty tense flighting because the person you're fighting is the exact same. No noob squashing.

This thread has made me wonder. Has anyone killed another person over NS? Or has someone nearly died because they've played the game for 4 days straight?

Hey, why was this guy bitching anyways? He got like 3600 yuan right there! I mean I love my games, but Jesus, I'll take a few hundred dollars over a single item without a second thought!

But he didn't get his money. His 'friend' who sold it without asking has yet to fiscally renumerate him.

But he didn't get his money. His 'friend' who sold it without asking has yet to fiscally renumerate him.


it's like discovering that you lent your car to a freind and finding out that he sold it at a used car lot and won't give you any of the money.