The China Daily reports that a 41-year-old man stabbed an acquaintance who stole and sold his Dragon Sabre in the MMORPG Legend of Mir III.
The interesting thing is, the accused, Qiu, tried to contain his frustration and do the right thing. He went to report the crime to the police, but they told him that virtual property doesn't count. So Qiu got upset and attacked Zhu in his home.
But if virtual property isn't "real", how could the unfortunate Zhu have sold it for $871?
Qiu gave himself up to police and on the advice of his lawyer, has pleaded guilty to intentional injury, claiming he never meant to kill Zhu.
However, the court's prosecutor told the court: "As cyberweapon is not under the protection of any law in our country, Zhu was faultless in this case."
This case dramatizes one of the reasons Larry Lessug taught the class Law in Virtual Worlds. It seems obvious that a digital era requires new thinking about digital products and their worth. What's odd about the language of the lawyer representing the game company is his terming game assets "just data"; what is a computer program but just data? And don't we recognize that some software company owns that? Surely even in China, for all its supposed leniency in piracy issues, recognizes this. The real issue that's being overlooked in the discourse is whether players can claim any rights to these digital assets. But those issues will be forced on the Chinese court soon:
Now more and more gamers are seeking justice through the courts over stolen weapons and credits.
"The armours 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 professor at the law school of Beijing's Renmin University of China.
"These virtual objects are often tradable among players," he added.
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," said a lawyer for a Shanghai-based Internet game company.
Online game companies in Shanghai -- the city with the most players -- are planning to set up a dispute system where aggrieved players can find recourse.
Shang Jiangang, a lawyer with the newly established Shanghai Online Game Association, said: "The association has drafted some measures to facilitate the settlement of disputes over virtual assets."
He added: "Once any cyberweapon stealing occurs, players can report to the operator, which will then sort it out according to the circumstances."