A Shanghai man stabbed to death a fellow on-line gamer who
sold a virtual sword they had jointly won while playing "Legend of
Mir 3", Reuters reports.
Qiu Chengwei, 41, repeatedly stabbed Zhu Caoyuan after
discovering that Zhu had sold the "dragon sabre" for 7,200 yuan
(£464). Qiu had lent his friend the cybersabre last February, later
reporting it as "stolen" when he learned of the transaction.
Police, however, told him that – as the disputed weapon was virtual
property – he had no recourse to law.
A Shanghai court heard on Tuesday that "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." Qui has admitted "intentional injury" and awaits the
court's verdict.
China Daily notes that the sorry affair raises
something of a legal poser regarding online "possessions". Wang
Zongyu, an associate law professor at Beijing's Renmin University
of China, told the paper: "The armour and swords in games should be
deemed as private property as players have to spend money and time
for them."
A lawyer for a Shanghai-based internet game company countered:
"The 'assets' of one player could mean nothing to others as they
are by nature just data created by game providers."
Indeed, a Japanese woman recently had a
run-in
with the authorities after deleting her ex's online gaming data -
including clothes and weapons. In this case, though, she was
charged with "violating a law banning illegal access" rather than
offences pertaining to the wanton destruction of her former lover's
virtual goods and chattels.
