Posted on 06/09/2005 9:00:48 AM PDT by Mike Bates
A Shanghai man was sentenced to death this week after a dispute over ownership of a virtual sword in an online game led to a real-life slaying.
Shanghai Number 2 Intermediate People's Court gave online gamer Qiu Chengwei the death sentence with a two-year reprieve after he slew another player, Zhu Caoyuan, last October, according to a report published this week in the official newspaper China Daily.
As long as Qiu behaves well in prison and is not found to have committed other crimes, his sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment, and he may only serve 15 years, the newspaper says.
The pair had argued over ownership of a virtual sword that Qiu and another player had won in the online game "Legend of Mir III." Qiu loaned the item to Zhu, but Zhu then sold it for approximately $870.
When Qiu tried to involve the police in recovering the item or the money, he was told that such virtual items are not protected by Chinese property laws. After Zhu refused to return the item or pay compensation, Qiu went to his home and stabbed him in the heart, according to the report.
Online gaming is a high-stakes business in China, and is set to grow further over the next five years, according to market researcher IDC. Around 20.3 million Chinese played online games last year, spending $298 million to do so.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Real life "griefing".
Well, did Qiu get his magic sword back? The article doesn't say.
If he's good, he'll get out in about 15 years and can resume his quest.
Sounds like the world is better off without these two dum dums.
"Legend of Mir III" sounds like a sissy game. Quake1 ctf was a man's game, and on e4m3 (elder god shrine), I owned 'em all! we didnt have swords in quake1, but we did have rocket launchers, and if someone took mine, I'd push him into a lava pit.
lol...even my wife played Quake...she even tried counter-strike a few times...Hey don't touch my MP5 okay...
Now that's what I'm talkin' about.
I miss the Quake1/Doom/Duke Nuke'm days. Now it's Halo2, which is not quite as good as Quake in multi-player.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.