A court in Beijing has ordered an online gaming company to return a player’s virtual goods that had been hacked and stolen. Li Hongchen had been playing the online game “Hongyue” (Red Moon) for two years when he discovered that an unknown miscreant had invaded his account and taken virtual money and weapons. The court told the game’s operator, Beijing Artic Ice Technology Development, to return the virtual goods to Hongchen; it has not yet ruled on his request for real-world US $1,200 in compensation. Gamers cannot recall another case in which a court has ordered the transfer of game-defined imaginary goods, but the Xinhua news agency reports that disputes over virtual property are burgeoning in China’s booming online-gaming industry. (“Real verdict in China for virtual loss”, CNET Asia, Dec. 29; “Online gamer in China wins virtual theft suit”, Reuters/CNN, Dec. 20; Jay Lyman, “Gamer Wins Lawsuit in Chinese Court Over Stolen Virtual Winnings”, TechNewsWorld, Dec. 19). A conference last month on “Games and the Law” at New York Law School (papers) included a paper by Dan Hunter and F. Gregory Lastowka on “Virtual Property” (PDF).
Chinese court orders virtual goods returned to gamer
A court in Beijing has ordered an online gaming company to return a player’s virtual goods that had been hacked and stolen. Li Hongchen had been playing the online game “Hongyue” (Red Moon) for two years when he discovered that an unknown miscreant had invaded his account and taken virtual money and weapons. The court […]
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