Online gamer killed over cybertheft (moved from ATSNN)

A Shanghai online game player was stabbed to death on Wednesday by a competitor after selling a virtual-sword from the game "Legend of Mir 3." Qiu Chengwei, 41, stabbed fellow player Zhu Caoyuan upon hearing about the sale of his "dragon sabre" for 7,200 yuan (US$870).



This speaks volumes about the state of the world that we live in, when one man can kill another over a video game. I've never been one to believe that a video game would be at fault for something like this, but rather the importance placed on the game by someone who has become completely enamored with the game, and has a hard time discerning a virtual world from the real one.

With the news of this event, is it any wonder why I question the mentality of people who become too involved in a virtual enviornment? Online gaming is just that - games. Are we really safe behind our keyboards? This story would answer a resounding "No."

It's not realy the fault of gaming though...
Lot's of people are killed for lots of reasons. We can't ban everything.
If a man kills another man for taking out his girlfriend, are we gonna outlaw dating?
It's like the story of the pot grower who killed the mounties in Canada.
For someone to commit cold blooded murder there is something else going on other than gaming or pot or whatever.
If we banned computer games and pot, people are still going to get murdered.
It's an emotional problem not a gaming problem.

You're not understanding the situation, I think.

He didn't kill the man "over a video game", he killed him over almost 900 bucks.

People get killed for less, for a crack rock, a pair of shoes, a car stereo, a womans attentions.

It's the reality of modern life, but you shouldn't deflect blame and say people who play video games are hopelessly out of touch with reality, and infer they're dangerous.

This wasn't about the game. It was about the money.

WyrdeOne, you hit the nail there.

This was over money, plan and simple.

It really is amazing how much virtual objects can transfer to real world cash. You can see it on online auction sites people selling virtual money and possessions for real world cash and making lots of money from that.

Amazing.

Phae

Thats number 12 of news stories in the last few months where the finger is deliberatly pointed at the internet, computers and games instead of the real reason for the wrong doings, in this case, money.

The Propaganda train keeps going at full force. The power elite declared war on the internet, freedom of information and freedom of speech.

This is a battle they won't win.

It's quite obvious by the article that the murder itself was over money. However, it's also quite evident that the money issue stemmed from a transaction over a virtual item - a series of 1s and 0s. Over $800 for an item in a game? I wouldn't pay $800 for a real sword, let alone one that exists only in a virtual world, and I'm a collector of swords.

The fact that this type of money could be talked about in transaction for a vitual item just shows that people place too much importance on games. The murder, was in effect, a result of an overimportance of the game to someone.