Remember that study that said that Internet addiction was not a big factor in online gaming? Well maybe Internet addiction itself isn’t, but surely online gaming addiction has to be a factor in the rise in issues surrounding the “ownership” of online game ‘property’. And when we say “issues”, we do mean “issues”.
Why just earlier today we wrote about the high school student who started phishing in order to pay for his online gaming habit.
Of course, far worse is the guy who killed a fellow gamer for selling his virtual sword.
Now we have a couple in China who met while playing the online game Legend of Mir 2, and after his game character rescued her game character from being killed by someone else’s game character they, apparently swept up by the romance of it all, met and got married in real life.
The marriage, as one might expect, was fairly short-lived (perhaps because they were such characters). They met in September, and by June they were ready to call it quits.
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But not without first figuing out how to divide up their property. She said “let’s split everything down the middle.” But he is having none of that. He knows where his priorities lay. “Keep our apartment,” he said, “just give me the game characters and other virtual items.” She, however, is sticking to her guns about splitting everything evenly.
Between them, during their short-lived marriage, they played ten separate Legend of Mir 2 accounts, reaching high levels in each, and amassing virtual items valued at a total of between 40,000 and 50,000 Chinese Yuan (about 4,500 to 6,000 USD).
Either their apartment is really low rent, or he is a bit crazy to be willing to take the Legend items in exchange for the apartment, and she is a bit crazy to not say “yes”.
Actually, come to think if it, in any case, they are both a bit crazy.
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She wanted to split everything down the middle…and he wanted to keep all the online items and let her have the apartment. For starters, I probably would have sided with him!
1. He could have sold all their joint, accumulated items for Six…let me emphasize this…six T.H.O.U.S.A.N.D….dollars! Now- what could he do with that money?
Buy a cheap car? Rent his own cheap apartment and have enough to last him a year without having to do anything?
2. Online games cost money. You pay to play. How long had they been playing? That adds up! Most online games average 15 dollars amonth. That’s 90 dollars every six months. 180 dollars every year. Not to mention…a YEAR’S worth of time PLAYING. MMORPGs, which it seems this game was, are constantly changing, you are constantly improving.
You go from a no-name whelp with nothing but a cloth covering and a wooden sword (or class equivalent) to spending HOURS questing, fighting, planning strategies, looting treasure until you have a lot of equipment. GOOD equipment even RARE equipment that everyone wants!
If I worked that hard for all those items (and believe me, I have three MMORPG’s!) only to have them assigned to my spouse upon divorce…I’d be a bit ticked off too! Not only could he sell them for the game’s equivalent of money (you wouldn’t believe how hard I worked to get all the house pets and the horse I have now in Everquest 2. Why? Because I can’t have them in real-life so I get them there. It makes me happy!) but he can sell them for REAL MONEY!
3. Virtual items for money has been debated for years. Where do we draw the line? Everquest 2, for instance, has just created Station Exchange. Which means…it used to be illegal to sell EQ2 items for real life cash…but now they are legalizing it so that items CAN be sold for money. They are ENCOURAGING it. Why? Because it profits them.
If the games are encouraging us to sell virtual items for real life money…then yes, you will see a lot more issues like this. If it’s kept in the game, that’s that. But once they start adding a value to certain items. (500 dollars for a virtual horse, for example) then yes. Couples who play together will invariably fight over property rights of the virtual games when it comes time for them to go on their seperate ways.
You complain a lot about virtual gaming, but you seem to have no idea about the way it works. Go give it a try for a few a mental asylum. Yes, some people don’t know where to draw the line. But when real money becomes involved, like it has here, then you have no right to judge either of the people involved. Six thousand dollars, especially! That’s a lot of cash to keep someone going for a pretty long time!
Debts or student loans, anyone…?