Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Wei, Jian; Xue, Shanguo --- "The Stable Self-Enforcement and Distribution of Property Right: The Right to Virtual Property in MMORPG" [2007] ELECD 244; in Eger, Thomas; Faure, Michael; Naigen, Zhang (eds), "Economic Analysis of Law in China" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Economic Analysis of Law in China

Editor(s): Eger, Thomas; Faure, Michael; Naigen, Zhang

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847200365

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: The Stable Self-Enforcement and Distribution of Property Right: The Right to Virtual Property in MMORPG

Author(s): Wei, Jian; Xue, Shanguo

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

9. The stable self-enforcement and
distribution of property right: the
right to virtual property in
MMORPG
Jian Wei and Shanguo Xue

1. INTRODUCTION

As a new type of property, virtual property in MMORPG (Massive
Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) has attracted more and more
attention. Disputes over malicious fraud and theft concerned with virtual
property are also increasing gradually. The first lawsuit of MMORPG in
China, Hongchen Li v. Beijibing Company, is as follows: in more than two
years, Hongchen Li, a cyber game player, spent thousands of hours and
more than ten thousand of game currency in playing Red Moon, a
MMORPG, and thus purchased and accumulated dozens of types of
virtual biochemical weapons in the game. On 17 February 2003, he was
astonished to find that all virtual equipment that was stored under the ID
`state chairman' in the game server was lost. Afterwards he contacted the
defendant, the Beijibing Company, to inquire after the equipment's where-
abouts and detailed information on the thief, but the defendant refused his
request in the name of `the protection of player's information as privacy'.
Therefore, Hongchen Li sued the game's manufacturer for infringing his
private property.
A large number of virtual property disputes have shown that the source
of dispute between players and manufacturers is the loss of virtual
property for unknown reasons, for which each side blames the other and
they finally engage in a lawsuit. Who should be responsible for the loss?
What kind of ...