A man in China spent more than £1 million on a video game character just to find out that his friend sold it for less than £500. He ended up suing his friend and the case was taken up in court.
Lou Mou spent about £1 million (approx 9,00,00,000 INR) developing a character in the newly released MMORPG title, Justice Online according to court documents reported by Chinese news site Abacus. Mr Mou’s friend Li Mouscheng, accidentally listed the customized character on the in-game marketplace for just 3,888 yuan.
Mr. Mouscheng explained that he made the error due to being “dizzy from excessive gaming” and that he was meaning to return the character to his friend after being given it to play. The matter was taken up in court and a Judge at the Hongya County Court of Sichuan Province ruled that the character must be returned to the original owner and that damages of 90,000 yuan must be warded to the player who bought the character for the discounted price. The court also warned people about the harmful effects of uncontrolled gaming.
China is a country that struggles with severe video game addiction and this incident comes after China announced strict curfew measures on gamers as well as actions against young players. Children under the age of 18 are banned from playing more than 90 minutes of games per day on a week day, and no more than three hours per day on weekends and holidays. They even have systematic technology in place like face recognition and parental control to help curb this issue.
Majority of titles be it Pc or Console/Mobile, earn a heavy share of their revenue from in game purchases. Although the skins and extra downloadable content and the touch of cosmetics adds a sense of personalization to the game, the players must always remember certain limits. If the people don’t start exercising some self control then authorities might need to step in to intervene just how new laws in China prevent children under 16 years old from spending more than 200 yuan per month on in-game items.
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