Virtual Weapons Traders Prosecuted

Three Chinese men who sold high-powered, virtual weapons to players in the online game “The Legend of Mir 2” have been prosecuted by Chinese authorities in Shanghai – on the basis of copyright infringement.

One of those prosecuted, Wang Yihui, used his position with the company who run the game to create copies of the weapons, which are only available to top ranking players, which he then sold on to anyone inside the game who were willing to stump up the non-virtual cash. At the point that the virtual arms trade was discovered, Yihu and his fellow traders had already netted two million Yuan from the venture.

This story is just the latest in a host of cases where the dubious online activities of certain individuals in MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) has made headline news in the real world.

Only a week ago it came to light that those who had placed their hard earned virtual money in an virtual investment bank in EVE – a science fiction based MMORPG – had been the victims of an elaborate con when the proprietor of the EIB (Eve Investment Bank), known only as “Cally”, absconded with the entire holdings of the bank – totalling a cool 790 billion ISKs (the Eve in game currency).

Whilst no actual money was taken, Cally’s gains have been estimated to be worth in the region of $170,000 in the real-world market place as the trading of Eve currency, and EVE game items, is by no means uncommon, even if it is against the game’s EULA.

This is not the first time that gamers virtual lives have spilled over into the real world. Only last year a Shanghai online player murdered his online colleague after he found out that he had stolen his virtual “Dragon Sabre” sword which they had jointly owned. The price of the sword in the real market place was estimated at UD$870.

It seems that virtual worlds are all to quickly coming to mimic the world we live in.

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