Murder in Shanghai Over Dragon Sabre Sale

Posted on March 30, 2005

If your friend loans you his or her virtual sword they won in an online game don't turn around and sell it for money. That is just wrong. However, if your friend sells a virtual item that belongs to you it is not justification for murder -- like what happened in this Shanghai murder case. Reuters reports that Qui Chengwei loaned Zhu Caoyuan his virtual game sword from the MMORPG Legend of Mir 3 known as a "dragon saber." Zhu then went and sold the sword for 7,200 yuan (US$870). Qui reported the dragon saber to the police as a stolen item but the police said there is no law for protecting "virtual property." So, Qui took revenge into his own hands and murdered Zhu with a real sword.