Gamer Killed For Virtual Property

The BBC has the story of a young Chinese man who was slain over a virtual property dispute. His killer has been sentenced to life imprisonment. The Guardian Gamesblog has a deeper look at the situation with Terra Novan Ren Reynolds. From the article: "We're becoming a service property marketplace. Is this as good as a manufacturing economy? It doesn't have the moral solidity in a way. You can kind of see that shift in ethical terms. People would think that stealing an album in a shop is immoral, but stealing an mp3 isn't. The idea of property has become more intangible."

Dupe

[soliptic]

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/30/ 1718219&tid=206&tid=209&tid=123 [slashdot.org]

Virtual Property Value and Labor Costs

[borkus]

Interestingly, "virtual" property seems to only be traded between someone in an economy with low wages to someone in an economy with high wages.

The value of the theft was about $850-900 USD. Guessing that you have to play for 40 hours to acquire the weapon, that makes the "wage" about $22 an hour (before taxes). For a buyer in a major American market (LA, New York Chicago) that could be easily be below his hourly earings; I imagine that Japan would be similar. For someone in China - even a major city like Shanghai - that is a significant sum of money. Average household income in Shanghai is less than $1,500 USD (11,718 Yuan in 2000 [unescap.org]). 40, 80 or even 160 hours of play for over a half year's income would be an incredible opportunity.

So the game item has no value. However, the difference in labor costs creates a value in the time spent to produce the item [wikipedia.org].

Re:WTF

[ureshii_akuma]

Well, there was an album I was going to buy, but I borrowed it from a friend and listened to it until I was sick of it, then gave it back. That deprived the record company of money. Am I a thief? Only in the minds of RIAA execs, where they feel sales and profits are guranteed to them by law. I am sure they would love to implant chips into everyone's brains where you can only hear their music if you pay a fee. On second thought, that might not be so bad - it'll prevent us from hearing oh-so-much-crap. In the real world, however, you neither deprived anyone of their property (without their consent) nor made a copy of material without being the copyright holder.

No different from tangible world

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering the fact that people in the US have been killing other people for a pair of sneakers (Nike's, who's real world value is SOLELY based on perception), why is it so hard to fathom a murder conducted over a virtual sword (its worth, likewise, is based purely on perception).