WWW.SILICON-FUSION.COM
 Platform Filters: 
 All Platforms
 Xbox 
 GameCube 
 PlayStation 2 
 PC 
 Game Boy Advance 
 Site Sections: 
 Updates
 News 
 Games 
 Publishers 
 Developers 
 Reviews 
 Previews 
 Release Dates 
 Editorials 
 Glossary 
 Contact Us 
 
       Latest News:   
9th June 2005:
Reality bites? 
There is a fine line between the real and the unreal and a few people are starting to cross it.
Posted by Chris Snook - PC - UK and Europe

It has been said that the online economies of some of the biggest Massive Multiplayer Games exceed that of a number of real life countries. Rare items are a commodity to be bought and sold RL, there has even been one case of an online sale of real estate. The calculated E-Bay market for these items is a staggering figure of £5 Billion.

There is also an increasing trend of violence occurring because of these kind of sales. The latest and most violent of these has occurred in China where one player is now facing a lifetime in jail, commuted from the death penalty, for killing another gamer he had lent a rare sword to. The sword being a one of a kind item that Qiu Chengwei had won in a competition in the game Legend of Mir 3. It was sold by Zhu Caoyuan for about £473 and he was repeatedly stabbed when Mr. Qui found out.

Mr. Zhu's family are appealing for the death penalty.


Chris Snook

   
 
    Go Back To Main Page     Go To Top Of Page