Kotaku
Ai you - to add to the ever growing collection of bizarre stories from the Chinese gaming world comes news that a 17 year old high school student has been sentenced for setting a classmate on fire. What does this have to do with gaming, you ask? Because the kid 'thought' he was a WoW fire mage. Now, in China, the 'but the video game made me do it!' defense doesn't work so well (the kid was sentenced to 8 years in prison, his accomplice - who lured the victim outside with the old line about wanting to chat for a bit - was sentenced to 7, and both boys and their families were ordered to pay a 760,000 RMB restitution - over $100K USD - to the victim and his family), so there's nothing to gain - nor a lawsuit to pursue - by pointing the finger at Blizzard, The9, or Warcraft. From billsdue:
It is a very sad story. Both the victim and perpetrator are not from affluent families, are not particularly well-educated, and didn't appear to have great prospects in Chinese society. World of Warcraft, operated by The9 (Nasdaq:NCTY) in China, and other MMOs are a great escape, as is obvious from the tens of millions of Chinese playing in these virtual worlds.Good thing for Blizzard and The9 that China's legal system is still developing. If this happened in the US no doubt the victim's family would hire an ambulance chasing lawyer to sue Blizzard for millions, claiming that somehow Blizzard, rather than the parents, was negligent.
According to an article in the Beijing News [新京報], the 'fire mage' purchased gasoline 5 days prior to the event, which sort of takes the edge off that 'spur of the moment' idea. Furthermore, the interview a Beijing News reporter had with the 'fire mage' was downright disturbing in parts - nothing like sound bites like "[the feeling of watching fire and people burning] is very addictive, very happy!" to make someone come off as perfectly sane. And all this over a schoolyard fight between 17 year olds.
模仿"魔兽"火烧同学 [Beijing News via billsdue]
Comments
What a fucked up kid.
They should of set the kid on fire. That was he could understand what it means to be a true Fire Mage.
Wow you mean the kid was actually to blame? *sarcasm*
Gasoline should obviously be banned.
Wait, so China has a better grip on videogames didn't do the violent crime than the US and other countries because they're still "developing" a legal system?
China, there are some parts of your legal system that doesn't need to be developed.
@Spilt_Milk: You win the thread! X-D
@1032002: YES! Let's burn him at the stake for obviously being mentally unstable!
It's the only way to purge the demons that have made refuge in his young head!
Backwards medieval mentalities ftw?
Sure, why not.
sounds like the kid was mentally unstable and WOW helped him play out his fantasies. (i'm not blaming the game, it may have been an outlet for him) so i hope he got sent to a mental institution and not straight up prison. He needs help not incarceration.
Its such an unlucky event.
Did the kid even die?
I dont think it says he even killed him?
I can imagine some little chinese kid jumping out of a bush with lit matches taped to his hands to attack some poor unsuspecting child who thinks "OMG i knew this was going to happen"
Do you think that he is one of those kids who sits at the back of the class rocking back and forth muttering things like "Im gonna kill you all with my level 12 fireball".
This could have all been avoided if he had decided to be a water mage although the poisen mage would have been worse.
"Billy...OMG... were d-did you g-get t-that anthrax?"
"Your time has come filthy scourge"
No you may wonder were he would get anthrax from but dont forget that this is china and although i have dubbed him "Billy" it dosnt change the fact that rivers of poisen run through china already.
Glad to see that the law in China doesn't let the parents sue companies for actions done by mentally unstable people.
Let's hope the US sueing-culture is lightyears away from happening in the rest of the world
Go go China!
fire mage ftw!!!
@meltyman: Mental facilities haven't really been introduced in China yet. At least not for poor crazy killers
Mental rehabilitation = prison time
If anyone in China tried suing Blizzard the entire Chinese economy would collapse.
As comical as all the comments about killing this kid are (they're not really but I like to fit in), someone died, a child no less, and all you WoW addicts, MMO players and gamers the like should appreciate the fact that the families don't want to sue Blizzard adding to the already defaced persona of games as 'bad influences'.
Long story short; Kid died - show respect, Family didn't sue Blizzard (& not in US court) - show respect.
now imagine if he rolled a warlock...
That is one mage who is going to deservedly learn the hard way that rogues "do it from behind" over the next 8 years. Sad story, probably a worse joke. But hey, you set someone on fire or help them do it, you go to jail. Unfortunate for the victim and his family. Stupid people...boo!
Its the rest of the world thats crazy, hes the only one thats mentaly safe
I have five bucks that says some mother asks me about this at work today.
@moshakirby: Based on the article no-one died, it doesn't really say what damage the kid suffered from the burns, but it does say that he got $100K in compensation so he must have lived.
Wow, lots of fcked up things are happening lately. Tops is that story with the two 17 year olds who went Mortal Kombat to the 7 year old. Stupid people.
Well apparently the victim is alive...but he has been mentally scarred.
"儿子出事后变得自闭，将自己关在家中"
Basically he won't leave his house.
He bought gasoline, fire mages dont need gasoline!!!! this is another defense lawyer BS blaming video games so the kid walks or goes to psy therapy!
@Spilt_Milk: well technically it was.
Before people go off saying how awesome China is for this, understand that their legal system doesn't have the same pit falls that many western nations do mainly because they don't make allowances for silly things like civil rights and due process.
Even if this happened in the States, where the family COULD sue Blizzard (and others) they almost certainly wouldn't get anywhere with it.
Psychokinesis works better than gasoline, I find. Only need like 80 Psycards to get it, too.
Do you think if he was an ice mage, he would of tried to give the kid frostbite?
FINALLY someone blames the parents instead.
Did the accomplice who lured the victim outside think his friend was a fire mage too? I think this is still two fucked up guys who wanted to set someone on fire and decided to blame it on a game. Just becuase there aren't legal benefits to shift blame doesn't mean there aren't reasons to.
@moshakirby: Oops? No one died. Are you saying we need to show respect to the crazy kid who did this? Please clarify.
@meltyman:
You do realize what you got coming to you for speaking with such reasonable logic, right?
@sander_dutch:
"Glad to see that the law in China doesn't let the parents sue companies for actions done by mentally unstable people.
Let's hope the US sueing-culture is lightyears away from happening in the rest of the world
Go go China!"
Well, I would personally rather live in a society that is sue happy than one that executes 10,000 people a year without reasonable evidence or chance at appeals, with many being executed for crimes that have nothing to do with murder to boot.
heh... thats kinda like if I played boogerman for genesis and started shitting and flicking boogers at everyone and blamed the game for it.
@Infradead:
LOL!
You would think that bullies would wise up and stop harassing kids since there always seems to be one that snaps and commits some heinous act of violence. Obviously saying that burning fire is, "very happy!" does nothing to paint him as any sort of victim pushed over the edge, especially when it was apparently premeditated.
[uk.youtube.com]
The kid has strated a chain reaction, were all gonna die!
8 years of prison ! Their law system is way different than here ! In Canada since he's 17 years old he'd only get like one year in a reeducation center for teenagers ...
@Xorrel: Obviously they thought it was 2v1 arena.
Also new in patch 2.4 all mage fire spells will require gasoline reagents.
Okay joking aside this is a really sad story. The reason this type of story should scare gamers has nothing to do with lawsuits so much as adding to the paranoia that non gamers have about the effects of gaming. It's the kind of thing that makes the uninformed vote 'yes' instead of 'no' on things like a 1% sales tax on games.
@WhoreofSpamylon: I think all sander was saying that he's glad to see a law that doesn't like parents sue video game companies for obvious ignorance. He said nothing about Chinese law system being BETTER than the US or saying it's better to live there. "Sueing-culture" is where he specifically highlighted his point. So really, what you're pointing out is completely irrelevant to the issue here.
I think this kid didn't know how much MP he was dealing with! Any one know if he had a +5 Charisma??
It wasn't really mentioned in the article.. but did the kid pull through?
XD
@moshakirby: Fortunately, no one died.
@meltyman:
But not their parents since they didn´t do anything.
NOT.
@Shteve:
And a pat in the head plus a cookie.
@Waterwings:
Actually, it is. He ended his comment with "Go go China!" as if China is leading the world with a progressive legal system in general, and I just wanted to point out that they really are not.
Gasoline is much too readily available for growing Fire Mages, so I propose the BAGS (Ban Against Gasoline Stores) to stop the sale of gasoline to people who walk in the store wearing a WoW cosplay. Especially if said person has a twitch in one eye and a broken toaster slung over his shoulder.
Heh, good ol China, at least they know how to set kids straight.
@Waterwings:
"I think all sander was saying that he's glad to see a law that doesn't like parents sue video game companies for obvious ignorance."
The problem isn't suing as much as it is letting frivolous cases get anywhere. Just because we have the right to sue for anything in the U.S. doesn't mean that anything is going to become of the lawsuit, and by taking away the right to sue in "curtain" cases makes more legitimate cases vulnerable to being defined as frivolous and vulnerable to being thrown out.
certain*
@moshakirby: We don't need to show any god damn respect to them just because they didn't sue Blizzard. This kid did it all on his own. This kid was most likely messed up in the head even before he signed up for WoW. Sure, this is a tragic event but this kid followed his own actions. He's 17-years old for chrissakes!
China should counter element this kid with an "ice mage" sentence. Freeze him up like they do in Demolition Man, and thaw him out when his sentence is over.
He must have read the CAD comics made 5-7 days ago...
[www.cad-comic.com]
[www.cad-comic.com]