Elonka wrote:

Makers of "World of Warcraft" - Blizzard Entertainment, are being sued by the parents of a 13-year-old Tianjin boy, on charges that the game caused the death of their son.
...
Vivendi Universal Games, parent company of Blizzard Entertainment, which has pegged the "World of Warcraft" global players count at 4.5 million, is now forced to contend with the back-lash of parents concerned with their children's addictive behavior.

Online gaming industry...meet Big Tobacco.

-janelane, blame the parents(?)

Elonka wrote:

Makers of "World of Warcraft" - Blizzard Entertainment, are being sued by the parents of a 13-year-old Tianjin boy, on charges that the game caused the death of their son.

The parents have filed a law-suit against Blizzard Entertainment, alleging that their son jumped to his death while re-enacting a scene from "World of Warcraft".

Anti-Internet addiction advocate, Zhang Chunliang, is backing the parents of the deceased boy. Chunliang is said to have spoken to 63 parents, whose children have suffered due to online gaming addiction. The advocate plans to file a class-action suit in the matter. There have been no comments from Blizzard Entertainment so far.

China's online gaming market, which raked in $580 million this year, is believed to be the fastest-growing market in the world.

Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" alone is estimated to have around 1.5 million paying players, bringing-in moolah to the tune of $30 million per month in subscription fees.

Vivendi Universal Games, parent company of Blizzard Entertainment, which has pegged the "World of Warcraft" global players count at 4.5 million, is now forced to contend with the back-lash of parents concerned with their children's addictive behavior.

Oh this is just stupid now. Who in their right mind would jump off anything and assume they will be fine because they could do it in a game? I would like to know more details on this as to what the exact scene was he was re-enacting.

wilpig wrote:

Elonka wrote:

The parents have filed a law-suit against Blizzard Entertainment, alleging that their son jumped to his death while re-enacting a scene from "World of Warcraft".

Oh this is just stupid now. Who in their right mind would jump off anything and assume they will be fine because they could do it in a game? I would like to know more details on this as to what the exact scene was he was re-enacting.

Here is the story.

Xiaoyi (his alias on the net) was a 13-year-old student in a junior middle school in Tianjin. Just before New Year’s day 2004, he finished an 80,000-character story online, then jumped to his death from a 24-storey building, “flying to the sea in the southeast” in search of his hero friends made during countless net games.

The kid went nuts. Is it possible to play video games without going nuts? If so, then the video game was not responsible.

Decius wrote:

Xiaoyi (his alias on the net) was a 13-year-old student in a junior middle school in Tianjin. Just before New Year’s day 2004, he finished an 80,000-character story online, then jumped to his death from a 24-storey building, “flying to the sea in the southeast” in search of his hero friends made during countless net games.

The kid went nuts. Is it possible to play video games without going nuts? If so, then the video game was not responsible.

I agree with you, but this is china we're talking about. Who knows if the kid even really existed.

There are lots of other problems in china, but top dog amongst them is the "westernification" of everyone in the cities. I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat right now, but I am throwing that one out there.

--timball="fifty dolla bill"