Blizzard blamed for MPG death
p2p news / p2pnet: Sixty-three parents of children in Communist China are teaming up in lawsuits centering on what’s being described as addiction to multi-player online games.
"In the latest saga over online gaming addiction in China, the parents of a 13-year-old Tianjin boy are suing the makers of World of Warcraft, blaming the game for the death of their son, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua," says Red Herring.
"The parents filed a suit against Blizzard Entertainment on Wednesday, saying their son jumped to his death while reenacting a scene from the game, the report said. The parents are backed by the anti-Internet addiction advocate Zhang Chunliang."
But, "While the parents allege that the boy was trying to reenact a game scene by jumping out of the building, World of Warcraft in fact does not include any part where the player is encouraged to commit suicide," says TG Daily.
"There are two voluntary quests that do have the player jump off a mountain, but in both cases, you safely land with the help of a parachute or by being teleported away before the caharcter hits the ground."
TG translated the original Chinese language article, "and found out that just before committing suicide, the boy left four letters and one hand-written note to his parents," it says .
"In addition, he also logged onto World of Warcraft and told fellow players goodbye. The boy, who played a Night Elf in the game, believed that he could meet his favorite Night Elf hero, if he committed suicide."
In December, 2004, Zhang Xiaoyi killed himself by jumping off a 24-story building in the northern city of Tianjin, says Communist China’s state news agency Xinhua, going on:
"Some blamed the suicide on Internet addiction. Statistics show that 15 per cent of the country’s youngsters, more than 2.44 million people, are addicted to Internet games."
The "extreme behaviour of addicts, causing parents to dub Internet games ‘e-heroin,’ has become an increasing cause for concern," Xinhua says.
"Yesterday, China Central Television reported that a senior high school student in Hunan Province had cut off his little finger to show his determination to kick his Web addiction."
Cyber addiction exper Zhang Chunliang, who "plans to launch a collective lawsuit towards the Internet games industry," says there’s no difference between being addicted to drugs and being addicted to Internet game, says the story.
After visiting more than 260 Internet cafes, he collected more than 700 cases of Internet-related injury, suicide and fatigue among youngsters, it states.
Also read:-
Red Herring – Youth’s Death Linked to Game, November 18, 2005
TG Daily – Parents blame death of son on World of Warcraft, November 22, 2005
Xinhua – Parents sign up to "e-heroin" lawsuit, November 22, 2005
November 22nd, 2005 at 5:53 pm
Um, I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead or make light of this family’s loss, but this looks to clearly be a case of Darwinian selection.
One other question, and it is a QUESTION. Is addiction a case of normal people falling prey to addictive things, or are some people possessed of addictive personalities that seek out addictive things to get hooked on? Obviously there is not a black and white answer, but which do you think is more prevalent?
Last observation. When things go bad people always look for something (or someone) to blame. Sometimes they find the right thing, and sometimes not.
November 22nd, 2005 at 10:14 pm
Darwininsm in action. (The Jumping off the building part, not the lawsuit)
January 29th, 2007 at 12:29 am
He thought he could meet his Elf hero by killing himself? What a retard.
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:14 pm
thats not true.
he had obiously allot of freetime.
he played for 36 hours straight, just to get into the “server`s” best guild.
then after playing 36 hours your head get fucked and u start loosing controll of things.
he didnt got to the guild he played 36 hours to try to get in. and when he got declined he gets so emotional/frustrated/angry and do stuff like jumping off buildings or “hang” themself.