According to South China Morning Post, a guy from China spend over PHP 70,000,000 (1.4M USD) in a virtual game character on an MMORPG game called Justice Online, and his friend who borrowed the game character accidentally sold it for merely PHP 27,600 (552 USD). It is then followed by a lawsuit directed to the game company “NetEase” and to the friend who sold the game character.
The friend who borrowed the game character intended to trade the character back to the owner, placing it to the in-game Marketplace for a fixed price of PHP2,756,900 (55,138 USD). Knowing that only his rich friend can afford to purchase it, the trade should go smoothly. A common technique in securing a successful trade from player to player in an open marketplace in MMORPG.
However, things didn’t go well, as his friend accidentally type the wrong number in the listed price. Instead of writing 388,000 yuan (PHP2,756,900), he listed the game character for only 3,888 yuan (PHP 27,600). Someone else spotted the listing and bought the expensive game character for a cheapy price.
It then followed with a lawsuit filed by the original owner to both NetEase and his friend.
The lawsuit went well and it was settled online via the mediation of a judge. The result involves NetEase revoking the in-game marketplace transaction, reversing the game character back to the original owner. While the original owner has to pay PHP650,000 (13,000 USD) to the innocent buyer for the damages and compensation of inconvenience. Luckily, his friend who accidentally sold the game character didn’t get any charges.
After the settlement, the local court posted the result in their Social Media WeChat page that it was a great example of protecting digital assets and warned everyone not to spend too much in a video game.
You may also watch the video from Supreme’s People Court of China below.
Is it worth the money spending in a virtual game character? Let us know in the comment section!