Parents sueing Bllizzard over childs death.

[Hivetyrant]

Read it here

Blizzard faces a lawsuit from Chinese parents, who say World of Warcraft caused the death of their son. November 18, 2005 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. 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. Mr. Chunliang has spoken to 63 parents whose children have allegedly suffered from online gaming addiction and plans to file a class-action suit, according to the report. Blizzard executives weren’t available to comment to RedHerring.com about the lawsuit. The high-profile backlash to China’s booming online game market reflects the growing size of the industry. World of Warcraft alone has 1.5 million paying players. ‘There are huge potentials, but there are also a lot of pitfalls,’ -Alexis Madrigal, DFC Intelligence China’s online game market brought in $580 million this year, and is the fastest-growing market in the world, according to research firm DFC Intelligence. That market is set to nearly triple in size to an estimated $1.7 billion by 2010. Blizzard Entertainment developed the game and works with The9 in China as the local distributor. The9 already posted second-quarter revenue of $6.7 million, up from first-quarter revenue of $1.5 million. Some analysts estimate the game is raking in more than $30 million per month in basic subscription fees. Vivendi Universal Games, the parent company of Blizzard, recently said that through the first half of 2005, World of Warcraft brought the company’s revenue up 61 percent from the year before to €238 million ($290 million) (see World of Warcraft Storms Asia). But the company, which now counts 4.5 million World of Warcraft players worldwide, must contend with the backlash of parents concerned with addictive behavior. Many Chinese parents contend that their children spend hours gaming in Internet cafes at the risk of their health, work, and school (see Wang-ba Crusade). China Clocks Gamers The Chinese government is looking into how to respond to its own citizen’s concerns. The Chinese government has already said it plans to restrict gamers to three hours of consecutive play, using a “fatigue technique” in games. After three hours of play, the online game would lose some player power, and after five hours, the player would lose most power. After that, there would be a delay of five hours before the game could be accessed to its full capacity. Analysts and industry execs are concerned the restriction might dampen the growth of the Chinese online game industry. Analysts like Elias Glenn with Shanghai-based Pacific Epoch think the regulation will have a major effect on the industry. “It has the potential to have a serious impact.” But beyond government restrictions, other factors like piracy and an increasingly competitive market could throw a wet blanket on the industry’s growth. “There are huge potentials, but there are also a lot of pitfalls,” said Alexis Madrigal, a DFC Intelligence analyst who recently authored a study on the industry.

[Winter Wolf]

Leave it to parents to put the blame on others for their failures. I mean really, spoiling their kid rotten then bitching that someone else is to blame is a bit much. And due to the one child policy in China, that's what happens with increasing frequency. They dote on their single child to the point where the kid cannot imagine he or she is not the center of the universe. It happens in other countries too, this blame game. I expect the problem is exacerbated by the knowledge that parents can have one, and only one child though.

I do agree in theory about limiting time that people can play these games though. Seriously, addiction to online gaming in China is rampant. My wife's cousin is an addict. He stayed with us for a while, and he left the computer on 24/7. It might have been to his benefit overall if he could not play his incessant marathon sessions. Then again, he's not our kid, and it's really not my job to play daddy for somebody who doesn't care enough about his health or his future.

In practice, limiting game time won't really work though. People who really need their game fix will just start dipping into multiple games or using multiple accounts to keep on going. Putting limits on the games won't solve a damn thing. The fear that the industry will suffer is bollocks to boot. I have yet to see anyone actually purchase a legal copy of anything when they can just walk down the street and get the exact same thing for 1/10th (games) to 1/100th (OSes and professional apps) of the price. This includes businesses as well as individuals. It's eimple, really, would you spend 4000 on a supposedly legal copy of Windows, or buy a very good pirated version for 15? Sorry, strayed a bit at the end there.

[Sever]

I'm curious to know exactly what move resulted in his death. And how it's linked to a gaming addiction.

Can you sue Hollywood for someone failing a Superman stunt? Or is that person just stupid?

[johnny]

Originally posted by Sever: I'm curious to know exactly what move resulted in his death. And how it's linked to a gaming addiction. Can you sue Hollywood for someone failing a Superman stunt? Or is that person just stupid?

As soon as people start wearing red capes, it's pretty safe to say they're stupid.

[Kyrvias]

Good point. Or as son as someone puts on orange scales and tries to breathe underwater? Can you really blame Aquaman?

[Kakero]

Boy? I thought it was a girl?

[krunchyfrogg]

Maybe the parents shouldn't let their kids play video games all day.

[Timber Loftis]

One less Dee Dee Dee to feed.

[Timber Loftis]

Front page of Blizzard.com today has new parental controls they are introducing. These will allow parents to specify the times the game can be played, limiting it to certain hours on certain days.

And, when you find me a kid that can't out-1337 their parents any day of the week, you can have the flying pig I shot for a holiday ham.

[johnny]

Good thing i sold my parents into slavery then.