Qui Chengwei stabbed fellow gamer Zhu Caoyuan in the chest after finding out Caoyuan had sold his virtual sword for 7,200 Yuan. The sword at the centre of the murder case was won in the popular online game Legend of Mir 3.China at present has no law that protects virtual property, so all hopes of resolving the matter peacefully were quickly dashed.
The suspended sentence given to Qui means he could spend the rest of his life behind bars, although it could be reduced to 15 years for good behaviour. Following the case, associate law professor at Beijing's Renmin University of China said that such weapons should be deemed as private property because players "have to spend time and money for them".
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