Homicidal Gaming Traditions

Speaking of death and games here’s another article that might tickle your attention if you’re an avid gamer or have a friend who’s a game maniac.

Last month, on a muggy Wednesday afternoon, a machete-wielding 19 year old teenager charged into a crowded Taipei internet café and hacked another boy to death for having killed his online character in the popular “Blade-&-Sword” video game. In February, a 41 year old Shanghai man murdered a 26 year old fellow gamer he claimed “stole” his cyber sword (reportedly worth a whopping $870US in the “real world”) in the “Legends of Mir 3″ gaming world. The murderer, Qiu Chengwei, was reportedly laughed at by the police when he tried to report the theft of his virtual weapon, which he had loaned to a friend who then refused to return it. Swordless and without legal recourse, Qiu took the Law into his own hands, broke into his former friend’s house, and stabbed him in his bed. Although they certainly have a grisly way of going about it, cases like these clearly illustrate that East Asians are eager to catch up with the West in terms of homicidal gaming traditions.

I’m in East Asia all right. Oh damn!