The parents of a 13-year-old boy who killed himself after playing a computer game for 36 hours are suing the game’s licensed Chinese distributor for 100,000 yuan ($12,500), a Chinese newspaper reported on Thursday.

In 2004, Zhang Xiaoyi, from the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, jumped out of a window of his family’s 24th floor apartment after playing Warcraft at an internet cafe.

His parents said in a legal writ that China Cyber Port Co. Ltd.’s failure to clearly warn of the inherent “dangers” of Warcraft — a game produced by American company Blizzard Entertainment — was responsible for their son’s death, the Beijing Times reported.

© Liu Yong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gaming, gaming restrictions, Internet addiction
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Chinese players of the “World of Warcraft” online game have begun an Internet signature campaign protesting Chinese government plans to limit the country’s online gamers to three hours of consecutive playtime.

“These restrictions violate the rights of online game players,” one Chinese player wrote on the petition. “Trying to prevent young players from being addicted is good, but this new system will be a total failure.”

As of August 29, more than 1,000 Chinese gamers had signed the petition opposing implementation of the new time limits.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2005. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gaming, gaming restrictions, online games
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