Li vs Arctic Ice, 2003

In 2003, a Chinese gamer sued and won after the MMO company which runs Red Moon (Hongyue) refused to restore his hacked weapons arsenal.

Gamer Wins Lawsuit in Chinese Court Over Stolen Virtual Winnings

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/32441.html

By Jay Lyman

E-Commerce Times

12/19/03

Stop the Presses! Beijing Court Enshrines Virtual Property as Legal Fact!

December 23, 2003

Julian Dibbell's recap and commentary on Li v Arctic Ice

Lawsuit Fires Up in Case of Vanishing Virtual Weapons

China Daily

Nov. 20, 2003

Link

"Early this year a 23-year-old Internet game-player filed a lawsuit with Beijing's Chaoyang Court, charging his online game provider with failure to protect his "possession of biological weapons". The plaintiff asked for restoring "all the equipments" that he had accumulated plus 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) in emotional damage.

"Li Hongchen does not collect the kind of biological weapons that George W. Bush accused Saddam Hussein of secretly hoarding. In the past two years, he had spent thousands of hours and tens of thousands of yuan playing RedMoon, a game provided by Arctic Ice Technology Inc. As a result he had gathered or bought dozens of virtual biological weapons of one kind or another, which made him invincible in the virtual world. In February when he entered the virtual battleground, he found all his weapons gone. "