Parents to sue Blizzard

By Ellie Gibson Published 21 November, 2005

Over death of WOW-playing son.

The parents of a 13 year-old boy who died falling from a building are suing World of Warcraft developer Blizzard, claiming that the massively-multiplayer online game is to blame for their son's death.

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, the parents, who reside in the city of Tianjin, claim the boy jumped to his death whilst re-enacting a scene from the game. They are supported by Zhang Chunliang, a well-known activist whose campaign seeks to highlight the dangers of Internet addiction.

Chunliang, who says he has talked to more than 60 parents whose children have become addicted to online gaming, is now set to file suit against Blizzard over the boy's death.

There are more than 1.5 million World of Warcraft players in China - making up more than a third of the game's worldwide subscriber base, even though the game only went on sale there in June. The9 acts as Blizzard's partner in the region, providing localisation and support services for the game.

Neither Blizzard nor The9 were available for comment.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • kangarootoo #1 7 years ago

    Oh dear. I hear JT booking a plane ticket.

  • Tiger_Walts #2 7 years ago

    Can Jack Thompson speak Mandarin?

  • trav #3 7 years ago

    Can Jack Thompson speak English without sounding like an idiot?
    Edited by trav at 21/11/05 @ 11:53

  • jumpdeveraux #4 7 years ago

    Definitely all Blizzards fault, I must get around to asking them for compensation for trying to ride that tiger down the high street just like in WoW, the claw marks are still healing.

    What next - trying to shadowmeld in the middle of a busy road?

  • jellyhead #5 7 years ago

    Sorry but if you re-enact something from a virtual fantasy world, you're not the most stable of personalities and this tragic event could have been triggered by something else in their life.
    Where are the parents when these kids are becoming addicted?
    When i was 13, my mum used to just unplug my speccy when she thought i'd been playing too long and kick me out the back garden for an hour.
    Lots of people play video games and don't kill themselves, surely that counts for something?

  • Glitch #6 7 years ago

    what the fuck is this world coming to! I thought the UK was going down hill..

  • tengu #7 7 years ago

    Is it really a shock so many Chinese guys are net addicts? It's probably the only way to meet females for most of the men in that country :)

  • Dizzy #8 7 years ago

    >whilst re-enacting a scene from the game

    Errrr... what scene would that be? The "falling to death from a high building" scene from WoW? Maybe he was just trying to find out if he could float back as a wisp in real life as well.
    Edited by Dizzy at 21/11/05 @ 12:06

  • jack_klugman #9 7 years ago

    That'll teach these big name developers not to include ambiguous present day scenes featuring children jumping to their death.

  • Razz #10 7 years ago

    Is it really a shock so many Chinese guys are net addicts? It's probably the only way to meet females for most of the men in that country :)

    How little you know....

  • Royal Fool #11 7 years ago

    I guess the kid's favourite class was a mage, eh?

    ...sorry.

  • marilena #12 7 years ago

    Tengu, I'm sure that men are not in any way isolated from women in China. They may tale a lot of shit from their government, but that would lead to a revolution in a matter of days.

  • mortykun #13 7 years ago

    I blame the parents, what kind of parent allows there child to become addicted to a video game?

  • ProfessorChaos #14 7 years ago

    Tengu's right, apparently men kidnapping/trafficking women to marry is rife in China.

  • Xerx3s #15 7 years ago

    ow ffs, enough already!

  • pantherboy #16 7 years ago

    Addiction is a word overused on matters like this, actually the wrong term.

    Give the kids some smack or coke, the'll never look back I tell you

  • Stickman #17 7 years ago

    Bloody idiot child.

  • Inigo #18 7 years ago

    In china, according to the BBC, there are 100 girls for every 117 boys.

  • Speedwolf #19 7 years ago

    I guess the kid's favourite class was a mage, eh?

    *imagines him clutching a light feather and attempting to cast slow fall*

  • jumpdeveraux #20 7 years ago

    Parents are probably gutted as their kid gold farming 24x7 was a nice little earner...

  • Nillsens #21 7 years ago

    Are jokes about fall damage whilst only being level 13 inapropriate?

    Very sad... but I feel tall buildings are to blame more than WoW.

    No more tall buildings = Nothing to jump off
    Edited by Nillsens at 21/11/05 @ 12:57

  • Stickman #22 7 years ago

    NEWS FLASH - teenagers in China apparently 'much more stupid' than normal says source. Basic laws of physics not understood. "I blame the schools", say parents. "We blame the parents", say schools. "I blame video games", says Jack Thompson-san.

    More at 10.

  • trevd72 #23 7 years ago

    ssshhhh but this is really what the US government have put in place to off set the yellow peril. instead of creating chemical and biological stuff they find a way of infiltrating the underdeveloped mind of the regular chinese teenager and take advantage of thier obvious stupidity. this way they hope to cut by half the future recruitment numbers into the chinese military. scary but very very clever - and this is only the beginning!

  • jack_klugman #24 7 years ago

    I blame the inherent anti-communist ethos of contemporary video games design.

  • Psi #25 7 years ago

    dear god not another wowerside (patent pending)

    don't they believe in re-incarnation in the far east? isn't it part of their culture? is their family house very close to the local graveyard? he may have thought he could just rez there and save the walk down the stairs.....

  • Wobble #26 7 years ago

    Jack Thompson = old and busted
    Zhang Chunliang = teh new hotness

  • swede #27 7 years ago

    Reminds me of the WoW episode in purepwnage - anyone who hasnt seen these I recommend a watch they are surprisingly good.

  • tengu #28 7 years ago

    Good to see my post taken in the serious manner it was intended :/

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #29 7 years ago

    Yeah, of course he jumped off a roof enacting a scene from the game /rolleyes

  • marilena #30 7 years ago

    Lol. Sorry :).

    By the way, I feel rather guilty for not caring about that child. I don't know, I don't feel anything about it. I wasn't even offended by the jokes in this thread. Am I dying inside?

  • caligari #31 7 years ago

    I once tried to beat up a car. My fists bled for 2 months.

    I blame Streetfighter's bonus round.

    Does anyone have JT's number at hand?

  • Psi #32 7 years ago

    marilena dying is better than dead like the rest of us :) It's hard to be sympathetic for something you just don't understand.. Someone killing themselves over a broken relationship etc happens all the time and you can sympathise to a degree.

    But ending your life because of world of warcraft? it must have been something else thats not reported, this isn't really news

  • jack_klugman #33 7 years ago

    I wasn't even offended by the jokes in this thread. Am I dying inside?

    Play a lot of video games do you?
    Edited by jack_klugman at 21/11/05 @ 15:01

  • Stickman #34 7 years ago

    marilena - You're not dying inside. Your subconscious recognises the benefits of not having this chump in the human gene pool anymore, and reacts accordingly!

  • Xensor #35 7 years ago

    While i fully sympathise with the parents for the loss of their child i also fully lay the blame for his death at their feet. I'm sorry but if you have so little interest in what little johnny does all day locked away behind his pc, letting him play online games which are over his age limit and not interacting withthe outside world then u are gonna get some very strange and possibly extreme behaviour patterns. Frankly if you can't parent, or parent by proxy (tv, pc etc) then save yourself and us a lot of bother and don't squeeze the pups out.

    Oh and stop blaming videogames for the worlds ills. It's not big and not clever.

  • Aga #36 7 years ago

    Leap of faith - Quest completed

  • Freek #37 7 years ago

    It'll be fine, just don't move the corps or steal his stuff, he'll pick it up later.

  • Kain_Cross #38 7 years ago

    "Then I fell off a cliff and died. Like this, look!"

    That's it, blame the game, not the parents.

  • Mr_Brown #39 7 years ago

    LoL, "my mentally ill son, who plays World Of Warcraft all the time because he doesn't get any attention from his family jumped off a really tall building because he thought he'd copy World of Warcraft. (Even though there aren't any really tall buildings in it and other than the one small very insignificant quest the game doesn't really consist of falling or jumping great distances in anyway) I'm not a bad parent! Its all Blizzards fault! Now give me money!"

    And i though this sort of thing only happened in America...

  • matrim83 #40 7 years ago

    Can I have his account.
    What? He's not gonna be using it.

  • admir #41 7 years ago

    trying to get rich of their sons death
    iam crayz too, you know, i will buy a gun and start shooting parents. Then i sue them (parents) all over the world for what i did. Why? well they(parents) pissed me off with blaming games for shit that their kids do. come on parents stop this shit we all know your are trying to get rich.
    i have been playing games for 14 years ( i am 22 by the way ) played most horror games and shooting games, whatched all the horror movies and like rap too. I was fucking 8 and didnt go crayz. why? because i had and still have great parents. the have done a great job taking care of me. well parents with fucked up kids didnt. just fuking admit it

  • Kami #42 7 years ago

    You shouldn't be doing that Leap of Faith quest at lvl 13 anyway...

  • jumpdeveraux #43 7 years ago

    He should have droppped by the AH and picked up some http://www.thottbot.com/?i=23418, might have helped...

  • mastertigurius #44 7 years ago

    Marilena - you don't have to feel anything about one human being out of six billion who recently killed himself on the other side of the planet. Of course, it's both normal and expected that one acknowledges such a situation as a tragedy, but you're not obligated to be sad or moved in any way.
    Of course, all this depends on the individual.

    It was a horrible thing that happened, but these are things that happen every day. If it's not a computer game, it's a rock artist. If it's neither of those, it's a lover. Or maybe just a war that's killing a dozen a day.

  • O-Fox #45 7 years ago

    If world of warcraft told you to jump off of a cliff, would you do that too?