Gamertell

This is getting ridiculous. In the second major news story involving games, teens and violence this week, Wired is reporting that a Chinese teenager set fire to a classmate on the pretense of being a “fire mage” from popular MMO World of Warcraft. The 17-year-old apparently lost a schoolyard fight and later sought revenge by pouring gasoline on the classmate and lighting it up, claiming that he “had lost himself in World of Warcraft and had transformed into a fire mage”. The victim suffered burns on 55% of his body, and the boy himself has received an 8 year prison sentence along with a 760, 000 RMB (approximately $100, 000 USD) fine as a result.

While it’s encouraging that the boy’s claims that the game was at fault weren’t taken terribly seriously by the Chinese legal system, one wonders why he was only given 8 years for such a heinous crime. In any event, it hasn’t been a very good week for the games and violence debate between this and the Mortal Kombat teens in Colorado.

Read [Billsdue] Via [Wired]