Chinese teen sets classmate on fire, tries to blame WOW

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]