Fire Mage Tragedy

A Chinese WoW player lost his temper — and possibly his mind — and burned a classmate, beleiving he had fire mage powers.

After losing a schoolyard fight, a 17-year-old boy in Beijing recently covered a classmate with gasoline and lit him on fire, claiming he “had lost himself in World of Warcraft and when he committed the crime he had transformed into a Fire Mage.”

The boy has been sentenced to 8 years in prison and ordered to pay the victim and his family a restitution of 760,000 RMB (approximately $103,140 USD).

In light of the recent “Mortal Kombat killings,” we’re hesitant to believe the claims of any youth who says they have been influenced by a video game into violence. In this case, though, we believe him simply because China lacks our American legal system that allows people to claim “games made me do it,” and subsequently shift all blame to the game’s creators.

This is a tragedy, and I’m sorry to see the “playing games made me do it” defense is spreading.

Via Wired