A few days ago, Netease and Blizzard jointly announced that they will suspend the service of many well-known Blizzard games such as "World of Warcraft" and "Hearthstone" in mainland China from January 24, 2023.
Many players wonder whether they have bought assets in the game, let alone put in time and effort, whether it is just nothing?
Netease said that it will quickly formulate a plan and start related work such as refunds as soon as possible.
The Beijing Youth Daily reporter noticed that the "World of Warcraft" "point card" has stopped recharging, and the price on the second-hand market is currently rising. The original price of 360 yuan points card now needs to be purchased for 500 yuan.
However, in contrast, currently on the "World of Warcraft" trading platform, the price of virtual gold coins in the game keeps dropping, and players are selling gold coins and other equipment on the second-hand platform at the lowest price in three years.
The lawyer said that so far, no law has been enacted to clearly define the scope of virtual property.
Therefore, whether game accounts or game equipment are virtual property has not yet been clarified through legislation.
In practice, online game companies usually stipulate through user agreements that players only have the right to use but not ownership of game accounts or game equipment.
Therefore, it may be difficult for players to defend their rights.
Restricted by the contract, "Blizzard" will stop serving some games
The statement issued by NetEase stated that since Activision Blizzard’s authorization agreement with NetEase will expire on January 23, 2023, based on contract restrictions, starting from 0:00 on January 24, Blizzard will suspend its distribution in mainland China by Shanghai Net. Game services operated by Zhiyi Network Technology Development Co., Ltd. (including "World of Warcraft", "Hearthstone", "Overwatch", "Diablo III", "StarCraft II", "Warcraft III: Remastered Edition", "Heroes of the Storm" ), while the Diablo Immortal service will not be affected.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that "World of Warcraft" has been in operation for 18 years, and the number of players is about 170 million. There are more than 10 million players in China alone.
Because in the Warcraft game, there are requirements for the player's daily online time, and the acquisition of a lot of equipment and experience also takes time to "swipe".
Therefore, a series of small studios have emerged around the World of Warcraft game itself, such as "power leveling" and "external hacking" that players are familiar with, all of which belong to the business of the studio.
They produce virtual game currency, game equipment, or other prestige, honor, etc., and then sell these resources to players to earn profits.
After the news of the service suspension came out, some studios stated that they "will represent other games".
World of Warcraft gold price hits lowest level on record
After Netease issued the above "breakup" news, there was a voice saying, "The breakup between Netease and Blizzard has caused a large number of players to start selling gold coins in their accounts on second-hand platforms, and the prices are lower than one." Gold coins on major trading websites are indeed in a "sell-off" state.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw on the second-hand platform on December 3 that there were many players selling gold coins on the platform, and the listed price was not high.
Some sellers said, "No one has come to inquire for the time being", "It has not been sold yet", "Just hang it up, and it is estimated that no one will take the order."
So what is the official price of these gold coins?
A senior player told Beiqing Daily that the price fluctuates, and the price of gold coins has basically been depreciating in the past two years.
On the "Blue Hermit" trading website, a reporter from Beiqing Daily saw that the point card with a fixed price of 90 yuan can be exchanged for about 2,000 gold coins in March this year, and can be exchanged for 4,000 gold coins in October.
After Netease and Blizzard announced their "breakup", the price of the platform has not been updated. It is currently at 8:49 on November 24, and the price is 5383 gold coins for the nostalgic server.
This price is also the lowest price in 3 years (on record).
In the face of depreciating gold coins, there are also players who "bet" that the next agent will return the gold coins to the previous price, that is, appreciate.
"What are you afraid of, I will continue to stud 8 million" "If there is inside information, this wave is estimated to be able to make money by buying bottom".
Some players told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that the suspension of the game and the depreciation of gold coins may not have that much impact on ordinary individual players. "Ordinary people don't hoard too many gold coins or point cards", but it may have an impact on third-party studios. bigger.
"Hearthstone" pre-order content opens online refund channel
The player "Hangwan" told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that he had not waited for the content of the new expansion content "March of the Lich King" and "Arthas Menethil Collection" that he had pre-purchased in "Hearthstone" before. On that day, a refund will be required.
It is reported that the official plan is to launch the expansion pack "March of the Lich King" on December 7. The new expansion pack brings 145 new cards, the new keyword "Mana Thirst" and other content, and the price is 4880 arcane orbs. It is equivalent to RMB 488.
Another "Alsace Menethil Collection" is priced at 158 yuan.
NetEase’s “March of the Lich King” pre-order refund application guidelines show that you can click a link to submit an application by yourself. The application content includes contact number, refund content, and other refund content can be described in the description box. You can also add pictures as attachments.
The team stated, "We will continue to perform our duties and serve players until the last moment."
The Hearthstone team has also repeatedly told players that if you want a refund, you must not log in to the game again, because once you log in, the equipment in it will be automatically activated, making the refund impossible.
Netease said that the price of the physical point card can be refunded on the second-hand platform soared by 150%
However, apart from "Hearthstone", other NetEase Blizzard games have not announced the relevant refund policy.
When Netease announced the plan, it said, "We will work with Activision Blizzard to achieve 'business belongs to business, and games belong to games', pay attention to the voice of players, cherish everything players have paid for the game, and properly protect everyone's game assets. We will try our best to formulate a plan as soon as possible, start related work such as refunds as soon as possible, and will continue to inform players about the progress of related work through official channels such as the official account of the Blizzard Game Service Center.”
A few days ago, on social media, some users asked that they had a lot of game point cards that they had not refunded. Point cards are equivalent to the consumption points for purchasing games. As long as they are players of games such as "World of Warcraft", they need to purchase point cards to log in and play games.
So what should be done with these assets?
The NetEase Blizzard game customer service team replied to the user, "For the physical point card, we suggest that you contact the dealer where you purchased it. We have reached an agreement with the dealer and will refund the dealer uniformly, and the dealer will carry out subsequent refund processing."
The Netease team stated that starting from 00:00 on January 24, 2023, for the online game virtual currency that the player has recharged but not consumed in the game and the game time (if any) that has been paid for and has not yet expired, we will be listed in Blizzard game products. Refunds will be arranged after the operation ceases. For details, please pay attention to and bind the official account of "Blizzard Game Service Center".
A reporter from Beiqing Daily observed that, unlike the depreciating virtual gold coins, the prices of these physical point cards skyrocketed overnight. On second-hand platforms, the original price of 360-point point cards was 360 yuan, but now the listed price is 500 yuan, which has risen. The price is about 150%, and dozens of people "want it".
"I regret not catching up with the last wave of buying cards now," a player told Beiqing Daily reporter, "Playing World of Warcraft is billed monthly, 75 yuan a month. Top-ups will stop on November 23rd... I forgot to renew my card for two more months."
topic
Will the next agent continue to recognize your efforts?
For the previous favorites such as game equipment, there is no corresponding transaction price yet.
In fact, many players said that the "cards" in the game are already worthless, because the game mechanism is designed in this way.
Some players said: "For example, in Hearthstone, someone may have spent hundreds of dollars to open a certain card in the current version. But in the next version, there may be a card with a better effect than this card. You have spent hundreds of dollars to get it. The issued card is instantly worthless."
A senior player told a Beijing Youth Daily reporter, "Objectively, Blizzard and NetEase's 'breakup' has no direct damage to the player's virtual assets. Many friends said that their account was in vain or something, but objectively speaking It has not yet reached that stage. Because the data itself still exists, neither Blizzard nor NetEase can and should not delete these data. When Blizzard has a new agent in China, these data will also be handed over to the new agency. agency."
He believes that although there is no direct damage for the time being, there are still many indirect effects: "The most important thing is that players may not be able to play until Blizzard finds a new agent. This feeling is a bit like you have a gym card, but This gym has been closed for renovation for two months, during which time I can’t go to the gym.” The player also said: “In addition, the property in the game is actually facing ‘inflation’, such as things that are currently very valuable, The version has been changed for a period of time, or the environment has changed, leading to a large drop in value, these will happen more or less.”
But there are also opinions that, "Virtual assets themselves are part of the law. Just like one of my apples rotted after 10 days, who should I find responsible? So my views on 'virtual assets' have also changed now, and I will Treat the 'experience' in the game, or the purchased service, as the main body of virtual property, and not get too entangled in the account itself. This will make me a lot calmer."
lawyer
It is not yet clear whether game equipment is a virtual asset
Regarding the issue of players’ virtual assets, Zhao Zhanping, a lawyer from Beijing Yunjia Law Firm, told Beiqing Daily that the “Civil Code” stipulates that if the law has regulations on the protection of data and network virtual assets, follow its regulations.
However, so far, no law has been enacted to clearly define the scope of virtual property.
Therefore, whether game accounts or game equipment are virtual property has not yet been clarified through legislation.
In practice, online game companies usually stipulate through user agreements that players only have the right to use but not ownership of game accounts or game equipment.
If laws are enacted in the future to define game accounts as virtual property, in principle, virtual property is similar to other properties stipulated by law. As owners, players have the right to possess, use, benefit from and dispose of their game accounts.
Under the current legislative situation, it mainly depends on the contract agreement between NetEase and Blizzard and between NetEase and players.
So, how should players protect their legitimate rights and interests?
Another professional lawyer told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter that Article 127 of the Civil Code stipulates that online virtual property is protected according to law, but it does not clearly stipulate the type and scope of online virtual property. Whether virtual property can be protected in property law is controversial, and it needs to be clarified through the formulation of relevant laws.
"Because the suspension of the service is due to the expiration of the license agreement between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase, players can file a lawsuit for network service contract disputes or network tort liability disputes in accordance with the relevant service agreement signed with NetEase, but it should be noted that , whether Netease has stipulated in its service agreement the relevant responsibilities for stopping the service before, such an agreement may lead to different compensation results.” This group article/reporter Wen Jing of this newspaper (source: Beijing Youth Daily)