According to the "Yangtze Evening News" report on February 6, recently, a topic "Player's retired equipment worth 40,000 yuan was recycled" has nearly 10 million views on the Internet.

Xiao Luo (pseudonym), a 25-year-old girl, said that all of her valuable items in an online game were confiscated by the system.

In this regard, the customer service said that the confiscation of props due to the player's own reasons is not an isolated case and cannot be refunded.

Currently, this matter is still under negotiation.

The reporter found that in the recent period, there have been many disputes caused by virtual props in the game.

Among the "Top Ten Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Hotspots in 2022" released by the China Consumers Association, "Online game suspension and deletion of files caused virtual property infringement disputes" ranked tenth.

　　In this incident, according to the rules of the game involved, after a player opens a business in the game, if he does not log in frequently, it may go bankrupt. This happens.

This is also the main reason why the customer service said that the recovered equipment cannot be returned.

　　In fact, this is just a microcosm of equipment disputes in the field of online games nowadays.

　　Game props and equipment are tradable items in online games, which can enhance the player's character ability and improve the player's game experience, such as some special weapons and equipment, skins, pets, skills, etc., all have corresponding added value.

Such game props and equipment can be obtained through customs clearance upgrades, unlocking treasure hunts, recharging purchases, or exchanging with other players. They can also be exchanged for a certain amount of virtual game coins and sold to others.

　　These virtual props and virtual currencies in online games become the virtual property of players because they have market transaction functions and economic value to some extent.

According to the Civil Code of our country, network virtual property is protected according to law.

This also means that before the game company chooses to stop providing a certain game service, especially when it involves the player's virtual property, it should communicate with the player on relevant issues and make special arrangements, instead of simply "confiscating" the matter Or delete the file directly.

　　The virtual property in online games may be unfamiliar to some people, but in fact there are a huge number of online game players in our country, and the real money invested by these players is also huge.

my country's Civil Code has made a clear statement on the protection of online virtual property, and judicial practice and related cases are also practicing this spirit.

For example, in October last year, the Beijing Internet Court concluded a case involving online game virtual property infringement, and ordered the operator to pay compensation according to a certain percentage of the user's recharge amount. The judgment of this case has come into force.

　　There is no doubt that game companies should abide by the law, protect the legitimate rights and interests of users, and should not take advantage of the rules without authorization to embezzle and confiscate other people's virtual property.

In the future, the scale of the game industry will become more and more developed. In terms of how to fully protect users' virtual property and clarify its ownership relationship, game companies should make arrangements, and some leading game companies should even set an example.

Involving players' vital interests and property rights, companies should at least fulfill the obligation of full disclosure to satisfy users' right to know and right to choose.

At the same time, relevant parties should establish corresponding violation and complaint handling mechanisms so that consumers can protect their rights.

　　At present, when the online game industry is highly embedded in people's lives and has considerable development prospects, whether it can solve problems such as virtual property protection is not only related to the immediate interests of users, but also related to the long-term development of the industry.

Regardless of the entire industry or many companies, one should not lose the big because of small things.

　　Jiang Debin