Online game operator appeals court ruling

An online game operator appealed to Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court yesterday after it was ordered to reopen the account of a player who violated its rules by selling virtual game equipment on tabao.com.

Chen Hao, a 28-year-old player of the game EVE Online, found his account was frozen on August 9, 2012 as the game's local operator, Shanghai Posts and Telecommunications Technology Co, accused him of selling virtual equipment online against its rules.

The company received complaints from other players who said Chen sold game equipment on taobao.com. The company staff then posed as a customer to buy equipment from Chen's store on taobao.com and decided to freeze his game account.

Chen denied he owned the shop and sold virtual game equipment for cash. He tried to persuade the game operator to unblock his account but failed. So he sued the company to court.

On February 18, the Xuhui District People's Court ruled in favor of Chen and ordered the company to reopen Chen's account because there was not enough evidence to prove that Chen was the seller.

At yesterday's hearing, Chen said he was willing to give up all virtual currency in his game account to get his equipment back. "Some of the equipment belongs to my friends and I need to return the equipment to them," Chen said.

The intermediate court didn't make a verdict yesterday.