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What just happened? A court in China has ruled that online gaming accounts are inheritable assets, reshaping how digital property is treated in the country after a person's death. This is not the first time that Chinese courts have ruled in favor of a deceased gamer's next of kin in similar cases, allowing them to legally inherit their late relatives' virtual assets.
According to a post by Redditor Slawrfp on the PC master race subreddit, multiple courts in China have recently ruled in favor of the family members of deceased gamers, finding that legal heirs have rights to the game accounts of their relatives or partners because game purchases and in-game microtransactions carry real-world monetary value.
In one of the cases highlighted by Slawrfp, a woman sought to inherit an ultra-expensive weapon in the game Zhengtu from her deceased husband. However, she was opposed by his "in-game romantic partner," who argued that the item could only be obtained through collaborative gameplay between players with linked accounts.
