Skip to main content

Chinese couple sells three of their kids to fund online gaming habit

internet cafe by Kai Hendry via Flickr
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Gaming can get quite time and resource consuming, but two gamers have reached a new low in pursuit of virtual gratification. A southern Chinese newspaper is reporting that a young Chinese couple has been found guilty of selling their three children off to support a gaming habit.

It sounds like a ludicrous scenario but according to Sanxiang City News, the couple from Dongguan, China first met in 2007 in an Internet cafe; both were under 21 years old. Bonding over a mutual online gaming obsession, the two eventually had their first child a year later. However, the couple couldn’t be weaned from online gaming and within a few days of their son’s birth they left him home alone so they could trek to an Internet cafe 18 miles away.

Li Lin and Li Juan didn’t begin selling children until 2009 with the birth of their second child, a baby girl. Graduating from simple neglect, the young couple sold the baby girl to fund their obsession and received a short-lived sum equivalent to $500. With the success of the baby girl they then proceeded to sell their firstborn son and received close to $4600 for him; almost ten times the amount as the girl.

The next child they had was another son who was sold for the same amount $4600. The two were finally turned in to the authorities by Li Lin’s mother who discovered what was happening to her grandchildren. It was reported that the couple didn’t know that they were breaking a law.

The two gamers were asked if they missed their children and they responded, “we don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”

Chinese newspapers have had a tendency to embellish stories in the past, but China has had a history of online gaming problems. In 2007 a man’s three day gaming binge in Guangzhou actually led to his death.  The Chinese government has attempted to control the problem by setting time limits on game play and even banning the creation of new internet cafes.

Via ABC News Radio

Topics
Jeff Hughes
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.
Mecha Break’s robot customization shakes up the battle royale formula
Mecha Break robot head with glowing blue eyes

Mecha Break isn't the kind of multiplayer game you can master right away.

You might equip a lance that you barely know how to use because it seemed like a good idea, and spend the rest of a round attempting to bash yourself into enemies to help your teammates. It incorporates action that's more similar to that of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon than it is to the shooter-focused gameplay in Gundam Evolution, Bandai Namco's multiplayer mecha shooter that shut down last year. Overwatch does come to mind, but in a way where mechs are still the focus rather than the pilots within them.

Read more
Visions of Mana paints a promising picture of the RPG series’ return
Red-haired girl with horns and dragon wing in Visions of Mana

The vibrant settings and character designs in Visions of Mana instantly alerted me that I'd be knee-deep into fantasy, riding on the back of a giant black wolf into the grassy plains of Fallow Steppe. A lush landscape welcomed me as I chatted with my teammates on top of my mount and tussled with little woodland monsters.

I had this experience at this year's PAX East, where I went hands-on with a demo of the upcoming RPG. I never played previous Mana games, but I have enough experience with RPGs and real-time combat to name it one of the most gorgeous, action-packed games I played at the show. The shiny open-world and slick combat I experienced point to a strong comeback for the Mana series coming later this summer.

Read more
Sega lays off 240 workers and sells Company of Heroes 3 studio
sega lets relic entertainment go independent company of heroes 3 girl

Sega Europe is going through some major restructuring, and as a result, it is laying off about 240 developers and letting Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment spin off as an independent company.

Although Sega's Japanese developers are known for their platformers, action games, and RPGs, its European output is more strategy game-focused. A key component of that was Relic Entertainment, which has made games like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, Age of Empires IV, and Company of Heroes 3 over the past decade. With the help of investment company Emona Capital, Relic is buying itself back from Sega and going independent for an undisclosed amount. Relic addressed going independent on X (formerly Twitter) with a message.

Read more