Mother wins right to inherit son's 87 gaming accounts after decade of play

A Chinese court has ruled in favor of a mother who sued to inherit her late son's online gaming accounts, recognizing the accounts as assets with "property value" under civil law.

According to Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily on Wednesday, the People's Court Daily — the official publication of China's Supreme People's Court — recently detailed a ruling by Beijing's Shijingshan District Court that found a deceased person's family can inherit the right to use online gaming accounts.

The mother filed the lawsuit after her son, who had been an avid online gamer since his 20s, died of illness. She sought to have the accounts transferred to her name.

The son had created 87 gaming accounts with one game company and spent more than a decade building them up through paid purchases and in-game spending.

After the funeral, the mother learned by chance that the accounts could be converted to cash and asked the company to transfer them to her name. The company refused, citing its terms of service, which stated that ownership of accounts and in-game items belonged to the company and that users held only limited usage rights.

The company also argued that gaming accounts are personal to the individual user and therefore fall outside the scope of an inheritable estate.

The precise monetary value of the 87 accounts and their items was not disclosed, though the accounts were said to hold considerable value given the years of paid purchases.

The court found that online gaming accounts are protected under civil law. Even if the company holds ownership of the accounts, it ruled that usage rights to accounts and items built up over years through a user's time, effort and money constitute "property value."

The court determined that the right to use such virtual assets can be inherited, and recognized the mother — the sole legal heir — as entitled to succeed to them. During the proceedings, the legal guardian of a daughter born to the son and his ex-wife reportedly waived any claim to the accounts.

The court ordered the game company to assist with the transfer of real-name verification information within 15 days. Neither side appealed, and the ruling became final.