Man spends £1m on game character, then friend accidentally sells it for £400

A man in China who spent more than £1 million on a video game character has sued his friend for selling it for less than £500.

Lu Mou spent nearly 10 million yuan (£1.1m) developing a character in the game Justice Online, according to court documents first reported by Chinese tech news site Abacus.

The customised character was then accidentally listed on the in-game marketplace NetEase for just 3,888 yuan by Mr Mou's friend Li Mouscheng.

Mr Mouscheng had been trying to return the character to his friend after being given it to play, however made an error due to being "dizzy from excessive gaming".

A judge at the Hongya County Court of Sichuan Province ruled that the character must be returned to the original owner and that damages of 90,000 yuan must be awarded to the player who bought the character for the discounted price.

The local court also warned people about the dangers of spending too much time playing video games.

The incident comes after China announced strict curfew measures on gamers in an attempt to combat video game addiction in the country.

Children under the age of 18 are banned from playing more than 90 minutes of games per day on a week day, and no more than three hours per day on weekends and holidays.

Authorities at China's General Administration of Press and Publications said the measures were aimed at protecting the "physical and mental health of minors".

The regulators cited concerns that the rise in mobile phone use and online games have caused a significant rise in myopia and other forms of visual impairment.

The new laws in China also prevent children under 16 years old from spending more than 200 yuan per month on in-game items.

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