When gamers reach the inevitable money-crunch (well, most of us anyway), we tend to try just about anything for the chance to get our hands on some more to feed our hobby. Sofa cushions and stale Cheeto's suffer as we toss them aside to look for loose change, or a child's piggybank 'mysteriously' shatters with no coins in sight. Not all methods are pretty, but they're usually manageable. So when does it finally become ugly?
Ask Li Lin and Li Juan, the Chinese couple who've sold their first three children to fund their addiction to MMOs. Yes, you read that right, they've been breeding not for love, but to fuel their online gaming fire.
They began this disturbing concept shortly after bringing their second child, a baby girl, into the world. They sold her for RMB 3,000 (less than $500) which they quickly burned through. They then sold their first child and, learning from the sale of their previous child, they received RMB 30,000 (about $4,600). Their third child, a boy, suffered the same fate, with his parents receiving another RMB 30,000 for him.
They were only recently turned into authorities when the mother of Li Lin discovered what her son and his girlfriend had been doing.
When the young Chinese couple, who are under 21, were asked if they miss their children, they simply replied, "We don't want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money." Apparently they were unaware they were breaking a law.