Want to Put Game Items in Your Will? Tencent's Got You Covered
Tencent has obtained a patent regarding the ability to inherit digital assets. In a will, we could distribute our virtual items to designated heirs.
As reported by analyst Daniel Ahmad, who specializes in the Chinese gaming market, Tencent has been granted an interesting patent. It proposes a system that allows for the inheritance of virtual items and other goods of this type. This does not apply only to video games, although they seem the most obvious field to apply these solutions.
The timing of the patent may seem curious, as Apple recently announced its own system enabling a user to appoint another person as an administrator who can dispose of digital assets after the owner's death. However, Tencent actually filed the patent application three years ago, and now it has simply been accepted.
Moreover, the solution of the Chinese giant differs from the idea of Apple, because in addition Tencent wants to allow for the transfer of virtual assets through traditional wills. In this case, the testator could endow specific people with the indicated objects instead of setting up a single administrator for their digital assets. For now, it is not known when the company will launch the service.
Such solutions are sorely needed. We spend more and more money on virtual goods and it shouldn't be the case that after our death it's all gone.
Companies selling e.g. games in digital distribution always emphasize that customers do not actually own the purchased games but only buy the rights to use them. This legal solution gives them a lot of freedom and protects them from problems but as the value of users' virtual assets increases it becomes more and more unacceptable that they cannot be transferred to other people, especially when the owner dies.
