This is old news (from July 7 2006) but its the first riot I’ve seen in a virtual world. The platform is, apparently, The Fantasy of the Journey West by Netease.

I gather most of the remarks in the image above are obscenities. The events seem to have been triggered by the image of the rising sun appearing on the wall in a Chinese government office (below).

According to EastSouthWestNorth,

…Peking University Department of Sociology professor Xia Xueluan said that a natonal flag is not an ordinary commercial product because it is the symbol of a sovereign nation. Therefore, to hand the flag of one sovereign nation at the symbolic place for another sovereign nation is a form of public challenge. Professor Xia said that the game’s planning and operation department should consider the social meaning of the game instead of the mere commercial value. While entertaining the public, they ought to educate and lead people to make the proper value judgments.

[Bejing Evening News via EastSouthWestNorth]

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