“游戏中各种虚拟物品（包括但不限于游戏角色、游戏币、道具等），其所有权归网易公司所有，用户只能在合乎法律规定和游戏规则的情况下使用”
“All virtual artifacts in the game (including character, gold, items, etc), belongs to Netease, and users can only use them in accordance to the game rules and regulations."

This is the rules and regulations set by Netease in their most popular game (before WoW) - Da Hua Xi You II. And this player is wondering why should gaming companies own their belongings. http://bbs.yezizhu.com/viewthread.php?tid=1575192

And I am beginning to feel unease about the current state of virtual worlds.

Something about owning the world, which belongs to the creators, resonance the early days of our own world. In the beginning of our civilization, many societies began to come in touch with the idea of religion, and of creators. That the beginning of our world begins from one or more gods that crafted it, and therefore, all inhabitants, and objects thereof, belongs to the god(s). However, at some point, all these civilizations learnt how to overwrite our god(s), some making use of the images of the powerful beings to control their citizens, some ignore them altogether, and developed a higher sense of control by individuals.

Virtuals worlds resembles more of the stage of early development of human civilizations, where the creators such as Blizzard and Netease owns the world. And what was crafted by individuals, through individuals hardship, is still owned by the creators. All trades of virtual artifacts within the game were seen as fair as long as the "gods" see them as fair. Accumulation of wealth of any kind that leads to any individuals becoming overly powerful is seen as a threat, which of course is supported by American players to a higher extent.

The reason why Chinese players do not buy the idea of the gaming companies owning their characters and items is interesting. Perhaps because Chinese never really believe in god, at least not one god. They pray to many and especially those that are able to help them. And Tao and Buddhism had never assumed god to be almighty, and they too were subjected to the law of the universe or emptiness. Confucianism, on the other hand, never really worry about god, not more than how we should patronage our ancesters.