General Discussion

China has announced that it will be creating new rules to curb what the call "undesirable" elements of online games.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said it would issue new rules cracking down on "undesirable" elements of online games amid fears of growing Internet addiction as the number of players soars, state media reported on Thursday.

The number of online game players in China rose 23 percent to 40.17 million last year, Xinhua news agency said this week, citing an industry survey. Regular subscribers, accounting for over half the players, soared 30 percent.

The demand propelled online games sales to top 10.57 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) in 2007, up 61.5 percent, the agency said.

The industry's growth comes amid media reports of soaring rates of online addiction, and officials blaming Internet obsessions for the majority of juvenile crime.

"Although China's online gaming industry had been hot in recent years, online games are regarded by many as a sort of spiritual opium and the whole industry is marginalized by mainstream society," Thursday's China Daily quoted Kou Xiaowei, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication, as saying.

Read the full article here.

I read articles like this and realize that I'm looking at what our own future may become very soon. Amid the rampant negativity towards games and this cultural misconception that it's up to the government to be responsible for children instead of the parents, it's understandable to think that, as far as game censoring is concern, we (here in America at least) may soon follow in the footsteps of Communist China.

On another note though, the article mentions "illegal internet cafes." By the descriptions (and the mention of banning accounts) I get the feeling that these were gold farming "cafes" that were closed down.

Numbers on the full article are a bit suspect: 500+ cafes, and 1400 computers. That averages to under 3 computers per cafe, so the definition is somewhat questionable, unless there's a typo in the article.

I think that the problem with china is that they have prohibited more things that in EU and USS is normal, and the life don´t cost the same there than here. All people want to fell the freedon, an with the games they can feel more free. When China will be governed by the Chinesse, all will come to normality as in other countrys.

Damn online players are not devoting enough time to enriching their communist greedhead masters.

I'm so glad I live in South Africa...chances of the government caring about something like this are very slim. They do have a strange way of approving the most random of laws though :/

Anyway, I really think that the Chinese government need to mind their own business. I'm sure parents are perfectly capable of controlling their own children - especially since they are only allowed one unless they want to face harsh consequences.

CHIpwNA

Originally posted by Finwolven

Numbers on the full article are a bit suspect: 500+ cafes, and 1400 computers. That averages to under 3 computers per cafe, so the definition is somewhat questionable, unless there's a typo in the article.

Anyway, what this says to me is that the Chinese people are generally unhappy and have given up hope that life can get better.  Not surprising, and it doesn't bode well for the U.S., where people seem more and more unable to figure out how to find pleasure in the real world.

You guys really need to get your heads out of the sand. One article and you think you know everything about China's government and the online gaming industry there.

The problem isn't the current government, it was the previous one, they went some three decades with minimal contact with the capitalist west and this meant that the majority of Chinese people have led a very sheltered life from modern technology, so now that they have it, they are embracing it full on, with the parents and their generation having no awareness of the inherent dangers involved for their children. Addiction to online games is real, and it has hit China harder than countries that have been introduced to the games steadily rather in the span of three or so years.

It is not bad for them to look into ways to prevent such addiction, they, like the US, have a group who believe violence is linked to gaming, but they and that opinion is not what is motivating these things. The actual measures taken so far have been purely to combat addiction problems. People do steal, vandalise and hurt others in the name of feeding their addiction, whether it is alcohol, drugs, gambling or online gaming.

A little weird perhaps that gaming could be talked about in the same breath as those things but it is true, as the only recorded death associated by law with a computer game is the suicide of an Everquest player some seven years ago now in the US. In China they've had several suicides and violent crimes directly linked to MMOs now, it is becoming a problem there.

Bad news sells, people are blowing this out of proportion, the government is just taking the measures it needs to, to ensure the sanity and safety of it's people, as to date they have proven that can not control themselves. I wish the US government and some European governments would wake up and take gaming more seriously, to combat things like poor standards in the gaming industry, illegal trade of virtual goods and the out of control virtual sex/gambling industry.

bobfish, the problem is that the other countries you mentioned (US/EU) are not communistic or dictatorships. In other words, the government does not control our lives. THIS IS A GOOD THING.

The US government has proven time and again that they don't understand the gaming industry. That's why they shouldn't poke their noses deeper into it than it already is. Otherwise, they'll make the situations worse.

Also, in response to your comment about "to combat things like poor standards in the gaming industry, illegal trade of virtual goods and the out of control virtual sex/gambling industry," I just have to wonder... what in the world are you playing? "Poor standards" are determined by the players... if they don't like a game or idea, they won't buy into it and the game/company will fall. There is nothing currently illegal about the trading/selling of virtual goods, aside from it ruining in-game stuff (which is something the company itself should be responsible for, less they loose players). And the last one well... that just emphasizes my confusion as to what the heck you're playing.