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China Limits Teenage Internet Gaming

 

Last Edited: Tuesday, 17 Jul 2007, 1:27 PM PDT

 

Created: Tuesday, 17 Jul 2007, 1:27 PM PDT

 

Credit: MyFox

 

By MIN LEE

 

AP Entertainment Writer

 

 

 

 

 

HONG KONG -- The Chinese government has launched a campaign to limit the number of hours teenagers spend online playing games.

 

 

 

Under new rules that took effect Monday, Chinese Internet gaming companies must install a program that requires users to enter their ID card numbers. After three hours, players under 18 are prompted to stop and "do suitable physical exercise."

 

 

 

If they continue, the software slashes by half any points earned in the game. All points are wiped out if players stay on more than five hours.

 

 

 

The program is part of a government campaign to combat Internet gaming addiction, "clean up the Internet environment" and "promote civilized Internet use," according to guidelines issued by China's General Administration of Press and Publication.

 

 

 

About 10 percent of China's more than 30 million Internet gamers were underage as of the end of 2006, according to the Chinese newspaper National Business Daily.

 

 

 

The government guidelines don't flat-out denounce the popular pastime, saying "measured gaming is good for the brain, but gaming addiction hurts the body."

 

 

 

The explanation says the three-hour cutoff is based on the time it takes to play the strategy chess game Go.

 

 

 

Gaming companies Shanghai-based The9 -- which runs the popular "World of Warcraft" online game in China -- and Shenzhen-based Tencent both said Tuesday they have started using the screening software.

 

 

 

The9 spokesman James Zhao said he doesn't expect the new restrictions to affect business because most of The9's users are adults. "World of Warcraft," from Vivendi SA's Blizzard Entertainment Inc., is the world's most popular online game and has more than 3.5 million subscribers in China.

 

 

 

Tencent said in a statement it's too early to tell if the screening will hurt its sales. The South China Morning Post quoted a spokesman as saying youngsters can beat the new screening program by using false identities.

 

 

 

"It's hard to tell online if the player is a teenager or an adult. Many of them can register for the game using someone else's ID or even a fake ID," Song Yang told the newspaper.

 

 

 

Both companies voiced support for the new government measures.

 

 

 

The online gaming industry "will develop in a healthy, harmonious direction" because of the monitoring system, Zhao said.

 

 

 

President Hu Jintao ordered regulators in January to promote a "healthy online culture" to protect the government's stability, according to state media.

 

 

 

Though China's communist government promotes Internet use, it has also set up an extensive surveillance and filtering system to prevent Chinese from accessing material considered obscene or politically subversive.

 

 

 

 

 

Discuss.

as much as I hate nanny state culture its probably a good thing.

Yup probably be a good thing...No doubt some hardcore WoW fan will find a way around it.

I would hate this, although it is probably better for ones health. I feel personally that i know when to stop playing and get some fresh air. I do not need a pc to tell me this.

Someone has already found a way around that User ID requirement :ohnoes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or they will soon.

it doesn't work on rs though? just on Chinese games which will severely limit it :?

it doesn't work on rs though? just on Chinese games which will severely limit it :?

Its games hosted in China. For example if runescape had a server there I would expect them to be told they had to implement this too.

Thats the parents job not the Governments. If they wanted to improve quality of life for kids, parenting courses should be given in school time and better courses ran for new parents on how to raise their kids.

Wouldn't want them getting headaches for an overnight session of gaming.

 

 

 

Yeah thats all the around 24hrs will cause, a headache the next day.

 

 

 

Long story short, went to my mates at around 1:00PM, stayed overnight and we got gaming, 2 mates and his bro plus Tiger Woods, Pro 5 and Fifa 04 = Staying up all night. One mate feel asleep at 8:00 am, the other about 8:30 am, I continued to play Scarface until they got up. Well we kinda forced one of em to wake up at 1:10pm. And I left his house at about 9:00pm.

Gee, ain't communism great?!?! I laugh at this idea...losing points? I guess they mean in-game money. What about single-player "offline" games? Those are ok, but "excessive" online gaming is bad? If my government ever tried to tell me how much time spent playing games is "excessive", I'll revolt!

you guys probably heard this before but, a south korean man died for obsessively playing starcraft for over 42 or 86 hours. stereotypically since both chinese and koreans are both heavily populated by asian gamers, they would really need this change for their sake. :XD:

This is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard and I don't know how they can do it either. They can't put updates into all the single player games that are currently on the market, there isn't a way too. So this can only be done in future releases for games there. It's not the governments job to limit people's entertainment.

Wow China offically sucks.

 

 

 

Thank God I am born in America. I love video games and probably is highly addicted to them like anyone else, but not to the point where I do not get sleep.

 

 

 

Also, its always up to the parents to what the kids do, not the government.

 

 

 

I hope this plan seriously fails, for gamers everywhere.

 

 

 

~Defender~

I don't spend my time online playing many games, the occasional time waster now and then, but mostly talking to people, Habbo Hotel, listening to music, and studying.

This is stupid.

 

 

 

One of the big things that will happen is those who play for long periods of time will just have more than one account, bypassing the whole thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Either way, go communism? :roll:

If this in anyway reduces goldfarming, I'm happy.

And this will benefit China how...?

 

Only with more hackers, code-bypassers, and angry people trying to stop it.

Ah, that explains the sudden lack of green dragon hides and bones on Runescape lol... ;) They can only bot for 3 hours per day.. yay!

I don't see how this will affect anything. When they had no restrictions, teens played. now with restrictions, what makes anyone think some huge changes will occur? Teens will probably just find methods to use illegal codes. Plus, most of WoW players in china are adults as the article said. Very few people will be affected.

as much as I hate nanny state culture its probably a good thing.

 

Pretty much took the words right out of my mouth.

I think it's a good attempt by the CCP to help 'reform' those who game too much. But we'll have to wait and see if it works or not.

 

 

 

And slightly off-topic... Learn to be tolerant of other forms of government please. It's not like your own country respects all of your 'rights' either...

If this in anyway reduces goldfarming, I'm happy.

 

 

 

That's the first thing that popped into my head, too. :P

They're Chinese.

 

 

 

Which means they're asian.

 

 

 

Which means if they're desperate enough to play more than 3 hours a day, they just so happen to be smart enough to launch their own satellite into space, set up their own server and play from that.

 

 

 

Because they're asian.

 

 

 

And asians are smart.

 

 

 

Get it?

 

 

 

....Okay, just [bleep] China.

Yup probably be a good thing...No doubt some hardcore WoW fan will find a way around it.

 

Except for the ones over 18 O:)

 

 

 

Its for the better

 

 

 

But its way to communist for me..(please don't flame me if thats the wrong term...I think it is)

K, I think some of you are just taking what you have been taught that "Communist suck" and are trying to apply that here. This has nothing to do with communism. It is a just an attempt to get people to lead healthier life styles. Personally, I only see games like WoW and any other mmo being the problematic games. How much do you see someone playing oblivion or halo for over 3 hours?

 

 

 

It's also only for minors, which isnt a problem really.