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China bans MMORPG play for minors
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"Minors should not be allowed to play online games that have PK [players killing players] content, that allow players to increase the power of their own online game characters by killing other players," Liu Shifa, head of the MOC's Internet Culture Division, which drafts policies governing the online gaming market, told Interfax. "Online games that have PK content usually also contain acts of violence and leads to players spending too much time trying to increase the power of their characters. They are harmful to young people."
Major Impact
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Understandably many of the companies producing online games for the Chinese market are reticent about including age verification software into their games. "We don't want to put the authentication system in our games," a senior official with a Chinese online gaming firm told Interfax. "PK game content is an important and attractive part of almost all MMORPGs. This new regulation will have a major impact on China's online gaming market."
Hard to Regulate?
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Almost half of China's 20 million online gamers play MMORPGs, with many of these being under the age of 18. The new government policy will see profits drop in the sector as its lifeblood is taken away by the regulations. Yet it seems the industry is looking at circumventing the law, seeing it as a necessarily evil in net cafes, but hardly to implement among home users.
Technical Challenges
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The measures are not entirely draconian; perhaps those of us who worry about the health of gamers might welcome another aspect of the new regulations. The authorities want timing mechanisms that would automatically log-off players who after a set number of hours of play.
China's new strict gaming regulations are part of an increased policing effort of online games begun since 2004, as the authorities aim to create a healthy environment for children. There has also been a crackdown on pornographic, violent, gambling and superstitious content on the internet and mobile phone networks.
Source: Interfax
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But seriously, that’s probably the most valid argument I’ve heard yet for banning any non-pornographic game. It’s not because of the violence, but because of the addiction factor. They know that any game involving direct player competition or PvP tends to be addictive to competitive gamers. Regardless of actual genre, its the concept of beating other human players that most people strive for.
They want their youth to be smarter then those nations where students spend too much time playing games and are distracted from their work. Once you become a heavy gamer your priorities are sometimes changed, and their trying to keep their youth's priorities focused on education. Sure it’s probably going to be really hard to implement but if they do get it done then it could have a positive long term effect on their China's future. But it also cuts a very large part of the gaming market out which could also have a very negative impact on their current economy.
This doesn’t mean I would encourage a ban like this, but its makes a lot more sense then the same song and dance we hear from those banning games for violence.
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