Chinese government limiting kids' online play...

[Goronmon]

According to this article (http://english.people.com.cn/200704/10/eng20070410_364977.html), the chinese government is ordering online game operators to develop systems to make playing past a 3 hour limit less rewarding for the player.

The government yesterday issued a regulation, which takes effect on April 15, demanding online operators set up a "game fatigue system" that encourages players under 18 to play less than 3 hours a day.

Online gamers will also be required to register using real names and identity card numbers to indicate if they are younger than 18. In other words, after the limit, players would begin to earn less (ie. experience, maybe even fewer items, depending on the implementation) for their time spent in-game.

For those who followed WoW's development early on, the current rest system began as a similar ruleset, where after a certain amount of time playing, characters would earn less experience.

Taken from Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org)

[Kweli]

I feel sorry for them.... sure they have a culture that is deep into games... but they seem to have little freedom

[Kamalot]

This is another interesting note:After the 5-hour limit, players will be subjected every 15 minutes to the warning: "You have entered unhealthy game time, please go offline immediately to rest. If you do not, your health will be damaged and your points will be cut to zero."

[Gorvi]

This has been in the planning stages for quite a while now, i had thought it had taken effect over a year ago.

[Goronmon]

Where are you getting that it applies to everyone?

[CrashCart]

This has been in the planning stages for quite a while now, i had thought it had taken effect over a year ago.
I was pretty sure this was talked about a long time ago, too. I guess it was never implemented? I thought it had.

Not a terrible idea considering the amount of addiction in that market that we hear about. But it's always sad when people can't realize they have a problem without having a third party step in to intervene. Besides, I'm sure if people are addicted enough that they will circumvent it somehow or just play even more accounts or something to get around it.

[Kamalot]

Where are you getting that it applies to everyone?
Ooo-p. My bad. Reading comprehension FTW!

[Goronmon]

Great, now my previous post has no meaning!

[Johan]

If the nanny state controls everything you do, isn't it responsible if anything at all bad happens to you?

Just wondering if a billion Chinese could sue their government in a class-action lawsuit, in an American court of course, for damages based on, well...whatever!

[Xerxes]

Wouldn't that say something about their need for escapism?

[Kamalot]

Great, now my previous post has no meaning!
Couldn't one say that about all your posts? ;)

[wezlypipz]

This seems like a good move, but they should lower the age to 14.

[BPM]

The Gold Farming Industry takes a big blow. :p

[Ultima Thulian]

Those crazy commies...

[Thenetcase]

Hey, I haven't known any Chinese gamers i even enjoyed playing with. I get along great with my Chinese friends, but online, i don't game w/ any. I've never known one who was fun. Weird.

[Goronmon]

Couldn't one say that about all your posts? ;)Ooooh, burn!

[Kamalot]

Ooooh, burn!
You need one of those 'come back joke' books. :D

[Dag-Sabot]

I guess China doesn't like "videogames" cutting into their kids' valuable fish-gutting and sneaker-sowing time.

[drakkarim]

I guess China doesn't like "videogames" cutting into their kids' valuable fish-gutting and sneaker-sowing time.

or that gold farming pays better (yeah yeah i know...)

while i think the idea is good, i would say that allowable time should be much higher for the weekends, say 10 hours per day.

[Ghost Rider]

Wouldn't that say something about their need for escapism?

lol, thats the first time i've looked at it that way. They become addicted to 'living' in the virtual world because it's better than their real world.

[blackzc]

This seems like a good move, but they should lower the age to 14.

Parents? Responsible adults? Naa, why? just let the government tell us how to live. :rolleyes:


If me playing LOTR online for 60 hours a week causes me to lose my girl my house my job, whos fault is that?

[Disgustipated]

Hahaha, I wish they'd implement this in the US. Too many addicted MMO kids fucking up their lives by playing MMORPG's for 18 hours a day.

[Xerxes]

lol, thats the first time i've looked at it that way. They become addicted to 'living' in the virtual world because it's better than their real world.

Exactly. I mean it's not exactly painted as a fun loving good time in some of these places where everyone is over doing it in MMO games. Hell, what if they are so warped, instead of trying to get real food they just head over to Ironforge for beer battered chicken or whatever. The body dies while mind does what it does. <shrug>

[Royal Fool]

I feel sorry for them.... sure they have a culture that is deep into games... but they seem to have little freedom
Although China is growing and evolving very rapidly, the press and the internet remain in the dark ages over there. In particular, the government employs tens of thousands of people whose job is to monitor and censor internet traffic - imagine that.

[Tel Prydain]

I’ve posted this before, but I feel compelled to say it again….
The sad thing about China is that our media has blinded us to what is really going on over there. If you filter out the news items that talk about the economic boom (and how much money western companies can make over there) you are left with a far different picture of life in China.
This is a country where the corrupt government rules absolutely, and whose human rights record is a total joke. They have ‘Mobile Execution Vans’, for crying out loud. This is a place wherein political decent will get you vanished.
I know a few Chinese nationals (some of which come from ‘annexed’ territories) who are dismayed and saddened by the fact that the chance to make money essentially blind the west.