Tuesday, April 17, 2007

China Moves on Social Fears About Youth Gaming, Limits Minor's Gameplay

China, the second greatest bastion of freedom and liberty on the planet, has decided to implement anti-addiction software in MMORPGs that will essentially limit the amount of time a minor may play a game each day. As of the now, China wants the software to allow usual "points" for the first three hours, half points for the next two, and after that the player will earn no points. After the five hours, players will receive the following message, ""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."

China Limits Minor's Playing Time

Many of the game developers in China say that the measure will not affect their business too much because most gamers in China are adults (about 10% minors). A minor will have to input their government ID number into the game so that it will know if he is a minor or not. If I were a kid, I would get around this so fast. Any kid addicted to an MMORPG is not going to let a little thing like getting an older person's ID number stop him. What are they going to arrest him? The real problem is that all online users will have to register with their real names. Wait, wait...China is not all about autonomy and privacy?

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