Gaming in China

[deslona]

I am putting this in the political forum as this is a serious topic and general would just kill it.

China seeks to 'limit game hours'

The Chinese government has clamped down on the amount of time youngsters can spend playing online games, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

Under-18s who play for more than three consecutive hours a day will have limits imposed on the amount of points they can score, the agency reported.

Online game companies based in China have been given three months to install the so-called anti-addiction software.

It is part of an on-going attempt to limit how long people are online.

A recent report from the China National Children's Centre said that 13% of under-18s who used the web were addicted to online gaming.

Unhealthy game time

I can see gaming companies tailoring games for the Chinese market
Julien Pain, Reporters Without Borders

Online gaming is hugely popular in China. Beijing-based analyst firm CCID Consulting estimates that there are 17.8 million fee-paying gamers in China, about 20% of which are under 20 years old. A farther 10% are younger than 16.

Chinese gaming firms such as NetEase and Shanda Interactive Entertainment have until 15 July to install software which will halve the number of points gamers can score if they play for more than three hours, said the report.

Determined gamers who play for more than five hours will get no points at all and face an on-screen warning that they are entering "unhealthy game time".

In order to verify their age, gamers will be required to register for games using their real names and identity card number.

This is the latest salvo in an ongoing war against alleged net addiction.

Willing to listen

Last month, the Chinese authorities banned any new cyber cafes from opening this year in an effort to combat addiction. It has also set up a department, charged with monitoring the content of games.

Games which offer a view of history at odds with the official version in China, such as the Swedish game Heart of Iron which shows Tibet as an independent state, have been banned.

Boot-camps have been set up to provide military-style training in an effort to wean youngsters away from the net.

Julien Pain, of the press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders, said he was unsure of how the Chinese government would impose the new restrictions.

"With peer to peer networks gamers can download any version they want," he said.

It is unclear whether the Chinese authorities intend to extend the restrictions to games developed in the West.

If it did, Mr Pain said gaming firms would be willing to listen.

"China is such a big and important market. Companies are ready to make compromises. We have seen it with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and I can see gaming companies tailoring games for the Chinese market," he told the BBC News website .

According to the Chinese 13% of under-18 web users are games addicts

I've seen this addiction, it's scary. Children go into their room and chat and play games (QQ games are very popular here) and don't come out of their rooms.
The one-child policy means that the parents dote on their children and would do anything to keep them from being unhappy (say turning of the damn computer). The reason alot of students do this is because of the pressure from everyone in their life to do well in thier studies. Just to compare to the western world the average Chinese student would probably have the high school exams - style pressure from the ages 10 and up.
That's alot.
If you ever see a Chinese born and educated person they will probably will be wearing glasses or contacts (or if they are rich - nothing because of an eye operation). This isn't from playing a computer, but from reading, memorising, reciting all the time...ALL the time!

Maybe you are thinking - so the Chinese kids are really educated?
No, the mentod and style of education is atrocious, appaling, even pathetic at times. Some of the things the Children are taught they will never learn and there is completely no practical application of the education they recieve at most of the schools. A waste of time;

An example;
For an English class a (Chinese) colleage of mine was going ot teach 'divisor', 'divedend' and 'quotient' to her 8 year old students for maths. The students would never remember let alone use these words, so what is the point of teaching it? It was her lesson plan she designed herself, and she isn't the only one in teaching this kind of 'nonsense'. She couldn't even say these words correctly.

Do not misunderstand me, the kids are smart, sure. Very very intelligent. But the ones that really shine are the ones that adopt a western attitude.

This is becasue they are more mature.
The average Chinese at the age of 22 has not had sex, and maybe has never had a bpyfriend or girlfriend. Mentally and sexally they are 14 years old. But this is changing as more are being affected by western media and influences.
The southern part of China is also more progressive than this.

But despite off if the progress in development of the country the govenment has really failed (in my eyes) to take responsiblity for the shortcommings of it's education - and the by-products it produces.

Boot camps? Forcing the companies to modify their games so the kids stop? This won't work.
How about making the education more fluid and fun. The pressure will always stay, when you are one person in 1.4 billion looking for a job... a GOOD job, there will be alot of pressure. But you shouldn't have to hide from the world in a game.

Do you think this is an appropriate response by the govenment to try and curb this?

[Korriken]

they will just buy multiple games and alternate. all systems have a work around, and it is simple human nature to work around real and percieves problems.

[deslona]

At 4/11/07 06:35 PM, Korriken wrote: they will just buy multiple games and alternate. all systems have a work around, and it is simple human nature to work around real and percieves problems.

Of course, exactally my point. The Chinese youth are rebellious (albeit passively). The govenment is approaching the problem from the wrong angle - that is making the problem less rather than removing the causes.

How would you stop Chinese youth from playing the games too much?

[Boltrig]

Source? And link.

[deslona]

At 4/12/07 11:14 AM, Boltrig wrote: Source? And link.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6544759 .stm
The BBC artical I used in the first post,
http://www.hardcoreware.net/china-curbing-onl ine-gaming-for-kids/
Related article

[HogWashSoup]

its china. those people would cut of their own arms if it was for their country.

its not america where if you take away one small right, there is an uproar, and if it is said to be bettoer for the country, then there is a bigger uproar and the screaming of "lies! lies! lies!"

in china, if you take away some rights and say its for the better of the country, they will follow.

this thing is pretty normal thing for china. if it happened in america, heads would roll.

[Dre-Man]

OH NOEZ! NO MORE POINTS?! THAT MAKES THE GAME JUST SOOOOOO MUCH LESS ENTERTAINING!

[hongkongexpress]

Ahhh this just confirms my desires to go back to college, do well, get a good job in the states. So that my children can enjoy Great American freedoms. (no sarcasm). How dare they regulate my freedoms to CHOOSE to life a healthy or unhealthy life style. give me brain junk food (games, tv, movies, sex media, alchole, Video game addictions), or give me death. no I'm serious. I'm sick and tired of people trying to regulate things that are unhealthy for me.
Hell soon beer and smokes will be regulated up here in Canada. Well fuck this I'm going down to America, where i can gouge on unhealthy things that will shorten my life span! Just for the freedom of it!

[JimmyDimples]

It's not just limiting games... China's even getting a Big Brother system into logging on.

Here'e a little something from An article from the Financial Times.

China cracks down on online IDs

By Mure Dickie in Tokyo

Published: April 9 2007 22:08 | Last updated: April 9 2007 22:08

In China, even when you’re an elf, the authorities want to know who you are.

Under a “real name verification system” to crack down on internet usage – and prevent internet addiction among the young – Chinese police are to check the identity card numbers of all would-be players of internet games.

While it is unclear how rigorously the system will be enforced, Monday’s move highlights Beijing’s desire to more closely regulate the internet and reduce the potential for anonymity on a world wide web where, as a New Yorker cartoon famously put it, “nobody knows you are a dog”.

Online role-playing games are hugely popular in China, with millions of people regularly logging on to play as elves, dwarves, magicians and martial artists in vast virtual worlds.

Chinese leaders recently announced a broad push to “purify” the internet of socially and politically suspect activity, and have been keen to push users to use their true identities online. Beijing is also looking at ways of implementing a “real name” system for bloggers to curb "irresponsible" commentary and intellectual property abuse.

State media this year quoted Hu Qiheng of the China Internet Association as saying that bloggers’ real names would be kept private “as long as they do no harm to the public interest”.

Now THIS is scary. And on top of that... the CCP has decided not to allow any more new internet cafes to open here.

[StealthBeast]

Not gonna work.

Gaming companies wont put intense research into stopping people from playing more than 3 hours...

so all u need is 1 guy to crack the software and it all good, the game devs could care less, the gamers are happy, and the government can't possibly keep releasing updated versionst versions of control software..

[MortifiedPenguins]

As we can see through history, the Chinese government has been very effective with oppressing thier people. This is so going to work.

Sarcasm intended.

[Nayhan]

that's alot of words

[Cheekyvincent]

its bad for your health if u play for 20 hours. see what happens to your brain then. there are loopholes

[deslona]

At 4/13/07 01:30 PM, HogWashSoup wrote: stuff

Yes, true. But it isn;t the people who have to do that it is the companies that want to sell games here. China is relying on it's massive consumer base to pull all the companies into line.

At 4/13/07 05:13 PM, hongkongexpress wrote: Stuff

I agree with you. I wouldn't want my children to be brought up here either. Even if it was the best school here. There are better schools elsewhere in the world where the kids can live.
And I personally don;t like being told by a govenment what to do.

At 4/13/07 06:56 PM, JimmyDimples wrote: more suff

Now THIS is scary. And on top of that... the CCP has decided not to allow any more new internet cafes to open here.

There are other reasons of course, the main being the cost of 'rehab' to the economy. Rather than the welfare of the students themselves.

Basically the govenment is blaming the companies for making something fun becasue of the failings in the education system.
Of course 3+ hours staring at a computer screen is bad for you.

At 4/13/07 06:58 PM, StealthBeast wrote: Not gonna work.

Of course not. But that is the way people do things in China. The way of thinking is different.
And some would say, inefficient and inneffectual.