China imposes online gaming curbs

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2007-09-17 12:59am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4183340.stm

Gamers in China are facing new limits on how much time they can spend playing their favourite online game.
The government in Beijing is reported to be introducing the controls to deter people from playing for longer than three consecutive hours.

The measures are designed to combat addiction to online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and Lineage II.

More than 20 million Chinese play games regularly, mainly in net cafes.

Extreme devotion

Games are serious business in China. Last year, Chinese players spent almost US$500m on online games.

The government has been encouraging the growth of online gaming. It is hosting a two-day games conference in September in Beijing in the hope of attracting more foreign investment.

But the phenomenal popularity of online games has fuelled concerns that some people may be losing themselves in the virtual worlds of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG).

In one extreme case, a player killed a fellow player who had stolen his virtual sword. The gamer received a suspended death sentence in June.

The measures announced by the Chinese authorities are due to be introduced from October.

Central control

The new system will impose penalties on players who spend more than three hours playing a game by reducing the abilities of their characters.

Gamers who spend more than five hours will have the abilities of their in-game character severely limited.

More than 20 million people play online games in China
Players will be forced to take a five-hour break before they can return to a game.
"The timing mechanism can prevent young people from becoming addicted to online games," said Xiaowei Kou, of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), the body which regulates online gaming.

All the biggest online game operators in China have said they will adopt the new system.

According to the Interfax-China news agency, the gaming firms said they were prepared to sacrifice short-term revenues to create a healthy environment for online gamers.

The operators face little choice as they need government approval to offer online gaming.

Among the games affected in initial trials of the system is the MMORPG game, World of Warcraft, which has 1.5 million players in China alone.

Other games include The Legend of Mir II, The Legend of Mir 3G, Lineage II, Westward Journey Online, Fantasy Westward Journey Online, MU, JX Online, First Myth Online, The World of Legend and Blade Online.

Paradox244 · Post by **Paradox244** » 2007-09-17 06:34pm

China is... odd. It's like they've got the worst of both worlds. They have the dangers of completly unchecked capitalism, and massive exploitation, but they still have the oppressive communist dictator thing going on. As bad as it can be for people to have their lives ruined by this kind of excess, if you're not free to screw up, you're not really free.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2007-09-17 09:00pm

This is completely anathema to a free society, but I can't say that it's necessarily a bad idea if you've already got a dictatorship. Internet and MMO addiction is a lot more serious than most people think, after all.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-09-17 11:25pm

How is this news? I've known about this for years.

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2007-09-17 11:39pm

As much as I find such intimate government meddling distasteful, there really is no excuse for sinking that much of your life into an MMO.

Oh, and make sure to consult DPDP before posting a news article next time. Because if he's heard of it, it's not news.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-09-18 12:25am

Clicked on the link. Sure enough, last update was August 2005

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-09-18 12:31am

Oh snap!

Skgoa · Post by **Skgoa** » 2007-09-18 07:48am

Darth Raptor wrote:there really is no excuse for sinking that much of your life into an MMO.

Yeah, I mean, its only that its FUN. But who would care for that?

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-09-18 08:19am

Skgoa wrote:
Darth Raptor wrote:there really is no excuse for sinking that much of your life into an MMO.
Yeah, I mean, its only that its FUN. But who would care for that?

There's a difference between gaming for fun and gaming to the point that you are wasting your life away. Addiction is a real possibility for everything, including gaming.

ray245 · Post by **ray245** » 2007-09-18 08:24am

Davis 51 wrote:
Skgoa wrote:
Darth Raptor wrote:there really is no excuse for sinking that much of your life into an MMO.
Yeah, I mean, its only that its FUN. But who would care for that?
There's a difference between gaming for fun and gaming to the point that you are wasting your life away. Addiction is a real possibility for everything, including gaming.

The same goes to addiction to drugs right?

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2007-09-18 08:28am

ray245 wrote:
Davis 51 wrote:
Skgoa wrote: Yeah, I mean, its only that its FUN. But who would care for that?
There's a difference between gaming for fun and gaming to the point that you are wasting your life away. Addiction is a real possibility for everything, including gaming.
The same goes to addiction to drugs right?

Are you trying to hint that theres 'drugs for fun' and 'drugs addiction' differance? This topic has been debated into the ground and there exists a clear seperation between 'recreational drugs', such as marijuana, and stuff like crystal meth. If, on the other hand, you were asking if you can be addicted to drugs.... thats retarded.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-09-18 08:53am

Ace Pace wrote:Are you trying to hint that theres 'drugs for fun' and 'drugs addiction' differance? This topic has been debated into the ground and there exists a clear seperation between 'recreational drugs', such as marijuana, and stuff like crystal meth. If, on the other hand, you were asking if you can be addicted to drugs.... thats retarded.

If you think there's a difference between recreational drug use and drug addiction, then yes, there's a parallel to gaming, alcohol, gambling, and everything else under the sun.

I wouldn't put it above ray245 to ask if you can be addicted to drugs, though.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2007-09-18 09:50am

It's all situational.

If people were spending 8 hours a day poking at turds on the street and not eating and actually dying of it, I wouldn't blame the government for making a law banning such behaviour or limiting it to three or two hours a day.

I don't trust most Western countries to "ban stupid" because more likely than not politicians will ban what they think is stupid and not what's irrational, but in a society where they execute bureaucrats for taking bribes I don't see a problem. The main problem is enforcement, and the apparatus is already there in a dictatorship, and in particular a culture of nagging nannies and huge extended families.

I wish libertarians were gamers so they could show their ugly face in this thread, but too bad none of the "people have a right to be stupid" crowd ever shows their face in anything involving non-Americans. Probably because they can't appeal to their vaunted constitution.

Paradox244 · Post by **Paradox244** » 2007-09-18 09:53am

I was the second post in this thread. I am a Libertarian.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2007-09-18 10:06am

Well then, you are contradicting yourself, because libertarianism means people are free from government regulation and China's capitalism should be a perfect society for you. Or are you going to pull no true scotsman fallacy? Libertarianism is not just "liberty" or everything would be libertarianism.

As for if you're not free to screw up you're really not free... I suppose you would say Western countries are not free because they place limits on screwing up? All countries place limits on screwing up, and it's dependent on the culture or the situation how far those limits go.

There is no universal point where government meddling is ideal irrespective of culture or scenario.

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2007-09-18 10:11am

Skgoa wrote:Yeah, I mean, its only that its FUN. But who would care for that?

Please. The point of diversions is that they're actually diversions and not a life unto themselves. 5 + hours a day? That's not a "fun activity", that's a fucking job. Where does your real work fit in? Or school? Or sleep? Family, friends? Real people who exist outside what has become your surrogate life? Yeah, completely healthy I'm sure.

Paradox244 · Post by **Paradox244** » 2007-09-18 10:16am

brianeyci wrote:Well then, you are contradicting yourself, because libertarianism means people are free from government regulation and China's capitalism should be a perfect society for you. Or are you going to pull no true scotsman fallacy? Libertarianism is not just "liberty" or everything would be libertarianism.

As for if you're not free to screw up you're really not free... I suppose you would say Western countries are not free because they place limits on screwing up? All countries place limits on screwing up, and it's dependent on the culture or the situation how far those limits go.

There is no universal point where government meddling is ideal irrespective of culture or scenario.

I'm not that libertarian. A certian level of governmental involvement is unavoidable, and nessicary to prevent exploitation. My comment on screwing up was not as clear as it should be. If a person is not free to make a mistake, like playing to much of a computer game, then he is not free. There are, by nessecity, some limits to this. If a person is not eating or sleeping because of that game, he needs to be in a hospital. But regulating a person's activity to ensure that he is not playing to much of a game is not right, even if there are a few extreme cases.

I'm still not sure if that made sense, but I hope you get my point. I might have been a bit to... extreme in my earlier post, as it is of course nessicary to give up some level of freedom for society to function. I am sorry for my mistake.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-09-18 10:44am

Davis 51 wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:Are you trying to hint that theres 'drugs for fun' and 'drugs addiction' differance? This topic has been debated into the ground and there exists a clear seperation between 'recreational drugs', such as marijuana, and stuff like crystal meth. If, on the other hand, you were asking if you can be addicted to drugs.... thats retarded.
If you think there's a difference between recreational drug use and drug addiction, then yes, there's a parallel to gaming, alcohol, gambling, and everything else under the sun.

"Everything else under the sun" is right. People can even become addicted to things which are at not pleasurable at all, such as abuse or failure.

Darth Raptor wrote:
Skgoa wrote:Yeah, I mean, its only that its FUN. But who would care for that?
Please. The point of diversions is that they're actually diversions and not a life unto themselves. 5 + hours a day? That's not a "fun activity", that's a fucking job.

Just because you think spending 5+ hours a day on something means it's not fun doesn't mean the same of other people.

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2007-09-18 10:52am

Adrian Laguna wrote:Just because you think spending 5+ hours a day on something means it's not fun doesn't mean the same of other people.

It may very well be a fucking blast, complete with spontaneous orgasms. But spending that amount of time every day playing the same game is also stupid and self-destructive. THAT was my point. Just because one is so hopeless that he's personally okay with his meaningless existence doesn't actually make it in any way acceptable.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-09-18 10:57am

Adrian Laguna wrote: Just because you think spending 5+ hours a day on something means it's not fun doesn't mean the same of other people.

Since when is taking things to excess a good thing?

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2007-09-18 11:00am

I think he believed I was contesting the point that addictive games are fun. Well, no fucking shit. How else could they be so addicting if they weren't enjoyable? What I was really disputing was Skgoa's "hey mang chillax its just fun times why you gotta be harshin?".

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2007-09-18 12:06pm

Paradox244 wrote:I am sorry for my mistake.

What?

You didn't make any mistakes man, I understand where you're coming from and maybe I was a bit too harsh. Welcome to the forum. By the way those stars near my name mean total bullshit and that title is default. You don't need to apologize to me for shit, it's not like this is SLAM.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-09-18 01:20pm

Darth Raptor wrote:
Adrian Laguna wrote:Just because you think spending 5+ hours a day on something means it's not fun doesn't mean the same of other people.
It may very well be a fucking blast, complete with spontaneous orgasms. But spending that amount of time every day playing the same game is also stupid and self-destructive. THAT was my point. Just because one is so hopeless that he's personally okay with his meaningless existence doesn't actually make it in any way acceptable.

General Zod wrote:Since when is taking things to excess a good thing?

I never said it was a good thing, I was merely contesting the implication it wasn't fun.

Darth Raptor wrote:Well, no fucking shit. How else could they be so addicting if they weren't enjoyable?

People can be addicted to lots of things that aren't enjoyable, including abuse, failure, and in some cases drugs. Some druggies need their fix not to feel good, but to keep from feeling like utter shit. I woudn't be surprised if some MMO gamers don't really enjoy it any more, they keep doing it simply due to the habit and because they don't know what else to do with their time.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2007-09-18 01:29pm

Amen to that. One guy I work with can and has stayed up to 3am playing WoW when he has work at 7.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2007-09-18 04:14pm

Honestly the only reason I'm against "dont' be fucking stupid" laws is enforcement. If the law can actually be enforced and isn't a "tough on crime" bullshit law which is difficult to enforce I'm all for it. This is a unique situation: all it requires is game developers to change their coding and doesn't need an army of Big Brothers or Secret Police (and even if it does apparatus is already there.)

Freedom can suck my nuts: if the past few years has taught me anything in international affairs it's better to be under a dictator and have a better quality of life than be free and worse off.