China Puts Hold on Net Cafe Construction This Year

With government concerns about online gaming growing steadily in China, Beijing has put in place a ban on the opening of new internet cafes for the rest of the year. GigaGamez reports on the country's move, which is largely seen as a response to some high-profile deaths from unhealthily dedicated gamers. From the article: "Honestly [this] shouldn't be that big of a deal if you consider that the Chinese government has already estimated that 113,000 Internet cafes already exist. Add this to the already bizarre limitation of World of Warcraft play time and you have some very unhappy gamers." Update: 03/08 14:52 GMT by Z : GamePolitics has the word that virtual currencies are also to be restricted, in an effort to ensure that the yuan is kept secure.

Comments

Re:NOT a response to deaths from gamers

[nomadic]

Welcome to the 3rd world, the local version of OSHA doesn't exactly have much power.

But...but...the libertarians always told me that if you get rid of labor laws workers become safer and better paid! I don't understand.

Re:NOT a response to deaths from gamers

[khallow]

This isn't a good example because we actually have the opposite effect. Namely, state enforced protection of employers.