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Chinese Govt Limits Kids to 3hrs of Online Gaming
1MC writes "The Chinese govt is requiring game houses to modify MMOG's to restrict under 18 users to 3 hours "productive" gameplay per day. This "anti-addiction" software must be in place within 4 months, with games not compliant by July 15 liable to be shut down in China. Net9, Shanda and NetEase will be moving to comply with the government regulations. Users will have to register with their real names and Chinese identity card numbers to be allowed access to the games."
I'd rather say, thank-god-i'm-not-in-china!
That kids getting caught faking identities to get around this would be dealt with harshly by the government.
Parents (or kids?) going to jail because junior wanted to play WoW for more than 3 hours a day and faked ID?
China is really repressive of their younger generation gaming online, primarilly because their dissident groups start up from these under 18 people being online. Stopping them from gaming as much will help disrupt bonds between the groups and cause slightly less anti-government behavior.
Of course I think their system will collapse in a few years because of this anyway, but it is likely to stave off the inevitable for a little while at least.
Looks like I'll have to look to India for my gold farming.
Can't they just restrict their manufacturing to 3 hours a day too?
...so that under-18 players could be restricted to certain servers, and the rest of us could play in peace, basking in the huge decrease in leetspeek, ninja looters, griefers & beggars.
Seriously though, this whole "nanny state" the Chinese have going over there just cracks me up. I wonder if one can "bank" one's hours by not playing for a few days, in order to have enough time to join an end-game raid without worrying about one's big-brother software logging you off at an inopportune time.
Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.'
How about it starts by improving the country's dismal human rights record? I would be a lot less worried about my kid playing too much WoW than I would be about the possibility that he could be thrown in prison for the rest of his life because he made a speech at his school bad-mouthing the government.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
FTFA: "Under the system, known as the "anti-online game addiction system", the first 3 hours of play for each day is considered "healthy", during which players will be awarded full points in the virtual world. The next 2 hours will yield only half the normal points and there will be no points after 5 hours. "
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Each time I read about China and their antics in the media, I increasingly dislike the country. I know we're not entirely free here in the western world, but at least we can make our own mistakes.
Nanny states are bullshit, just come visit the UK in the not to distant future and you'll see what I mean (in fact, regardless of the nature of the previous link, we're already a nanny state).
ilovegeorgebush
Users will have to register with their real names and Chinese identity card numbers to be allowed access to the games.
THAT is the real reason. Register for this...soon register for ALL internet use.
"We want to know who you are and where you go."
It is so sad that it has to be a country like China that finally gets it right.
MMO-s are addictive, they are designed to be addictive, not as a controlled substance but as a physiological trick of continuous reinforcement. Very soon people do not have fun in these game, rather they can't actually quit, they need to play to feel good again and regular life seems devoid of this feel good ingredient.
Alas I know too well what it is like to be addicted to an MMO. And I consider myself lucky to still have a job (thank god for my wife).
Moreover asian countries are at even more risk than US. There is a cultural affinity to the kinds of achievments that MMOs offer: "grind=advancement" and people get sucked in a lot more. Regulating gaming seems outrageous, until you realize that we're getting into a territory where we are not talking about games anymore...
Due to the prevalence of these cafes and the ungodly amount of time younger kids WASTE here, hopefully these laws will encourage these kids to do other more productive things in their free time. Kids are not known to be responsible, especially on items good for their own welfare. I'm not saying a little wasted time is a bad thing, but spending so much time on these type of games can have a serious negative impact on the social life of the kids and their school grades. I know several people who have dropped out of college or have trouble holding jobs due to these addictions. Granted, I'm sure some kids will find ways to get around this (like alternate between cafes). But it is the hassle of doing so that will hopefully encourage kids to limit themselves.
Ah yes, the obligatory anti-US spiel. On-topic to _any_ Slashdot discussion.
So is this something "repressive" by the Chinese government? What would you say if your own government tried to impose something like this?
Perhaps I'm the only one (and thus I will be modded into oblivion) but I don't think this is so bad. We are, after all, talking about minors here. As a poster above mentioned, America (lots of countries, actually) doesn't allow drinking under the age of 21; why is this? Because minors are not capable of responsibly handling something like alcohol. Well, guess what: most minors aren't capable of responsibly handling gaming either if they feel the need to do it in a public venue for more than THREE FREAKING HOURS per day! Three hours! That's almost 25% of your waking time playing a game. Notice that this does not restrict adults, and it does not constrict what anyone (including minors) do in the privacy of their own home. If any kid is so addicted that limiting his net-cafe time to three hours a day sounds like a terrible punishment, they are in need of help.
I'm 19, so I'm in the same ballpark; I dunno what Chinese society is like firsthand, but I sure as hell don't have more than three hours a day to dedicate to a single asinine activty every single day. In my opinion, anyone who does much more than three hours of gaming in internet cafe's a day is quite analogous to someone with a substance abuse problem; they're both physically damaging, overly time-consuming, money-wasting, and socially awkward.
The 24x7 Chinese Communist Party Youth League meetings in popular role-playing games have been rescheduled to 1700-2000 hours, effective August 1.
Unchanged is the mandatory attendance policy.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
As much as I find it amusing to see these MMORPG wastoids be voluntary drawn out of society (I do oppose the China's big brother methods, though), I am happy to see a force intervening.
These sad souls need guidance, rehab, a life, something outside the warm cocoon of fat rolls and 3d dwarf landscapes.
This claim seems to amount to "Because your government is wrong about certain topics, clearly every citizen of that government has no standing to be critical of any other government." No individual citizen has the capacity to control government policy so it seems to me a bit silly to claim that we all must have faulty reason when speaking on foreign governmental matters as a result of our government's lack of vision.
The USA does this quite a bit, and we really don't have so many subversive groups, because the way that it is done makes their subversive groups look like fringe crazies.
It helps a lot that in many cases, the subversive groups are fringe crazies.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
and wake up now -
if you BAR kids from doing something they REALLY like and WANT to do in their development stages, and instead FORCE them to do whatever society/you think right and should be done, what you do is going to come back to you as payback when kids reach adulthood and start to exhibit personality/psychological deviations.
ANYTHING that is suppressed gets bigger and strikes back at a later date.
this same trend was here in turkey aroun 15-20 years ago, all kids were put to the "career race", which was something that was seen as both good for the kids, and for the society. (hey, you make the kid race for ranking at the top in the national university entrance exams, which guarantees them a good education and then later a respectable, high salary job, what can be wrong with that)
and 15 years later now, majority of those generations are experiencing personality quirks, antisocial behaviour, a degree of childish selfishness, (which leads to MANY marriages to breaking up), strike-back from stress that is accrued in 15 years of organizational education/racing, aimlessness in life and valueing/judging everything on merits of career/power/monetary values and not able to appreciate real values like love, compassion, friendship, family and so on. hell, there are so many stuff that i dont know if i can stop once i start.
you, chinese are total morons for approving that, or forcing your kids to forfeit their present for their future, a future which never comes and constant sacrifice continues while trying to reach it.
time spent NEVER comes back. NEVER EVER. at deathbed what people think are what they HAVE done, not what they MEANT to do.
Read radical news here
I agree with you that, in today's society/culture, the chance that many high school kids will exercise moderation when it comes to consuming booze is pretty slim.
However, do you think if American society didn't pound the "drinking is bad, drinking is naughty, drinking is dangerous, you should NEVER drink" message into kids' heads (as opposed to "alcohol is a beverage that people enjoy with meals & in social settings, but, like anything else, drinking too much is not a good idea"), would the average high school senior binge-drink as much as he currently would when he got his hands on some booze?
And what if it was legal for said high school senior to go to the grocery store & buy some beer? Might that take away some of the "taboo" of drinking, and therefore the feeling that, upon "scoring" some beer. one needs to guzzle every drop in sight, because, "hey, who knows when we'll get this chance again?"
Just thinking out loud ;)
Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.'
...rap is for idiots without jobs or a real culture.Um, poverty is a real culture. I grew up with a single mom that probably messed with drugs a bit more than she should have. Then I messed around with drugs more than I should have. I grew up in poverty and through a lot of hard work I've gotten a college education and so has my sister. The fact that we are all where we are today doesn't for an instant mean that we can't identify with music that targets those living in a "self perpetuating cycle of self-inflicted poverty and crime". The culture of poverty even the culture of crime is about improving your situation. I know it may not seem like it from the outside looking in, but drug addiction and crime are both things that many people do in order to improve their situation if only for a short time. Eating is better than not, getting high is better than jumping off a bridge. Other issues are highly emotional, it's hard when a child or relative dies because you cannot afford proper medical treatment, it's hard when someone becomes an alcoholic rather than a moderate drinker, it's hard when your parents argue every night because of bills, it's hard for people who are black and cannot afford a train ticket in order to look for work. You sit on a high horse claiming that this music contributes to the problem, when you do this you take focus away from the real problems, like drug addiction, lack of education, lack of jobs and a general lack of hope a lot kids face every day. You also apply a double standard when you don't say the same of art like Tom Sawyer, Gangs of New York, and many other stories, movies and songs that stretch back to the begining of man.
Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
But the latter image is more humorous! Although it's one of those "I can't believe I'm laughing at something to horrible" cases.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Maybe something to do with months to years of responsible training of proper use of combat equipment, in a job that requires a reasonable amount of responsibility and respect for others. Versus, a high school or college kid that has neither responsibility, nor respect for others getting drunk at a party and killing themselves or an innocent on the way home, which happens far more often than an irresponsible military member doing the same. It's not hard to remain ignorant on the differences between the two when you don't bother thinking about it for 5 seconds. There's much more at play than simply the age of the participants.
Saying the big human rights problem with China is their restriction of online gaming is like saying the problem with Bob Jones University is not supporting Linux on the network.
You think that the under 18 crowd is the leetspeek, ninja looters, griefers & beggars group? You obviously haven't met these people in real life. Some of the worse have kids!!!
Let alone the fact this is the typical selfish reaction from people who only think freedom works when someone else doesn't do something they don't like.
no, the solution is for you to ignore the people who cause you grief in these games or just don't play them. Most MMORPGs have methods to ignore the very people you speak of. Use it, never suggest to a politician new ways to thwart our rights.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Sadly, it's not that simple. We all like to pretend that surely only kids do this and that, and grown ups are all responsible and polite and whatnot. Dream on.
Point in case, I actually know a mid-40's mid-level manager who speaks l33t in MMOs. Shocked the heck out of me to hear (ok, read) him online chatting in what I imagined to be typical loser-kid speak. The poor sap probably imagines that adopting that lingo makes him all cool and hip online.
I know a guy in his 50's whose online life consists pretty much of being a die-hard ganker. That's how he gets his jollies. Ganking newbies.
Also, let's just say there must be a reason why the stereotype about all the "horny naked teenage female" characters online is to assume it must be a fat 40-year-old guy, and not, say, that it must be a 14 year old guy. 'Nuff said.
Conversely, I've been grouped with more than enough 14 year olds and even (according to himself) a 11 year old, that could actually play the game pretty darn well and functioned perfectly well in a group.
Now I'm not saying that either covers 100% of the group. ("All generalizations are false, including this one.") Just that you can't take it for granted that kids = "leetspeek, ninja looters, griefers & beggars", and adults = cool.
As for the nanny-state part, actually I hope that it's _not_ possible to bank hours. The chinese have my sympathy, but from a selfish bastard point of view: maybe having to deal with the chinese market will finally hammer it into everyone's head that 40-man 8-hour raids are _not_ fun. If it's not possible to do it in 3 hours, including getting the group, that should be anyone's hint that it's probably not that much fun. If you end up having some sort of _duty_ to the guild to be there daily at hour X, because 39 others depend on you, it's not fun. Time sinks are ok only when done in moderation, not when you need to quit your job or give up sleep to even be able to join.
Again, I'm aware that it's a very selfish and nasty thing to say, cheering at someone else's problems. So don't take it too seriously. But, still, if it's happening anyway, it might as well give some designers some clue.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I wonder what other features this software has. Are these Game-Houses typically internet cafes? If so are these computers also used for web browsing?
Sure sure, I know China's already got the tap on these places. The sites these users visit (that aren't blocked), are probably logged for easy reviewing access. But it sure would be nice to tie browsing (and game-playing) history to one person, regardless as to what computer he sits at or cafe's he visits.
Monitoring in-game chat would also be a "nice" feature.
-Derek
Dude, I read everything you wrote. I have only three words to say: you are sick.
ilex paraguariensis for all
Do you have to resort to the deep rooted stereotype whenever talking about anything you don't really know or understand? I'm so tired of the typical rants here about China that I actually spend the time register and say something different.
Fact: China has a long way to go in comparison to most western countries on banning things, esp in the minor protection department. Think of all the hassles you've got to go through to buy alcohol, or to go to a movie and left the kids home. Think of all those regulations you've got to study to do anything kid related, be it starting a day care or get licensed as a school teacher.
Fact: The communist party in China is neither more evil nor more foolish than the party you vote for or vote against. The so-called "China style communism" is neither more repressive nor more rigid than the church doctrine you believe or disbelieve. Tell you what, when I first came to the US, my first ever and the only bible study (hard sold to me by a co-worker) reminded me dearly of the culture revolution style meeting my parents described to me. We Chinese don't do that sort of things anymore, ever since I was born. But it's still alive and kicking here. Talking about the brain wash, ha.
Fact: Most Chinese don't really care about the democracy or freedom of speech you cherish so much, at least for now. We certainly don't want the freedom to defend ourselves by owning a rifle. If you really want to export your ideology I'd say prepare for the culture shock. The last time a friend of mine (born a US citizen) tried to convince me the Taiwan style democracy is good for China I told him the popular saying in China, which is even quoted by Taiwan's vice president as well as opposition party leader as true, "if you haven't been to Taiwan, you won't realize the culture revolution is still on-going".
Fact: The shear fact that you're having a hard time believing these is the proof of how your democracy and freedom of speech has failed to provide you with a clear view on what's going on in the world. Think harder, and think out of the box, then maybe someday you'll make sense of the things happening across the ocean.
Take away the racist words and it's mostly insightful.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.