AfterDawn: News

China targets gaming addiction with time limits

The Chinese government has moved to clamp down on so called Internet gaming addiction but limiting the number of hours that can underage gamer can play. The government hopes that by limiting the points that can be achieved after a given time, young gamers will be less motivated to continue playing. An under-18 gamer will earn less points after 3 hours of gameplay, and after 5 hours will earn none.

The gamer will also receive a warning instructing that he/she is now entering "unhealthy game time". 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. There is an estimated 17.8 million fee-paying gamers in China, about 20% of which are under 20 years old. A farther 10% are younger than 16.



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

Source:
BBC News

Written by: James Delahunty @ 12 Apr 2007 5:44

• Previous article

• Advertising authority targets Creative

• Next article

• Dragon's Lair causes playback issues on Blu-Ray players

• 18 comments

• Attin

  This doesnt really make any sense...

  12.4.2007 06:06 #1

• mJoshua83

  Sure it does China wants there youth to do something with there life other than just play video games.

  12.4.2007 08:07 #2

• amf0802

  damn commies....I've grown up on video games, and still play probably 2-3 hours a day. Now I'm two weeks from graduating college on full academic scholarship with a 4.0 gpa. You want to tell me that video games has somehow stunted my development into a constructive and contributing member of society?

  12.4.2007 08:51 #3

• trainmstr

  Ummm ... you guys forget .. this is China ...a COMMUNIST country where they still persecute and kill MONKS in Tibet. Yeah ... MONKS ..which are the most peaceful beings on the planet.
  
  Oh and yeah ..they also persecute religious beliefs not sanctioned by the COMMUNISTS.
  
  Oh ..i seem to remember the COMMUNIST army killing thousands of college kids in Beijing with tanks and machine guns because they were protesting.
  
  Oh ..did I mention that China is a COMMUNIST country? COMMUNISM = worse than monarchy.
  
  So in ending ..you can't make sense of what a COMMUNIST China does ... its impossible.
  
  Lastly ... I've made a conscious effort to not buy anything made in China. Do you know how hard that is ...its appalling. Some things are totally unavoidable ..which is really shitty.

  12.4.2007 09:11 #4

• aone

  lol @ trainmstr, even if it's not funny.

  12.4.2007 10:34 #5

• DarkJello

  2-3 hours a day is nothing compared to what gamers play in China. When people die from exhaustion from playing video games so long, it's a problem.

  12.4.2007 10:52 #6

• themind

  tiananmen square....... sad

  12.4.2007 13:54 #7

• limelight

  Where are these kids' parents at???????????????????????

  12.4.2007 14:01 #8

• Mik3h

  "China have been given three months to install anti-addiction software."
  
  haha, anti-addiction software..
  
  Low-behold! The mystery that is addiction software! It can cure any form of addiction, whether it be smoking, drinking, drugs you name it!
  
  -Mike

  12.4.2007 15:35 #9

• itago

  Originally posted by limelight:Where are these kids' parents at???????????????????????Probably also playing games

  12.4.2007 15:38 #10

• handsom

  Quote:Where are these kids' parents at???????????????????????Here in the US, I find myself saying the same thing about kids almost every day.
  
  ...Except when I worked in retail:
  
  Me: "That kid is thrashing my store! He's knocked over an entire wall of products, and spilled two racks of candy! Where the %^&@ is his mom!?!"
  Co-worker: "Right over there, holding a baby while she curses at her husband wearing hole-filled jeans and a half empty beer."
  Me: "I want out. Seriously."

  12.4.2007 16:42 #11

• trainmstr

  well .... what can you do in a communist country? We sure can make the shit outta video games and video game systems ..and every part that goes into computers and everything else known to man ...while we work 23.5 hours per day in afactory for fitty cents per week ... im sure the rest of the .5 hours is spent playing video games.

  12.4.2007 18:09 #12

• handsom

  That comes across a bit.... I don't want to say 'racist', but it seems a bit nationalist/pregidous/uninformed...
  
  Not all kids over there are stuck working in factories; there are definitely a significant number of them; but the country isn't 99% poor.
  
  Albeit it, whether accurate or not, there is that perception but the actual number of factories like that has gone down a lot in the last ten or fifteen years. They've been trying to get into many international trade unions, who frown upon that, so it's been decreasing a lot. And if the trend continues, may not exist in another ten years; which would be great.
  
  Please don't feel like I'm calling you out; because I'm not, I just like to do my little part to keep this forum a friendly place... Statements like that tend to start flame wars, and general angst. That's all.

  12.4.2007 18:37 #13

• ZippyDSM

  handsom
  china is better now adays but still rather bad they have booming cities and a simi stable manufacturing base but a iffy middle class the majority is "working poor" with soem areas hit hard from factories moving around or leaving for even cheaper wages else where,in some ways they are going threw a boom the US did in the 50s growing cities , workers needed,ect,ect,however china is not really pruning their middle class the work force reminds meek on weak wages and the elites live high on the hog while the goverment protects itself well from its people and its trade partners, games are always a good cheap escape and one of the better scape goats of the last century.
  
  I see china as the other side of the coin while the US has "freedoms" until you piss someone in power off china has open limits on what you can do and as long as you are happy quite sheeple they don't care what you are.
  
  I think the money will expand the time on "limits" at cafe's *L*

  12.4.2007 22:32 #14

• Tashammer

  It is good to see that a national government is acting like it cares for its citizens.
  If you thought about it there is not much difference between the USA and China in terms of killing off its youngsters, except that China is more open and honest about it whereas the USA, well, look at the Middle East and anywhere else that the US sticks its oar into.
  
  China is not communist, never has been, never will be anymore than the USA is truly democratic.

  13.4.2007 18:56 #15

• veyron

  I remember hearing something like this about China years ago.
  Maybe that was when the software was developed, now it's there law.
  Red Commie Bastards!

  13.4.2007 19:20 #16

• ZippyDSM

  Tashammer
  the point of communism is that the goverment has near complete control over everything and the people do not get a say in how the goverment is run.
  
  the US is a republic at its core with the elites making it look like some form of communism...oh wait...never mind :P

  13.4.2007 19:29 #17

• retepa

  See what happens when Mommy and Daddy don't discipline their kids.
  Welcome to the future!

  14.4.2007 16:31 #18