China Cracksdown on Gaming

In the recent wake of two very popular online games, Counter-Strike and EverQuest, being banned in Brazil, news has also surfaced of other countries taking further steps in regulating video games. One such country is China.

New rules to combat "undesirable" elements

Along with a booming economy and a rise in the global stage, China is also one of the few countries with a booming gaming industry with professional gaming leagues being developed alongside professional teams being formed. With the increase in professional gaming, there has finally been an increase in the regulation of online gaming and China has begun to put in new rules to combat what a Reuters article calls the "undesirable" elements of online games.


Young Chinese kids playing computer games. Photo: REUTERS

More restrictions on internet cafes, banning youngsters to enter

With over 40 million online gamers reported last year in China, China has one of the largest population of gamers in the world. With such a large population of online gamers, it is no surprise that the problems and issues that plague the online gaming world are amplified because there are many more people susceptible to such issues. We have all heard about the gaming marathons that have taken the lives of gamers, and some of us can relate to having that one friend who has sacrificed school, job, and or life for their favourite character on their favourite video game.

China has finally taken this issue to its core and has begun putting more restrictions on internet cafes, even banning young children from entering. The government has also put more pressure on cafe owners to restrict the amount of time players can spend in their cafes.

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Although China's online gaming industry had been hot in recent years, online games are regarded by many as a sort of spiritual opium and the whole industry is marginalized by mainstream society.
- Kou Xiaowei, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication

Police in the southern Chinese border city of Shenzhen have already uncovered 563 illegal internet cafes where over 1400 computers have also been seized. This is not the first time that China has been reported of shutting down internet cafes. Three years ago China had also gone on through a three month period where they had shutdown over 12000 internet cafes that were in violation of rules such as not being within 200 meters of schools.

Difficult to control the growing gaming industry

The Reuters article cites, "a lack of a proper rating system in China and easy access to pirated games online and on street corners," has made it difficult for Chinese authorities to control the growing gaming industry. Rules have been in place since 2002 to help regulate the internet cafes, yet even since then many tragedies have occurred of players becoming addicted as well as players dying from long marathons of gaming.

This is not surprising as gaming addiction has also become a real problem in South Korea where government programs have been put in place to curb internet addiction. Yet the professional gaming scene has thrived in StarCraft and other competitive online games. In China WarCraft III is one of the most successful competitive online games, so successful that even Jang "Moon" Jae Ho has planned to move to Beijing, China in the near future.

Tighter regulations and rules only way to move forward?

So what affect do these crackdowns and tighter regulations mean for competitive gaming in China? Could this be an affective way in creating more responsible gamers and draw a much better picture of the gaming community? Or has this tarnished the idea of the professional gamer who practices eight to ten hours a day? It has not gone that far yet, but China does recognize the major ails that come from online gaming. Yet as we move forward are tighter regulations and rules the only way to move forward?

Links
Reuters.com - China flags crackdown on
BBC.com - China net cafe culture crackdown(2005)
GosuGamers.net - Moon plans to leave Korea for China