[photopress:world_of_warcraft.jpg,full,alignright]Eight government departments have jointly announced on April 9 that all online game companies must install the anti-addiction system which has been defined and it must be in operation. At the same time, on-line gamers are required to register with their real names and identity card numbers to show if they are under or over the age of 18.
Games like World of Warcraft (think WoW) have installed their anti-addiction and real-name systems.
Zhao Yurun, public relations director of the The9, which runs WoW in China, said, ‘We have installed the anti-addiction system on all games, including WoW, the Soul Ultimate Nation and the Fantastic Melody Online.’
An official with General Administration of Press and Publications said officials were still discussing penalties for firms that had failed to install the anti-addiction system.
The anti-addiction system restricts a minor’s playing time by canceling half their earned credits if they remain on-line for more than three hours a day. If the player hangs in there for more than five hours a day, all their gaming credits will be lost.
China has 31.23 million on-line games players, of whom about 10% are minors and 65.3% play for less than three hours a day.
Are the games addictive? The writer has three sons all addicted to one level or another to World of Warcraft. The wife of one son has, with his permission, installed a code lock on his computer so that he cannot play the game during most of the day. As he is a concert pianist she feels piano practice is more important than moving up the scale in World of Warcraft.
Another son saw his relationship collapse over his online gaming obsession.
Impossible to report on the third son: he has not been outside his room for three weeks and survives on Coke and cheese sandwiches. He is at level 62 in World of Warcraft.
Yes, these games are very addictive and China is not being overly protective in restricting access.
Source: China.org.cn