NEWS: China nerfs "gold" farmers

It seems China is seriously cutting down on their citizen's online gaming experience by requiring a program that limits their playtime to 3 hours. The GAPP has defined the playing of online games for less than three consecutive hours as "healthy," playing three to five consecutive hours as "tiring," and playing for more than five consecutive hours as "unhealthy."



The title has a little bit of mmorpg humor in it, but all jokes aside, this is a real disturbing move.

The Chinese population seem to have an extreme liking to Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (mmorpg's). You've propably all read the news articles of Chinese kids killing eachother over digital weapons, money, and characters. (If not, check the sources below). It seems its become quite a problem there over the past few years.

This new requirement will not only effect the players that casually play the game for entertainment; It will also effectively put an end to the $880 million dollar businesses of selling online digital property via Ebay and other online auction sites which brings in thousands of dollars by selling items such as ingame monies, weapons, and armor.

And I leave you with a word of advice: If you've never played a mmorpg before, then don't. They quite literally can overcome your physical life.. I know.. I fell into that dark hole three times with Everquest, Lineage2 and World of Warcraft and found myself so far deep in the fantasy world that before I realized it was a problem, I essentially ruined all the things that I once took for granted. And while I dont advocate the control of my online time by governments, I quite seriously agree it's become a worldwide problem.



Related News Links:
www.msnbc.msn.com
news.com.com
stores.ebay.com
bbcworld.com
Gamespot.com



[edit on 8/25/2005 by QuietSoul]

Online games are no different than any other pleasurable experience.

Some people become self-destructive hedonists, others don't. Simple as that.

Governments telling their people what to do with their own lives is the root of tyranny. Thinking you know what's good for people, better than they do, and enforcing that opinion with legislation is the root of tyranny. Let the individual Chinese citizens determine how much time they want to dedicate to to their pixels.

To me, legislation like that is as offensive as it comes. It's useless, dirty, and condescending.

If people want to turn into zombies mesmerized by a flickering screen, that's their perogative. As my favorite writer (James Baldwin) once wrote, people pay for their sins, and moreso for what they've allowed themselves to become, and they pay for it simply, with the lives they lead. (paraphrased)

Game Over

The only difference between ATS and an MMORPG is the graphics.

As usual, WyrdeOne's perspectives on this topic are apt and in accord with my own.

Moves like this identify China's government for what it is. There is a fundamental difference between this sort of thinking and the sort of thinking the majority of the world is moving toward, courtesy of the Internet.

The Chinese government is nervous, as well it should be.

The Internet is here, and there is no stopping it.

this is a real disturbing move

Disturbing? Having a nation full of bleary eyed shooter-addicts is disturbing. China is a dictatorship, the state makes a heck of a lot more disturbing intrusions on the lives of its citizens than this.

5 hours is unhealthy? I play games for perhaps 6-8 hours a day, maybe more, sometimes less. All this whilst the Mrs will sit and watch her endless hours of pap, called "reality TV" and the rest of the junk they produce nowadays and that is supposed to be a halethy pass time?

Bog off.

What about the billions of drones who sit in front of the tube for even longer than that, staring "bleary eyed" at a non-interactive set of pre-defined programs for hours on end.

At least with a computer game it is actually interactive and you can influence that in which you are taking part, the TV you cannot.

In 5 hours, on some games, such as Eve, you cannot get an awful lot done. In 3 hours, in most games, you cannot get anything done. maybe a few quests or missions, but it isn't long enough to actually play the game.

``

would any of youse even consider that this is actually a shrewd tactic?!

instead of having 1-2 million hardcore addicts
the inticement created by the CentralGovernment
will attract 10X that many, who otherwise wouldn't log-on

the ruse of 'legislating morality' is a falseflag...
they will be data-mining and tracking and other evolved strategies
as covert puppet masters in China

I fail to set how limiting how long someone can play a game would make people who previously had no interest in said game flock to it. That kind of negative publicity works sometimes, but I don't see the correlation here.

It's sad how some people can get so wrapped up in these games, but it's not a government prerogative to decide how much the people should play. Besides, if these people are gonna play a game for 12 hours straight, what makes anyone think they will use their time in a constructive manner if they can't play their game?

Believe me, I realize how caught up you can get, I've been playing World of Warcraft since beta. I have definately had some marathon sessions, but it's my decision to log off (or my wifes decision for me ).

This would never fly in the states. But the polititians would like to see it happen I'm sure. That or a government tax on virtual funds and real estate.

[edit on 8/25/2005 by yadboy]

One thing about this is that it essentially can be hacked. I read into the procedure more and it seems all these programs are run off the servers people connect to. The servers cross reference their IP address and if it's of Chinese origin the program runs. But a simple jump through a proxy and a quick crack of the program would probably fix the fix..