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China Forces World of Warcraft and Lineage II to Restrict Players
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happening
posted by: Aaron Stanton
date posted: 02:22 PM Thu Aug 25th, 2005
last revision: 05:23 PM Thu Aug 25th, 2005


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Click to read.China will be forcing any massively multiplayer title played inside their borders, including World of Warcraft and Lineage II, to restrict how long a user can play in one session. The system works by reducing a character\'s in-game stats by 50% after 3 consecutive hours of play. After 5 hours, your character is reduced to the lowest point in the game, and won\'t return to normal until the player has been logged out for an additional 5 hours. In both cases, you\'ll also find it harder to find items or earn experience points. Any massively multiplayer game that does not follow this system will be deemed illegal by the government of China.

Optisp and SINA, the companies that operate World of Warcraft and Lineage II, have both agreed to utilize the system when it is ready.

The goal of the system is to keep children from becoming addicted to video games, and is expected to be ready for testing in October of 2005, and ready for use in 2005 or 2006. However, there is no effort made to separate older gamers and recognized adults from younger children. The move also removes the ability for parents to decide how their children should be raised. A few things we should keep in mind here in the U.S. as we discuss government regulation of the game industry in our own country:

- China regularly bans foreign games, including titles like The Sims 2 and Conflict Vietnam. Any video game that recognizes Taiwan or Tibet as an independent state during the course of play, for example, is immediately deemed an, \"illegally distributed game.\"

- China has a similar policy for books, including the Bible, and at one point, Alice in Wonderland. Selling these books is punishable by jail time. Writing material that the Chinese government does not like is punishable by jail time. Creating a game with content the Chinese government does not like is punishable by jail time. Thinking and believing something that is not liked by the Chinese government is punishable by jail time.

- China has instituted massive national Internet control policies, including forcing companies like Google to restrict what websites they display in their search results to Chinese citizens. Many of these banned sites are foreign news agencies that offer outside perspectives on political and religious issues.

- China bans any game that \"hurts national dignity and interests\"

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