IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

China Drops The Hammer On Online Gaming

Posted June 23, 2010 by M.H. Williams

Today, the Chinese Ministry of Culture outlined a set of regulations on online gaming. The regulations will forbid ‘unwholesome’ content from appearing in titles aimed at those under the age of 18. This content includes violence, gambling, superstition, cults, and pornography. The regulations are intended to be implemented on August 1.

The rules also require that developers create techniques that will limit minors’ playing time, as a tool to prevent online game addiction. Minors will also be banned from buying or selling items with virtual currency. All online gamers are forced to register with their real names.

This follows last year’s ban on online games with mafia-like gangs.

The Chinese online games industry grew 40 percent in 2009, rising to $3.8 billion.

M.H. Williams has been writing in some form or another for ten years and has been a hardcore gamer since the NES first graced American shores.  You can catch him on Twitter as @AutomaticZen, Google+ as himself, or on his personal Facebook page.