网游实名制 防止未成年人沉迷游戏

最近又有一项新的网游管理体制出台，未成年人必须用自己的真实姓名和身份证号，对不同的游戏进行不同的管理，乐坊未成年人沉溺于网络。

Online gamers in China are now required to register with their legal names and ID numbers before taking part. The law that's just come into effect this month is the first such legislation in China and aims to protect minors from internet addiction.

The law aims to clean up the virtual world for young gamers by strengthening content control, improving addiction-proof precautions and making clear the moral obligations that gaming developers should take.

Liu Qiang, an official from the Minsitry of Culture, explains how the new law is designed to protect youngsters from "inappropriate content".

"There should be a users' guide and content alerts for gamers. Online games targeting minors must be free of all content which could lead to the imitation of behaviors that are not in line with social morals and the law."

Liu Qiang points out that all gamers are required to register with their real names and their ID numbers and young gamers will be set restrictions by developers that limit the amount of time they spend on the site.

China's online gaming industry turnover reached over 25 billion yuan, or nearly 4 billion US dollars last year, a year on year increase of almost 40 percent.

Li Xiong, the Ministry's director of cultural markets, says the rapid growth of the industry has brought with it a series of hitherto unseen social problems.

"The major concerns lie in internet addiction, inappropriate contents and the violation of gamers' consumer rights."

China has the largest online population in the world, almost one third of them minors. Some young addicts have been sent to rehabilitation centers but these institutions have been found to employ people who barely know how to treat internet addictions. There have even been cases of youngsters being beaten hard by so-called therapists, who in fact had no qualifications.

There have been reports of gamers under 16 getting around the new law by simply using their parents' ID numbers. Some gaming developers have also complained their systems are not functioning to filter qualified gamers.
The culture regulator says they are still working on fine-tuning the new rules and plan to train game developers in the near future.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.