中国加紧遏制网游成瘾

Concerned about levels of internet addiction among young people, the General Administration of Press and Publication, the Ministry of Public Security and six other government ministries now require online game operators to verify the identity of all gamers. Gamers' information is then sent to the National Citizen Identity Information Center for cross reference.

Those found to be using fake identities will be added to the anti-addiction database, and their game and experience points will be wiped out if they exceed the previously determined three- or five-hour time limits.

But adults who have personal ID cards issued by the Ministry of Public Security will still have unlimited access to online games.

Government data indicate that China's online population was 485 million at the end of June. That is by far the largest internet population in the world.

While a growing middle-class means more citizens can go online on their own computers at home, a large number still visits cafes to use the internet.

Wang Hu, who runs an internet cafe in Beijing, says the new procedures are a necessary step as some people spend the entire day at his internet bar.

"It is a very good thing. It enables you to identify minors and stops them from going online. In general, they play for about three to five hours. But some of our customers who are adults will play for more than 10 hours at a time."

Four years ago, the Chinese government passed anti-internet addiction legislation to prevent young users from spending too much time playing games online. Under that regulation, gamers had to register with their government-issued ID cards, and those under the age of 18 were encouraged to play for less than three hours a day.

Gamers who play more than three hours a day receive only half the game points they accrue. If they play more than five hours, they do not receive any experience or game points. Internet cafe owners must also tell them to do some physical exercises.

Although the playing time of people under 18 has dropped, many youngsters have been able to sidestep that regulation by using the information of an adult or even fake IDs.

The government says the new regulation is not meant to crack down on online gaming but to prevent teenagers from becoming addicted to it.

Twenty-four-year-old Beijing resident Pan Dawei says he believes the updated rules will successfully cut down on the number of minors who spend too much time online.

"It is a very good regulation; otherwise, young kids will all go to Internet cafes to play games."

Yang Lei, a 25-year-old architectural engineer, agrees, and says the new regulation will also help prevent online crimes.

"I also think that since there have been so many scams, and some of these disputes have turned violent, that if there is a proper way to ensure authentication, it would stop similar cases from happening in the future."

According to the regulations, game operators that allow minors to bypass the system could have their business operations suspended and their licenses revoked. Since 2007, more than 90 companies have received fines for falling afoul of the rules.

For CRI, I'm LNJ.