From today's The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/25/online_gaming_time/):
China will attempt to limit the amount of continuous time online gamers can spend staring at their monitors amid growing concern about "addiction" to games such as World of Warcraft and Lineage II.

There are an estimated 20m+ Chinese regularly indulging in online gaming, the BBC reports, paying around $500m a year for the privilege. Although the Beijing authorities will in September host a two-day gaming conference in the hope of attracting foreign investment, they are worried that young people are simply spending too much time in virtual worlds.

Accordingly, from October, anyone who goes over a three-hour limit will see his character's abilities reduced. Hitting five hours will result in severe character limitation. Players will then have to take a five-hour break before getting back down to it.

All of China's main games operators have agreed to the controls - unsurprisingly since they are state licensed - and just to show how willing they are to fall into line, Interfax-China news agency reported the operators as "prepared to sacrifice short-term revenues to create a healthy environment for online gamers", which is very noble of them.

The games initially facing control are: World of Warcraft, The Legend of Mir II, The Legend of Mir 3G, Lineage II, Westward Journey Online, Fantasy Westward Journey Online, MU, JX Online, First Myth Online, The World of Legend and Blade Online.

More info in this BBC Article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4183340.stm).
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its not the addiction that is of concern to the chinese govermnent but:
" paying around $500m a year" is. Anything that takes money out of china is something they will look at.

epic
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On the other hand, the gold farming and powerleveling market is already estimated to be larger (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1436411,00.html) than that sum. Who knows, gaming might actually net China a profit in the near future if it would be allowed to continue unchecked.
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Yeah, wait until they impose a tax on virtual items!

Having said that, at least one person has been arrested IRL for "virtually mugging" another in-game character:
A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software "bots" to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash.

The Chinese exchange student was arrested by police in Kagawa prefecture, southern Japan, the Mainichi Daily News reports.

Several players had their characters beaten and robbed of valuable virtual objects, which could have included the Earring of Wisdom or the Shield of Nightmare. The items were then fenced through a Japanese auction website, according to NCsoft, which makes Lineage II. The assailant was a character controlled by a software bot, rather than a human player, making it unbeatable. - http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7865

It really is all getting a bit Matrix, isn't it? :shock:
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...Until The One comes and beats up and mugs the bots, I guess. :D

About time in-game scammers and exploiters felt the reach of the law, it really ought to be illegal what they do.
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That's all about the interpretation of the law. In Taiwan, there are many reports of hackers getting into other people's account through a key-logger or Trojan horse, then robbed all equips of the victim. It's quite common because many people still play online games in the internet cafe, probably because their parents will limit their play time if they play at home.

Before 2003, stealing "virtual properties" was considered theft in Taiwanese criminal law. Now it's moved into a specific "computer crime law." Now using Trojan horse to steal password (considered as "unauthorized access to computer data"), stealing virtual properties (no longer considered as theft, but now as "unauthorized modify/deletion to computer data"), using unauthorized bots (considered as "jamming or denial of access to computer equipments"), etc. now are all punishable by criminal law, including fine or even jail terms.

I don't know about other countries, maybe some people in the know can share some information? :)
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Yeah, wait until they impose a tax on virtual items!



selling gold and in game items is ilegal(WoW gold and itmes are considered Blizzards property, in most other games it works in the same way), and violates the EULA :D. if china will tax those companies, and make it an offical form of buisness. it would be like columbia taxing the drug lords and making the drug industry legit.

but selling something that isnt yours is, all in game items are the property of the company who made the game. if you selling them it is considered a theft, you are selling something that isnt yours in the first place, and that is a crime. most of the game companies, goverments and lawinforcemnt agentcies just dont give a damn, but its still a crime.
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selling gold and in game items is ilegal(WoW gold and itmes are considered Blizzards property, in most other games it works in the same way), and violates the EULA
Well, violating a EULA isn't illegal in itself - you can't be arrested or charged with any crime (so long as your violation isn't specifically defined in law as a crime). The worst that can happen is that you loose your license to use the software.
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I will agree with any policy or law or education that will decrease the addiction of MMORPG in China.
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So you don't feel people are capable themselves of moderating the time they spend playing games?

Why stop at china, why not have the entire world's governments babysit their populations. And why stop at games, why not have them decide our entire lives and make sure we don't go to any extreme or excess? Eat government-issue food, carefully composed and weighed to fit our bodies' needs. Sleep the scientifically approved 8 hours/night during the hours that gives us the most rest, and so on. Wow, so much better our lives would get! :D
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I love Big Brother.
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So you don't feel people are capable themselves of moderating the time they spend playing games?

Why stop at china, why not have the entire world's governments babysit their populations. And why stop at games, why not have them decide our entire lives and make sure we don't go to any extreme or excess?

I find your selective outrage superbly ironic in light of your previous postings supporting the outlawing of drugs and porn, and your stance that cigarettes and alcohol should be made illegal as well.
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Those things have demonstratably bad effects on society and individuals, and/or are ethically reprehensible. Not even closely the same thing.
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Well that is good . Those guys are hardcore into it . I met one who said he didn't sleep in 3 days when lineage 2 came out
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Those things have demonstratably bad effects on society and individuals, and/or are ethically reprehensible. Not even closely the same thing.

It could be argued that prohibition has similarly had 'demonstratably bad effects on society' or that the addictive qualities of MMORPGs are already demanding their toll on some individuals, but that's not even the point. The point is that you as a particularly notable proponent of the father-knows-best state where it fits your particular peeves and coincides with the contemporary insights in the country where your live are an unlikely candidate for ridiculing another country's government intervention in this particular matter.
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