China interweb gaming crackdown prompts small enterprise

AS PART OF THE Chinese crackdown on interweb gaming, players in "Internet bars" must register with their state-issued ID number, an 18-digit number that encodes the punter's age, place of birth, and sex. Gamers aged under 18, or those who submit obviously bogus numbers, will be allowed to play only modified versions of online games featuring an anti-addiction system.

This anti-addiction system is supposed to encourage young gamers to spend less time sitting in front of the console, thinking anti social thoughts, mentally dissing Dear Leader, and becoming fat and un-socialist. Young gamers that go past the three hour limit get half of their game points and goodies taken away by the glorious safety software. If the petulant yoofs insist on playing more than five hours, all of their points and goodies would be taken.

Another part of this protection scheme, one not often mentioned, is that online game time will be recorded, becoming part of a "permanent record" kept on all Chinese citizens. Clearly an idea that will help maintain the social order and respect for Dear Leader.

Now for the clever twist. According to the Beijing News (sorry, the site is in Chinese), one easy way to get past the anti-addiction feature is to use real identity numbers.

An obviously deviant gamer asked at a game forum, "I want to get a game account, can anyone give me an identity number?" The reply from another such gamer, "No problem. I have over two million real numbers. I am interested in retail sales." Yet another helpfully provided the URL for a website where you can download an ID card number generator. The ID card numbers from the generator match up with real numbers from the Public Security Bureau's database.

Something must be done about the interweb! So it is said every now and then. This comes from an "English polisher" that works for state media. Seems as though for the past few years the same noises are made by Dear Leader about cracking down on the interweb scourge. It makes the old party members happy. A few months pass, all is forgotten.

Here you have a place that is undergoing huge growth. People have money. The one-child policy has created a whole generation of spoilt children. Parents don't raise their children, they fund them. There is nothing for the kids to do. Some of them turn to online games for some sort of fulfilment and feeling of worth. A situation not found only in China.

Although we are looking at an issue in China, reflect for a bit on the same situation and the proposed solutions from politicos right here at home.

We would hate to be the ones to suggest something so totally outrageous, but maybe the problem is being approached from the wrong perspective? Could it be that the problem is not actually computers and online games, but an overall lack of healthy and fun activities for young people? Maybe parents could get involved with their kids, guide them, and, well, raise them?

Naw. That's just plain crazy talk. µ