Chinese gaming restrictions

[Dukat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4887236.stm

Since the end of last year they(the chinese government) have taken aim at the hardcore players, issuing directives to make sure the games have technical blocks hindering excessive game play.

Under the new system, your online character becomes less and less effective. After three hours, the number of in-game "experience points" for, say, killing an opponent are reduced by half.

After five hours you do not get any at all. It is called the fatigue system.

 

[Chilly]

good - online games are destroying society.

 

[Gray]

Thats been in effect for around 6 months in China, especially in games like World of Warcraft, seen something on it

 

[Dukat]

How are online games destroying society? Honest question here btw, as I was under the impression chavvism, pikeys and illegal immigrants are far greater problems?

Also, how will placing an annoying, half arsed restriction like the one talked about in my original quote make a blind bit of difference to someone who wants to play games "hardcore"?

As someone in the article mentioned, "hardcore" gamers will surely just play a different character or a different game.

I can hardly believe it really, if its a sunday, me playing DAoC or CS or whatever for 8 hours of my time should be my business? What right has the government to tell me I cant play that long? or that I can only play that long with annoying restrictions placed upon me?

Just seems like a bit of a breach of rights in a way, 3 hours is nothing, 5 hours isnt much better, having a time limit in itself is just plain annoying imo.

 

[nath]

Breach of rights? In China? Surely not!

 

[haarewin]

bah, the hardcore gamers in china are the goldfarmers for eBay.

 

[Dukat]

Breach of rights? In China? Surely not!

True, and I know what you're saying, but I kinda meant if they tried the same over here and more generally than just in china.

I guess they must just have the problem to a different degree than in the UK, I just hate the way that nearly everyone who isnt a gamer see's games playing as eccentric, a waste of time and a childish, and hearing about whats happening over in china makes me worry that the people who would try to do the same here might actually be listened to.

 

[CurryKnight]

i would say its a good thing but then again if some1 wants to waste their life in this way they should dig out. As long as they arnt fruedulently claiming benefits so they can spend all day on WoW. Those people should just be shot.

 

[leggy]

We want literate, intelligent and generally savvy people repopulating and furthering the human race. The same people who are currently surrounded by crunchy, used tissues and playing WoW 12 hours a day.

Put the mouse down and start copulating.

We should introduce this here. So that in 20 years time I don't get my merc* robbed by some pikey twat in a stone island jumper.



*for the record I currently drive a vauxhall and have no intention of ever buying a merc.

 

[tris-]

*for the record I currently drive a vauxhall

and you call WoW players bad :/

 

[Tom]

Its not for a government to dictate how people should run their private affairs.

At least, not unless you're the Labour government that is.

 

[throdgrain]

WoW players are all twats though, me and Leggy know this for a fact.


You still got that same car mate ?

 

[Will]

I think I should undelete your post leggy...

 

[FuzzyLogic]

Teehee


OT though: There's been various reports of people playing themselves to death, literally in some cases, and China being the way it is, doesn't surprise me in its reaction. Meh, be interesting to see how it works out long term anyhow.

 

[throdgrain]

Has he been a rude angst-filled leggy again?

 

[Frizz]

Teehee


OT though: There's been various reports of people playing themselves to death, literally in some cases, and China being the way it is, doesn't surprise me in its reaction. Meh, be interesting to see how it works out long term anyhow.

Not really significant I'd have thought. Extremely rare cases, plus the government is trying to slow its population growth anyway. Sense make no.

 

[FuzzyLogic]

Oh yes very very rare, but it gives them (anyone?) an excuse to justify doing this stuff

 

[Dukat]

Its not for a government to dictate how people should run their private affairs.

That was what I was thinking tbh, I would agree to it if the timer wasnt so restricting, say 12 hour cutout or something, but 3 hours is just nothing at all, even the most casual of gamers would have to play longer than that on the average ML raid in DAoC.

It just worries me, after seeing people on 'richard and judy' and other no-brain chatshows down talking gaming in general, I worry that people with the mindset that computer gaming is bad for you will gain more power.

Its moderation thats the key, and common sense, the type of person who will sit on WoW for 72 hours solid and die because of it is probably the very same type of person that would be susceptible to other forms of addiction.

However, the hippy smart talkers you see on TV would have you believe that games are bad for you and easy to become addicted to, They make games out to be some sort of drug that turns kids into psychopaths or addicts (or both), I do worry that people might actually start to listen to some of this bull and act on it like we've seen in china.

Never mind the fact that people can be just as bad for watching TV. Never mind the fact that while people are playing computer games they aren't taking drugs or commiting crimes or any of the other things that people in the gaming age group can get up to when they are mis-guided.

I dont know, I guess I always assume the worst when I hear news like this - I cant help imagining what would happen if the UK government decided to implement something similar, it would be hell tbh.

 

[nath]

There's really very little point in getting wound up over something that is simply not going to happen in this country.

 

[DaGaffer]

OT though: There's been various reports of people playing themselves to death, literally in some cases, and China being the way it is, doesn't surprise me in its reaction. Meh, be interesting to see how it works out long term anyhow.

Think of it as evolution in action. Anyone who 'plays themselves to death' is probably doing the gene pool a favour. Of course the Chinese see it as one of their little worker bees not being productive in the service of the state, so they introduce rules like this to make sure people get up for work in the morning.

 

[Chilly]

I didnt quite mean what I said in my post Online gaming is not as bad as many of problems in society and in fact is barely a problem at all.....now. Imagine in a few years when every single child will never have known a world without computer games - this is nearly a reality already, personally my first memory is of using a computer (how sad is that?!).

What I go by is my own experience. When I was in year 11 or lower sixth or something I bought a game called dark age of camelot - looked fun, like diablo but online I though! woo. Yeah, 4 years later im at a shit uni doing a mickey mouse degree because I flunked my A levels due to playing that fucking game all day.

I *know* its my own fault and I *know* I should have just stopped playing it and revised - but that's the nature of addiction, and I bloody was addicted, Id be playing all day and just not bother with any work. I think kids should not be allowed to play this kind of immersive game at all, minimum age of 20 or something, young people NEED to be outside, in the pub, exploding things, getting into trouble - NOT sitting in a dark room 18/7 playing a computer game.

I seriously regret ever having touched dark age in terms of academics, but I have made a few pretty good mates who I go and get boozed up with every now and then - I'd probably swap them for a place at warwick uni tho

anyway, my 2c.

 

[Louster]

I'm 22 and, basically, a compulsive computer game player. It is absolutely my primary means of entertainment, and I probably clock up a scary amount of time playing singleplayer games and MMOs. (I stopped playing straight out competitive multiplayer games once I realised that, for some reason, direct competition like that stresses the hell out of me. Even swordfighting in puzzle pirates made my heartrate go nuts. It's weird.)

However, and this is kind of my point, I am also currently studying mathematics at the university of Edinburgh. (And I think I could have done better if I'd gone a more usual route - most places, it turns out, really don't care much at all for so-called "Access" courses. Wish I'd known this beforehand.) So I don't think playing computer games a ton really means you're necessarily going to fuck up your education. (Although my life is pretty unusual in a lot of ways anyhow, so I'm not sure I can prove anything by it exactly.)

 

[Chilly]

not saying it *will* fuck up education, saying it can easily do so as with me. Obviously not everyone gets sucked into that kind of game or can just deal with that kind of thing better, but sadly not everyone is perfect. Possibly people like me are just born to fuck up, possibly I would be at a better uni if I hadnt started playing camelot - who knows. I just want the people who make the big decisions to have a serious look at it to prevent future generations from turning into fat ass retards.

 

[Calaen]

Its not for a government to dictate how people should run their private affairs.

At least, not unless you're the Labour government that is.

Bring back the Conservatives I would prefer mass unemployment and the country to be in a complete utter fucking mess. oh no thats wrong, I would take Labour and there ID cards plus you whining about everything they do any day over having those cocks back in control.

 

[Milkshake]

Chilly, I got to agree with you there. I fucked up my Highers (equiv A-levels) because of the silly amount of time I spent playing DAoC and Tribes 1. Twas only during exams when your procrastination gland was strong.

Luckily, I landed on my feet. After the shock of my grades, I crawled into Heriot Watt Uni through clearances (you'll know HW Lou!), and through various awesome exam results have been put into a MEng Software Engineering undergrad.

I still wish I hadn't been playing games like that when I was doing my Highers though.

 

[DaGaffer]

Bring back the Conservatives I would prefer mass unemployment and the country to be in a complete utter fucking mess. oh no thats wrong, I would take Labour and there ID cards plus you whining about everything they do any day over having those cocks back in control.

LOL! Because the country's in such terrific shape right now isn't it? Although I'm not convinced having the Tories back would be much better, the shower of shite we've got in control at the moment are as bad as anything the Tories did in the eighties on their worst day. Illegal wars, stealth taxes up the wazoo, big brother legislation, but worst of all, the stuff they're supposed to be good at, like the NHS and Education, they're fucking that up as well! They've thrown all that stealth tax money at the system without actually fixing the structural problems, so the money is getting pissed away, and now we've got the bizarre situation of hospitals making nurses redundant becuase they can't afford them (at the same time we're strip mining the third-world of all their medical staff). This is what pisses me off about Labour, not their ideology, but their fucking incompetence. I'd cheerfully grin and bear Gordon Brown emptying my wallet on a daily basis if I thought we were getting a better Britain, but we're not.

 

[Bodhi]

Never mind the fact that while people are playing computer games they aren't taking drugs

lol. you really think so?

 

[ECA]

Whats funny is that its labour thats privatising the NHS and various other public services. Yet the tories say anything and labour accuses them of selling off the NHS etc when they are the ones actually doing it.

NHS is going to be in a dire state in five years time.
Then again so is the economy.

Come on stuff, so I can emigrate. ( Where Stuff >= lots of moolah ).

 

[Moo]

imo mmorpgs should have similar limits here

plus u should have to be over 18 in order to play one legally.

 

[Tom]

Bring back the Conservatives I would prefer mass unemployment and the country to be in a complete utter fucking mess. oh no thats wrong, I would take Labour and there ID cards plus you whining about everything they do any day over having those cocks back in control.

Unlike you, I can remember regular power cuts. I can remember the miner's strikes. I remember the disruption caused by militants under the previous Labour administration.

Mass unemployment under the Conservatives? Fucking good. You think it benefits a country to have 3 people doing the job of one person? You think that in the 70's, this country was anything but a laughing stock? You can call Margaret Thatcher all the names under the sun, but at least she had the courage to face down the lunatic fringe and improve this country. It may of hurt, but do you think Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock, John Smith - that any of these people, wondering around on CND rallies and the like, would have been able to do better?

Thats why the current Labour government isn't really a Labour government at all. Its a conservative government in disguise. The old socialists have been gagged, and Tony Blair (believe it or not I have admiration for the bloke) and his mates have managed to keep things that way.

Comparing this current government to the previous mid-nineties Tory government is a bit silly, since John Major's government was actually doing a very good job of managing the economy. But Gordon Brown, Mr Pension Thief himself, you won't ever see him congratulating his predecessors for that because he realises that hes on a sinking ship in No.11, which is why he wants into No.10 so he can blame somebody else for the upcoming crisis which surely will be our economy.

A Conservative government would very likely be quite similar to the current Labour government, which one major difference - the Tories don't tell people how to run their lives, and they don't take your money in order to do that. Labour do.