Another Restriction In Gaming and a Reason Not To Move To China
The title is a link to a Gamespot article detailing new on-line gaming restrictions in China.
I've said before that I don't generally support government restriction/control of legal activities. The Gamespot article doesn't get into much detail, but I'm fascinated with the new restrictions. Why a 3 hour limit? Is there great scientific evidence that this is an appropriate amount of time or this is simply the opinion of the drafters of the legislation of how much time people SHOULD spend gaming at one sitting? It seems so arbitrary. I have no data on the acedotal or other evidence the legislators used, but the recent Korean story about the guy who died after a marathon playing session in an internet cafe had been playing for 50 hours. So why 3? Why not 4? 5? 24? Besides the Schoolhouse Rock song, why is this a magic number?
And don't tell me there are health issues associated with playing for that length of time. Lots of activities aren't healthy, but shouldn't be illegal. Drinking binges, eating binges, marathon bingo playing...
I know the article doesn't contain all the facts in this situation, but I see legislators reacting to a few extreme and sad situations and creating significant impact on a nation of billions.
I'm sure there are ways around it and it'll be cracked pretty quickly. So actually, cracking the restriction will become a different sort of game. The article says you're hit with penalties if you play a character for longer than that period of time. So what if I use a different character after 3 hours? Can I keep playing? What if I go to a different PC with a different character?
I think this sort of topic always gets me going because:
-I loved music when the PMRC stuff was going on. There were some boundary-pushing songs and then they started looking for stuff in lyrics. Got congressional hearings in place and had great moments like John Denver, Frank Zappa and Dee Snider being questioned by Congress. Did '80s music ruin the world? Of course not. Is MTV a great place with only happy videos? We have guns, violence, sex. Where are the kitties and bunnies? I think their biggest worry is blurring out logos on hats and t-shirts. Tipper Gore, you're mission's not yet complete!
-I loved D&D when during sweeps periods, the local TV news would have a special report on the cult game sweeping the nation. Invariably, there'd be a remote from some poor geek's basement, with people in costumes. They'd have a couple of shots of these folks walking outside, peeking around corners, as if this activity was part of the game. 'Players create characters' was an issue they always played up, hinting that at some point players would actually BECOME that character and live full-time as that person - confusing reality with fantasy. Playing sessions lasted a long time and this, too, was a new thing for the world. I don't remember them reporting on dice being involved, but always laughed at the concept of the character in the real world. (Krieger the Ranger walks to the elevator door and pushes the 'up' button. You rolled a 4 on the 29 sided die. The elevator does not come yet.)
-I loved the Rocky Horror Picture Show when that got the same kind of treatment. The reports would always happen around Halloween, as if there was some relationship to the film.
Anyway, thank goodness that the Chinese gamers are all safe now.
I've said before that I don't generally support government restriction/control of legal activities. The Gamespot article doesn't get into much detail, but I'm fascinated with the new restrictions. Why a 3 hour limit? Is there great scientific evidence that this is an appropriate amount of time or this is simply the opinion of the drafters of the legislation of how much time people SHOULD spend gaming at one sitting? It seems so arbitrary. I have no data on the acedotal or other evidence the legislators used, but the recent Korean story about the guy who died after a marathon playing session in an internet cafe had been playing for 50 hours. So why 3? Why not 4? 5? 24? Besides the Schoolhouse Rock song, why is this a magic number?
And don't tell me there are health issues associated with playing for that length of time. Lots of activities aren't healthy, but shouldn't be illegal. Drinking binges, eating binges, marathon bingo playing...
I know the article doesn't contain all the facts in this situation, but I see legislators reacting to a few extreme and sad situations and creating significant impact on a nation of billions.
I'm sure there are ways around it and it'll be cracked pretty quickly. So actually, cracking the restriction will become a different sort of game. The article says you're hit with penalties if you play a character for longer than that period of time. So what if I use a different character after 3 hours? Can I keep playing? What if I go to a different PC with a different character?
I think this sort of topic always gets me going because:
-I loved music when the PMRC stuff was going on. There were some boundary-pushing songs and then they started looking for stuff in lyrics. Got congressional hearings in place and had great moments like John Denver, Frank Zappa and Dee Snider being questioned by Congress. Did '80s music ruin the world? Of course not. Is MTV a great place with only happy videos? We have guns, violence, sex. Where are the kitties and bunnies? I think their biggest worry is blurring out logos on hats and t-shirts. Tipper Gore, you're mission's not yet complete!
-I loved D&D when during sweeps periods, the local TV news would have a special report on the cult game sweeping the nation. Invariably, there'd be a remote from some poor geek's basement, with people in costumes. They'd have a couple of shots of these folks walking outside, peeking around corners, as if this activity was part of the game. 'Players create characters' was an issue they always played up, hinting that at some point players would actually BECOME that character and live full-time as that person - confusing reality with fantasy. Playing sessions lasted a long time and this, too, was a new thing for the world. I don't remember them reporting on dice being involved, but always laughed at the concept of the character in the real world. (Krieger the Ranger walks to the elevator door and pushes the 'up' button. You rolled a 4 on the 29 sided die. The elevator does not come yet.)
-I loved the Rocky Horror Picture Show when that got the same kind of treatment. The reports would always happen around Halloween, as if there was some relationship to the film.
Anyway, thank goodness that the Chinese gamers are all safe now.
posted by Paul at 2:51 AM
2 Comments:
Just coming from the largest gaming convention in the world, thinking about those old news stores makes me laugh even harder. Around 30,000 people flock to Indy every year, including wives, children, grandparents, whole families.
It's like the news media needs to have something bad to report about. Some big conspiracy that is going to harm the youth of america (or whatever country we're talking about at the moment). There will always be something that over-reacting parents will think is bad. Music, RPGs, video games, etc. I'm afraid to see what it's going to be when my kids are all older.
Your kids will join a new religion created by Gene Simmons and Andy Dick. The concerned peoples of the world will be shocked to discover the cult supports its mission by operating mink farms - not for furs, but for delicious burgers.
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