From GamePolitics.com...
Quote:Online Too Long? XP minus 100... Equipped Items Suffer 10% Damage
If you plan to be game-addicted in the People's Republic of China, you're going to do so with a gimped character.
So say new regulations that went into effect this week. Xinhua is reporting that online gamers will be penalized for playing more than three hours at a stretch. A two-hour break is mandated between gaming sessions.
Designed to combat growing fears of online game addiction, the new law targets 11 of the most popular titles, including World of Warcraft and The Legend of Mir II, but is expected to encompass all online games in the near future.
Players that exceed the legal time limit will see their characters punished by loss of experience points (XP) and in-game weapons. Stay online for five hours, and your character is reset to starter level.
"This timing mechanism can prevent young people from becoming addicted to online games," said Kou Xiaowei, the deputy director of China's Audiovisual and Internet Publication Department.
Gamers, naturally, don't care for the new regulations.
"It's absolutely a foolish decision," said 23-year old gamer Yankee Song, a World of Warcraft fan. "In the game, even a simple mission would take players three to five hours to finish and complex ones may take a whole day. After the system's implemented, players can achieve nothing in the game, and we will have no reason to play it anymore."
Another Chinese WoW devotee expressed confidence that hacks would be developed to trick in-game timers into thinking that players had logged off.
UPDATE: GP reader LitaGemini weighs in with some clarity as to what this issue may be all about: "Heard about this law at Futureplay (conference at Michigan State)... Often times the Chinese youth gather in cybercafes to play these games, and, in addition to gameplay, they're having discussion about real world political matters. The Chinese government therefore wants to limit their gameplay, which limits their cybercafe hours, which limits their political freedom. Tricky and insidious.
Only in China...
-b0b
(...or maybe Kalifornistan.)