Chinese game players and Internet professionals are developing a computer
game rating system to shield teenagers from online violence, pornography and
terror. But their efforts are not popular with game producers.
Six of the most popular computer games were rated at the inaugural Green Game
Assessment Meeting organized by the China Youth Association for Network
Development (CYAND), a government sponsored civil organization that aims to
promote good online behavior.
The games, including Counter Strike by Washington-based Valve Corporation and
Warcraft III by California-based Blizzard Entertainment, were rated in terms of
violence, sex, terror and morality.
The CYAND asked a forty-member panel to rate the games in five categories,
namely games for everyone, games for players above 12, 16 and 18, and games with
dangerous implications.
According to the "green game criteria" drafted by the CYAND, "green games"
are those suitable for players under the age of 18.
However, CYAND's initiative is being cold shouldered by the country's game
industry.
Wang Ning, director of Aomei Electronics' game department, said that his
company will abide by China's Press and Publication Administration and Ministry
of Culture regulations, insinuating that CYAND's ratings are not legally
binding.
Asked whether the company will submit its products to CYAND before putting
them on the market, he didn't give a direct answer, but said the CYAND is not a
government department and therefore game producers have no obligation to comply
with "green game criteria".
Aomei Electronics has introduced Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo - American
games from Blizzard Entertainment - to the Chinese market over the past 10
years.
Experts point out that even if the rating efforts are having a positive
impact, they are not likely to change the business operation of game producers
or affect the choices of game players.
"I doubt very much that young players will use the ratings to select games,"
Xu Leiting, an expert on teenager psychology, said in Tuesday's Beijing Morning
Post.
"The management of on-line games is a complicated social project. The
Government should issue relevant laws and regulations and adopt a compulsory
rating system," he said.
The expert also pointed out that widespread piracy made it even more
difficult for China to establish an effective game rating system, because such
efforts would be futile if players can buy pirated copies of games in illegal
markets.
With 111 million Internet users, China is the world's second largest Internet
market after the United States. A 2005 survey showed that 13 percent of young
Internet users were addicts and Internet addiction has led to many juvenile
crimes.
