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According to figures from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， China’s online gaming population had reached 330 million as of June 2012. In other words， more than 60 percent of the country’s 538 million Internet users play online games， contributing 24.84 billion yuan （$3.99 billion） in revenue in the first half of 2012， the ministry said.
Meanwhile， approximately 150 million Chinese Internet users are believed to be under the age of 19， according to the China Internet Network Information Center.
China still does not have a unified content rating system for the online gaming industry， instead relying on individual game developers to classify their own products into suitabilityrelated groups.
The China Youth Internet Association （CYIA） conducted research on 423 online games operated in China in 2012. It said in a report released on March 9 that 78.5 percent of the games were not suitable for people younger than 18， while only 2 percent were appropriate for children over 6.
According to the CYIA report， only 39 percent of the games were age-rated by the publishers， and 51 percent of those labeled with an age restriction failed to pass a third-party evaluation of their ratings’ suitability.
Moreover， in-game-purchase traps were found in 58 percent of the games and gambling features in 35 percent， said the report， adding that 40 percent of the games did not have functioning anti-addiction mechanisms.
Introduced by China’s Internet regulator in 2007 to encourage game players to take a break from the action， anti-addiction mechanisms punish excessive use by cancelling half of a user’s earned credits if he or she remains logged in for more than three hours a day. Players who binge for more than five hours lose all virtual currency they had earned that day. Implementation of such systems and supervision of users are the responsibilities of game designers and operators.
Shao Dehai， Director of the Media Center of news portal China Youth International， said that addiction prevention measures are key to protecting minors.
“Anti-addiction mechanisms and rating systems are two useful ways. They create a healthy environment for minors to play games，” he said， adding that rating systems can set clearer limits for players in different age groups and leave minors with no chance to play games rated unsuitable for them.
Putting a lid on IT Internet addiction， especially online gaming addiction， has become a serious problem in China today. “Although some rules restricting students from playing online games have been introduced， the problem has not been solved completely，” said Li Jianwei， an official with the Ministry of Culture.
Although there is no diagnostic standard for Internet addiction， Web users are labeled as addicts if school grades， careers or interpersonal relationships in real life are affected by habitual use of the Internet， according to Ke Huixin， Director of the Survey and Statistics Institute of Communication University of China.
Ke identifies three more diagnostic criteria： The person always wants to use the Internet， becomes disturbed if denied use， or feels happier in the virtual world than the real world.
Internet addiction has been classified as a mental health problem since the mid-1990s， with symptoms similar to other addictions. “We treat it as a psychological disorder when we lose control and do harm to others，” said Xu Yan， Dean of the School of Psychology at Beijing Normal University.
In a recent case， police in Ziyang in southwest China’s Sichuan Province detained a 14-year-old boy who was accused of pouring pesticides into cooking oil on February 2， causing his parents， elder brother and sister-in-law to suffer severe gastrointestinal distress.
The boy confessed he poisoned his family because his mother banned him from playing computer games， police said.
Experts estimate that thousands of teenagers in China are addicted to the Internet.
The Chinese Government has made great efforts to solve the problem of Internet addiction among the youth in the past few years.
Since 2007， anti-addiction systems have been adopted to prevent underage gamers from playing for excessively long durations. Players must input their identification numbers for age confirmation， and those under 18 are only allowed to play for a specified amount of time， usually five hours.
In March 2011， the Parents’ Guardian Project was introduced by eight central government departments， including the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Public Security， requiring online game operators in China to provide services to parents so that they can monitor their children.
As long as the parents can prove their identity as guardians and the gaming account of their children， the operators should follow the parents’ request to restrict their young children’s online gaming， including setting a limit on the daily or weekly playing time or even imposing a total ban. On February 17， 15 ministry-level authorities， including the Ministry of Culture and the State Internet Information Office， released a basic framework announcing development of China-specific criteria for diagnosing Internet addiction in young people this year.
The framework establishes conceptual plans to define Internet addiction and spend about three years developing effective methods to identify the early stages of potential addiction， so as to do early intervention for minors.
“The plan is timely and will set out a clear direction on how to cope with Internet addiction，”Wang said.
However， he added that it will take a long time to enforce the plan because the issue covers many departments and needs each of them to carry out research and cooperate.
Liu Shaoben， a professor at Hebei Normal University’s School of Literature， said that any administrative regulations would have to be coupled with education in order to prove effective in regulating the online gaming industry and protecting the vulnerable.
“People can get addicted to any game， so what we need to do is not halt games but teach people how to play rationally，” he said.
A rating system
As with film and television productions， many countries already supervise online games with strict classifications to prevent young people from accessing unsuitable content.
According to a survey conducted by the China Youth Daily last year， 72 percent of 1，718 respondents said that they welcomed the establishment of such a system in China and 44.5 percent of the respondents believed a rating system would effectively help protect children from being exposed to violence and pornography.
Statistics from reformatories for juvenile delinquents show that nearly 70 percent of inmates were involved in violent crime， of which 80 percent were encouraged by violencethemed online games.
Actually， Shanghai and Beijing rolled out an online game rating system in 2010， requiring major game companies to categorize their products suitable for people above age 12 and those above age 18. Although users have to provide identification to register for the latter category， many teenagers manage to find an adult’s ID card to circumvent age restrictions.
Fang Chang， Vice President of the Beijingbased online game company Gamebar， said that though the system didn’t work as expected， many large online game companies have developed self-discipline to avoid graphic violence in their games. “It’s wrong to use violence and pornography to target and attract，” he said. “Instead of spilling blood， we use a flash of light or other kinds of lighting effects in intense fight scenes.”
“Adolescents are particularly curious about sex，” said Tao Hongkai， a guest professor at Huazhong Normal University in Wuhan， Hubei Province. “Even if there are no graphic rape pictures and scenes in the game， female characters designed with scanty clothes also stimulate youths.”
A rating system jointly released by Peking University and Huazhong Normal University in 2010 mainly concerns with whether or not a game involves violence， sex and obscenity， but the definition of “violence” and“pornography” is very ambiguous in China， according to Xiang Yong， Deputy Director of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University.
In the United States， a non-profit， selfregulatory body， the Entertainment Software Ratings Board （ESRB）， assigns computer and video game content ratings， enforces industryadopted advertising guidelines and helps ensure responsible online privacy practices for the interactive entertainment software industry. The third-party body comprises various groups of experts， including players， educators and psy- chologists.
The ESRB devised six content categories corresponding to appropriateness for users over ages 3， 6， 10， 13， 17 and 18. All games containing extreme violence， drug use， sexual content or nudity receive an “Adults Only 18+”（AO） rating.
Game designers typically bow to pressure from publishers to tone down graphic content to achieve softer “Mature 17+” or “Teen” ratings. Many major American retailers refuse to sell games with AO ratings.
Experts believe a rating body can also work in China but with government participation.
“I think that China can adopt a two-tiered rating model. Experts from multiple areas as well as online game developers assign computer and video game content ratings while the government establishes relevant laws and regulations to supervise the whole industry，” said Chen Shaofeng， Deputy Director of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University.
According to international practice， industrial associations carry out most of the evaluations of online games because government authorities are a vested interest， as they profit from the tax revenues on the products.
“Instead of direct management， the government is better off with a role that only includes advocating， reminding， regulating and explaining，” said Zhou Qingshan， another Deputy Director of the Information Management Department at Peking University.
“China doesn’t have a nationwide online gaming industry association yet， so it’s urgent we establish one that allows members to discuss， negotiate and work out a unified industry regulation，” he said.
“With help from the government， self-discipline enforced by an industrial association and a clear rating system， I’m sure China’s online gaming industry will develop further and reports of addiction will be greatly reduced，” Zhou added.
Meanwhile， approximately 150 million Chinese Internet users are believed to be under the age of 19， according to the China Internet Network Information Center.
China still does not have a unified content rating system for the online gaming industry， instead relying on individual game developers to classify their own products into suitabilityrelated groups.
The China Youth Internet Association （CYIA） conducted research on 423 online games operated in China in 2012. It said in a report released on March 9 that 78.5 percent of the games were not suitable for people younger than 18， while only 2 percent were appropriate for children over 6.
According to the CYIA report， only 39 percent of the games were age-rated by the publishers， and 51 percent of those labeled with an age restriction failed to pass a third-party evaluation of their ratings’ suitability.
Moreover， in-game-purchase traps were found in 58 percent of the games and gambling features in 35 percent， said the report， adding that 40 percent of the games did not have functioning anti-addiction mechanisms.
Introduced by China’s Internet regulator in 2007 to encourage game players to take a break from the action， anti-addiction mechanisms punish excessive use by cancelling half of a user’s earned credits if he or she remains logged in for more than three hours a day. Players who binge for more than five hours lose all virtual currency they had earned that day. Implementation of such systems and supervision of users are the responsibilities of game designers and operators.
Shao Dehai， Director of the Media Center of news portal China Youth International， said that addiction prevention measures are key to protecting minors.
“Anti-addiction mechanisms and rating systems are two useful ways. They create a healthy environment for minors to play games，” he said， adding that rating systems can set clearer limits for players in different age groups and leave minors with no chance to play games rated unsuitable for them.
Putting a lid on IT Internet addiction， especially online gaming addiction， has become a serious problem in China today. “Although some rules restricting students from playing online games have been introduced， the problem has not been solved completely，” said Li Jianwei， an official with the Ministry of Culture.
Although there is no diagnostic standard for Internet addiction， Web users are labeled as addicts if school grades， careers or interpersonal relationships in real life are affected by habitual use of the Internet， according to Ke Huixin， Director of the Survey and Statistics Institute of Communication University of China.
Ke identifies three more diagnostic criteria： The person always wants to use the Internet， becomes disturbed if denied use， or feels happier in the virtual world than the real world.
Internet addiction has been classified as a mental health problem since the mid-1990s， with symptoms similar to other addictions. “We treat it as a psychological disorder when we lose control and do harm to others，” said Xu Yan， Dean of the School of Psychology at Beijing Normal University.
In a recent case， police in Ziyang in southwest China’s Sichuan Province detained a 14-year-old boy who was accused of pouring pesticides into cooking oil on February 2， causing his parents， elder brother and sister-in-law to suffer severe gastrointestinal distress.
The boy confessed he poisoned his family because his mother banned him from playing computer games， police said.
Experts estimate that thousands of teenagers in China are addicted to the Internet.
The Chinese Government has made great efforts to solve the problem of Internet addiction among the youth in the past few years.
Since 2007， anti-addiction systems have been adopted to prevent underage gamers from playing for excessively long durations. Players must input their identification numbers for age confirmation， and those under 18 are only allowed to play for a specified amount of time， usually five hours.
In March 2011， the Parents’ Guardian Project was introduced by eight central government departments， including the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Public Security， requiring online game operators in China to provide services to parents so that they can monitor their children.
As long as the parents can prove their identity as guardians and the gaming account of their children， the operators should follow the parents’ request to restrict their young children’s online gaming， including setting a limit on the daily or weekly playing time or even imposing a total ban. On February 17， 15 ministry-level authorities， including the Ministry of Culture and the State Internet Information Office， released a basic framework announcing development of China-specific criteria for diagnosing Internet addiction in young people this year.
The framework establishes conceptual plans to define Internet addiction and spend about three years developing effective methods to identify the early stages of potential addiction， so as to do early intervention for minors.
“The plan is timely and will set out a clear direction on how to cope with Internet addiction，”Wang said.
However， he added that it will take a long time to enforce the plan because the issue covers many departments and needs each of them to carry out research and cooperate.
Liu Shaoben， a professor at Hebei Normal University’s School of Literature， said that any administrative regulations would have to be coupled with education in order to prove effective in regulating the online gaming industry and protecting the vulnerable.
“People can get addicted to any game， so what we need to do is not halt games but teach people how to play rationally，” he said.
A rating system
As with film and television productions， many countries already supervise online games with strict classifications to prevent young people from accessing unsuitable content.
According to a survey conducted by the China Youth Daily last year， 72 percent of 1，718 respondents said that they welcomed the establishment of such a system in China and 44.5 percent of the respondents believed a rating system would effectively help protect children from being exposed to violence and pornography.
Statistics from reformatories for juvenile delinquents show that nearly 70 percent of inmates were involved in violent crime， of which 80 percent were encouraged by violencethemed online games.
Actually， Shanghai and Beijing rolled out an online game rating system in 2010， requiring major game companies to categorize their products suitable for people above age 12 and those above age 18. Although users have to provide identification to register for the latter category， many teenagers manage to find an adult’s ID card to circumvent age restrictions.
Fang Chang， Vice President of the Beijingbased online game company Gamebar， said that though the system didn’t work as expected， many large online game companies have developed self-discipline to avoid graphic violence in their games. “It’s wrong to use violence and pornography to target and attract，” he said. “Instead of spilling blood， we use a flash of light or other kinds of lighting effects in intense fight scenes.”
“Adolescents are particularly curious about sex，” said Tao Hongkai， a guest professor at Huazhong Normal University in Wuhan， Hubei Province. “Even if there are no graphic rape pictures and scenes in the game， female characters designed with scanty clothes also stimulate youths.”
A rating system jointly released by Peking University and Huazhong Normal University in 2010 mainly concerns with whether or not a game involves violence， sex and obscenity， but the definition of “violence” and“pornography” is very ambiguous in China， according to Xiang Yong， Deputy Director of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University.
In the United States， a non-profit， selfregulatory body， the Entertainment Software Ratings Board （ESRB）， assigns computer and video game content ratings， enforces industryadopted advertising guidelines and helps ensure responsible online privacy practices for the interactive entertainment software industry. The third-party body comprises various groups of experts， including players， educators and psy- chologists.
The ESRB devised six content categories corresponding to appropriateness for users over ages 3， 6， 10， 13， 17 and 18. All games containing extreme violence， drug use， sexual content or nudity receive an “Adults Only 18+”（AO） rating.
Game designers typically bow to pressure from publishers to tone down graphic content to achieve softer “Mature 17+” or “Teen” ratings. Many major American retailers refuse to sell games with AO ratings.
Experts believe a rating body can also work in China but with government participation.
“I think that China can adopt a two-tiered rating model. Experts from multiple areas as well as online game developers assign computer and video game content ratings while the government establishes relevant laws and regulations to supervise the whole industry，” said Chen Shaofeng， Deputy Director of the Institute for Cultural Industries at Peking University.
According to international practice， industrial associations carry out most of the evaluations of online games because government authorities are a vested interest， as they profit from the tax revenues on the products.
“Instead of direct management， the government is better off with a role that only includes advocating， reminding， regulating and explaining，” said Zhou Qingshan， another Deputy Director of the Information Management Department at Peking University.
“China doesn’t have a nationwide online gaming industry association yet， so it’s urgent we establish one that allows members to discuss， negotiate and work out a unified industry regulation，” he said.
“With help from the government， self-discipline enforced by an industrial association and a clear rating system， I’m sure China’s online gaming industry will develop further and reports of addiction will be greatly reduced，” Zhou added.