ChinaSide facing it's own demise: Chinese government bans minors from PvP games

[NeoPhoenixTE]

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm?loadFeature=196&fp=1024,768,1154605531,20050828152723

PvP; love it or hate it, if you’ve played a massively multiplayer online game, you’ll have seen it, probably have taken part in it, and most likely have strong feelings about it. Little else in online gaming can generate such passionate opinions, and deeply polarised points of view, as one player going at another with an axe, or laser, with murder in mind. Right or wrong? Just a bit of fun, or malicious griefing?

Well it seems that for over 20 million Chinese online gamers, these questions are to be answered for them, by the government. Amid a raft of measures to designed to improve and regulate the Chinese internet gaming industry, it was announced that any network game which depends on ‘PK’ (PvP) to advance rank would be made illegal for players under the age of 18 to play, effective from the date of the proclamation, 12th July 2005.

How then do game developers resolve this dilemma? Remove PvP altogether? For some titles this might work; Everquest II for example, would hardly be touched. World of Warcraft and Star Wars: Galaxies would still function fairly well, although both would lose a significant parts of their gameplay in the process. Eve Online and Guild Wars might fare worse as PvP makes up large parts of the core gameplay, and it’s questionable whether what was left could stand alone as a game at all. Planetside would vanish altogether.

Yowza..

[Mo_Steel]

Eve Online I doubt would be hit too hard. There's a lot of PvE in that game, from what I've seen.

[Infernus]

Eve Online I doubt would be hit too hard. There's a lot of PvE in that game, from what I've seen.

EVE Doesn't rely on PVP to "Advance Rank"

There is no rank.

[MVTek]

Kills the honor system and battle grounds in World of Warcraft, definitely kills Guild Wars (if other MMOs didn't kill it already). Planetside is out the window... but I don't think it had that big of a fan base in China anyway.

[Biohazzard56]

Commie-side :(

[Aut]

I would be so upset if something like that passed here.

[NeoPhoenixTE]

I would be so upset if something like that passed here.
I wouldn't give a fsck. I'm 22, lol.

But in all honesty, I'm actually kinda curious just what would happen if something like that hit the US. I mean, laws reguarding games are certainly on their way to hitting this point...

[Biohazzard56]

I wouldn't give a fsck. I'm 22, lol.

But in all honesty, I'm actually kinda curious just what would happen if something like that hit the US. I mean, laws reguarding games are certainly on their way to hitting this point...

Such as? Alot of judges have ruled in video games favor as being protected by the first amendment. The controversy over the games is that GTA gets into the hands of kids. Nothing is wrong with PvP games, its just competition. If the game is violent enough to warrant an M rating, reguarless of genre people under 17 shouldnt be able to buy it.

The chineese youth would really be better off, if China wasnt communist. Or seeing what the chineese does it its own citizens.

[myrtar]

wow, that really sucks

[land_leech]

Such as? Alot of judges have ruled in video games favor as being protected by the first amendment. The controversy over the games is that GTA gets into the hands of kids. Nothing is wrong with PvP games, its just competition. If the game is violent enough to warrant an M rating, reguarless of genre people under 17 shouldnt be able to buy it.

The chineese youth would really be better off, if China wasnt communist. Or seeing what the chineese does it its own citizens.

I still wonder what the big deal is with GTA. I mean blowing old guys heads off and running over peds. ::Yawns:: Its mindless, not to mention stupid and a HUGE waste of time. But thats just my opinion.

[NeoPhoenixTE]

I still wonder what the big deal is with GTA. I mean blowing old guys heads off and running over peds. ::Yawns:: Its mindless, not to mention stupid and a HUGE waste of time. But thats just my opinion.
It wasn't that that cranked it to AO. It was a hidden sex game in there that could only be unlocked by using a gameshark (or in the PC version's case, wtfh4x).

BS in my opinion, but what's done is done.

[MVTek]

I still wonder what the big deal is with GTA. I mean blowing old guys heads off and running over peds. ::Yawns:: Its mindless, not to mention stupid and a HUGE waste of time. But thats just my opinion.

Precisely, it was mindless and mindlessness can be fun from time to time. GTA was a gaming fad, like Halo. It brought a large influx of "new" gamers into the fold, if just temperarily.

Honestly, the true gamers out there are few and far between, though we may congregate on the intarwebs in forums like this one. I personally get rather annoyed by non-gamers attempting to play good games, hence why I challenge them to a game of deathmatch and wtfpwn their ass.

As a wise man said once, "You can give a newb an AUG, but he won't know how to burst fire." Anyone that can tell who said that gets props from me (all mods/admins are excluded from this test).

[land_leech]

Precisely, it was mindless and mindlessness can be fun from time to time. GTA was a gaming fad, like Halo. It brought a large influx of "new" gamers into the fold, if just temperarily.

Honestly, the true gamers out there are few and far between, though we may congregate on the intarwebs in forums like this one. I personally get rather annoyed by non-gamers attempting to play good games, hence why I challenge them to a game of deathmatch and wtfpwn their ass.

As a wise man said once, "You can give a newb an AUG, but he won't know how to burst fire." Anyone that can tell who said that gets props from me (all mods/admins are excluded from this test).

You know, Halo wasn't a fad to me. Even though I dont have an Xbox, I still like to play it from time to time.

[MVTek]

You know, Halo wasn't a fad to me. Even though I dont have an Xbox, I still like to play it from time to time.

I didn't mean to say Halo was a fad for EVERYONE, it was a fad for non-gamers. Gaming became COOL to the masses because of it's sudden popularity. So for a short while, the true gamers in society were cool as well... until we started playing our RPGs again... then we weren't.

[Hayoo]

(all mods/admins are excluded from this test).

Damnit!

[MVTek]

Damnit!

I'm still waiting on an answer... I'm suprised I haven't gotten any guesses yet... maybe I should make a thread about it in General.

[land_leech]

Hahahahaha. We gamers, I think, are frowned apoun as being loosers. (I dont think this applies to me. :P)

[MVTek]

Hahahahaha. We gamers, I think, are frowned UPON as being loosers. (I dont think this applies to me. :P)

dude, that's pretty freaking weak... that's a fairy tale word.

[Hayoo]

dude, that's pretty freaking weak... that's a fairy tale word.

Only when used in Once Upon a Time. "Frowned upon" is an extremely common phrase used in every-day contemporary life.

[MVTek]

Only when used in Once Upon a Time. "Frowned upon" is an extremely common phrase used in every-day contemporary life.

Stop ruining my would-be grammar/spelling flames! :P

[land_leech]

Owned. :P

[Hayoo]

lol. I still hope to see the grammar-ninja attack again. Any way you can make that animated? :)

[land_leech]

What, owned?

[MVTek]

lol. I still hope to see the grammar-ninja attack again. Any way you can make that animated? :)

http://www.mvtek.com/images/grammar_ninja.gif

[Mo_Steel]

http://www.mvtek.com/images/grammar_ninja.gif

My life is complete. I need to go buy a firearm now.