The Ministry of Culture has decided to collect a group of
homemade and healthy online games for minors, to guide them to play
with healthy entertainment products.
"Entities running Internet game businesses, experts, parents,
media and other social sectors can all applied for the collection,"
said the ministry.
Altogether six standards have been set for the collection,
including that the game theme is patriotic and games will help
spread fine Chinese culture and morals, encourage young people for
scientific exploration, conform to social norms while having
effective measures to prevent kids from indulging in it.
In past three to four years, the most eye-catching problems
included suicide attempts of teenagers derived from game addiction
and juvenile delinquency.
At the end of last year, a net-addicted pupil in Nanchang, east
China's Jiangxi Province, jumped from the 24th floor of an
apartment building. Prior to this, a sudden death of another pupil
in the provincial capital was reported after he kept playing online
games round-the-clock in April 2002.
Xu Jian, a law-school professor and a senior official with China
Research Institute of Juvenile Delinquency, said "Internet has
become an important part of modern society and serves as a good
instrument. It is imperative to standardize the web-related
business, including online game, rather than banning it."
(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2005)