Sometime ago Google and wordpress were being blocked by the great firewall of china and now its the online games that is on the hit list. The new york times reports that china is now targeting online games.
Online games are hugely profitable in China. In 2008, the industry brought in revenues of 18 billion renminbi, or about $2.64 billion, a 77 percent increase over the year before, according to an association of Chinese gaming companies. The Ministry of Culture issued a notice banning online games that feature Mafioso kingpins, marauding street gangs or any sort of hooliganism predisposed to organization.
It also states that “Severe punishment” for violators but fails to specify the penalties, also prohibits Web sites from including links to Internet games that glorify organized crime.
Such games, the ministry said, “embody antisocial behavior like killing, beating, looting and raping,” and their availability “gravely threatens and distorts the social order and moral standards, easily putting young people under harmful influence.”
By Tuesday, a number of popular games, including “Godfather,” “Gangster” and “Mafioso Hitman,” had been excised from the ether, although scores of other violence-laden games were still available.
Its not entirely surprising, given the government’s war against Internet pornography and other sites that can be construed as “socially disruptive.” This year more than a thousand Web sites have been shut down for “vulgar” content.
Other efforts to control the Internet have been not so successful. In June, China issued an edict that would have required all new computers sold domestically to include filtering software, known as Green Dam Youth Escort. The government insisted that the program would only affect pornography, but critics suggested that it could also be used to block political Web sites. The government bowed to pressure from computer manufacturers and users and postponed the new rules this month. It is unclear whether the ban on Mafia-themed computer games will similarly stoke the fury of China’s 200 million online gamers, although some of those who work in the industry did not seem to be too concerned.
