China bans gang themed games
By
Kshitij Sobti |
Updated on 29-Jul-2009
The Chinese government is feeling very insecure about its citizens. In an effort to ensure that people who play violent gang themed games don’t go about killing citizens in fits of rage, they have banned such games entirely. Online games such as Godfather, Jianghu, and Guhuozaare now no longer accessible to the Chinese public.
“These games encourage people to deceive, loot and kill, and glorify gangsters’ lives. It has a bad influence on youngsters,” says their report. The age old argument that playing a violent video game will suddenly make mentally healthy individuals into violent monsters comes up every once in a while and takes a toll on the patience, or in this case, the freedom of the frustrated audience. By this very argument the news channels should be the first to go!
The Chinese government’s crackdown on questionable content has been particularly active recently, in an effort to garner tighter control over the media in preparation for the October’s 60th anniversary of the founding of Communist China.
They have been blocking pornographic and other “vulgar” websites and have now “ordered its law enforcement bodies to step up oversight and harshly punish those sites that continue to run such games.”
To the Chinese gaming community of 200 million, the largest in the world, we offer our deepest condolences.