Mafia-themed online games banned

By Cui Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-29 07:52

Chinese authorities have banned "gangster" themed online games, saying they distort society's efforts to build a lawful, nonviolent environment.

The Ministry of Culture has prohibited websites in the country from running, publicizing or offering links to online games featuring mafia-like gangs, and threatened "severe punishment" for violators, according to a statement posted on its website Monday.

The decision to ban such games was made because they promote bloodshed and violence by offering players platforms to experience anti-social gangster behavior, such as beating, killing, looting and raping. These experiences are a bad influence on youngsters, the statement said.

Operators are urged to immediately stop running or promoting such games, or face severe punishment.

Ministry authorities are required to strengthen their control over games with such contents on the Internet.

Some gaming companies have already responded.

"We removed 'Godfather' - a free mafia role-play application - from kaixin.com as soon as we saw the statement on the website of Ministry of Culture Monday night," said a spokesperson from Oak Pacific Interactive, which runs the popular social networking website.

The contents of online games in China are required to be approved by the two agencies - the Ministry of Culture and the General Administration of Press and Publication - before the games are allowed to be released to the market, according to regulations on online games.

The company considered "Godfather" to be an "online social networking environment" rather than an online game, so it didn't go through the required approval process of online games, according the spokesperson.

But a source from the Ministry of Culture told China Daily yesterday that games like "Godfather" should be categorized as online games, and not "online applications."

"Although it is true this new type of application was not strictly required to be approved by the two bodies according to the existing regulation, which was passed in 2003," a source from Ministry of Culture told China Daily yesterday.

The source said that the regulation needs to be updated as new forms of online games emerge.

The users of "Godfather" are not happy about the sudden disappearance of the application.

The customer service message board of kaixin.com has been flooded with complaints about the removal of the application. Some said the website had no respect for the users and asked the administrator why the users were not informed.

But one expert says the gangster type games do have harmful effects.

"People only play as mafias in a virtual world, but their experiences of violent behavior can transfer into reality," said Xia Xueluan, a professor of sociology at Peking University, who welcomes the authority's decision.