Chinese gamers protest imposed time limit for MMOs

"Okay... Those of you who object to the three hour limit please stand in front of this tank."

Everything is good in moderation.

"MMO therapists, detox clinics"
Pretty sure they already have these here. Support groups and people to see for quitting MMOs. Even 12 step programs for quitting. Mostly thanks to that mother of the dude who killed himself on thanksgiving "because of EverQuest".

Notice the quotation marks before you kill me.

I'm split on this one. I am a huge CounterStrike fanatic. CS is an addicting game, as I'm sure many other MMO games are. I had to uninstall it from my laptop to make sure that I didn't let it take over. I mean seriously, I would stay up all night playing this damn game when I had to work the next morning. I've got a family and a business and I can't let it out weigh my priorities. On the other hand, the game is so damn fun. The replay value is never ending and once you get good, you don't want to stop. If people are seriously dying because of these games - or worse - letting their own children die because they play these games - then something does need to happen. I'm just not sure what. I personally don't like the 3/5 hour limits but it could be just what I need to trust myself to install CS again. :)

Oh - and don't ream me for my thoughts! I'm sure many of you gamers are 'in control' and can 'quit at any time'. Some of you though, will soon be standing in front others in a full cafateria saying 'Hi, my name is _____ and I am addicted to...'. Only to hear someone from the crowd yell 'WoW? Have you ever sucked dick for Wow?'. I'm finished

Minks: Yes, but why should the rest of us have to sufer because you can't control yourself?

"Just one more thing that gamers have to be aware of,cant even play freely..OMG"
Play offline games if you want an unrestricted gaming experience. If the social aspects are what's attracting you to the game, go outside.

Seriously...people have died playing MMORPGs...I'm not trying to blame the games themselves, but for people that can't bear to leave a video game the time limits should be a good thing. 3 hours seems too short though, especially on rainy days! I like the idea where it gets harder and harder to gain experience and move on in the game unless you allow your character to get some rest. Doesn't WoW do that? I played the beta, thought it was WAY too addictive, and didn't let myself buy the game.

Time limits make sense on games that never end.

Hook the game to an exercise bike. Kills two birds with one stone.

Morgon:

The draw in many of these MMORPGs in poorer asian countries is the profit and "gold-farming".

It might even work as a second income for many of the chinese. Considering that Americans will pay $80 for a rare sword, thats more than most chinese make in a month!

The Chinese gov't is a fascist state. Although it lives under the name of communism, it is fascist. Period. So they can do whatever the hell they want.

Plus.. do I really care what laws the Chinese have? I don't think so.

People have died playing video games? Well, people have died having sex, too--perhaps that should be legislated. Oh, wait--China's already done that.

It's funny how so many people take government control for granted--to the point that whether or not the three hour limit is fair or not, or whether a slightly longer limit should be imposed, is actually debatable. The Chinese government sucks--and this one isn't far behind.

They should be limited in their game playing. I need more slave-labor produced cheap crap! GET TO WORK AND STOP GOOFING OFF!

omg anti gaming prescription drugs... somebody call tom cruise!!

omfg that government isn't certainly "People's" Government, that's a dictatorship that thinks it's liberal. Pffff "People's Republic of China" my ass. :|

the people targetted with this aren't the goldfarmers. those play on american / european servers and prolly don't get affected by this at all.

theres a rehab for counter strike in nyc.

addiction is just a secondary excuse, IMO Chinese government, the control freak, is scared that 1.5 million of its people can congregate under one umbrella other than for communist rallies, with little supervision...

i was really addicted to wow. i went out for a week then i didnt want to play wow. put it on anyway and i was bored and cancelled it. easy as that.