The details are a little light, but the People's Daily Online reports that China will begin "real-name registration" for online players this year. It's unclear if this means character names will be required to reflect the player's real name, or if the account must use a name registered with the government. If it's the former, we already have the follow-up headline for next year: Chinese players bemoan lack of anonymity, online douchebaggery down 95%.
Four online games have also been suspended after it was discovered that they did not abide by the government's mandatory anti-addiction program.
[Via Game Politics]
Reader Comments (56)
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 9:05AM (Unverified) said
You hear that? That's the sound of communism in full effect.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:41AM Leon Trotsky TDA said
I wonder how many people that bash communism actually know the full meaning behind it?
Not that I am Marxist, of course...
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Not that I am Marxist, of course...
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:59AM (Unverified) said
Communism only looks good on paper, IMO.
I don't want to write an entire wall of text explaining why. Do research and decide for yourself.
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I don't want to write an entire wall of text explaining why. Do research and decide for yourself.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:08AM Professor Lario said
@Tyler -
Meaning is one thing. Putting into practice is another...
Here is another good test. Where would you rather live? Communist China or somewhere else?
Reply
Meaning is one thing. Putting into practice is another...
Here is another good test. Where would you rather live? Communist China or somewhere else?
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 9:18AM whookid said
Remind me never to live in China, visit China, talk about China, breathe in China..... etc etc.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:48AM SirFishouse said
Well china has a lot going for it right now. Economy is going great. They have a fantastic transit system. In the past 10 years they have increased their undergraduates by five-fold.
The last time we (USA) did anything with our transit system was back in the 1960s. How would you like to ride a bullet train from California to Washington. Must be nice.
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The last time we (USA) did anything with our transit system was back in the 1960s. How would you like to ride a bullet train from California to Washington. Must be nice.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 9:24AM Snowblind said
In a way, it almost sounds like a good idea. More accountability means less people acting like jackasses online.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:16AM Duke said
I would think that you aren't going to be running around calling people every racist/sexist name in the book if they can see your name as you do it.
No, I wouldn't want the setup here, but you have to see how this would cause people to think before speaking and acting. It could be far worse than that though - how about employers being able to do checks in the games for potential and current employee names and then terminating them because they don't approve or they see something they don't like.
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No, I wouldn't want the setup here, but you have to see how this would cause people to think before speaking and acting. It could be far worse than that though - how about employers being able to do checks in the games for potential and current employee names and then terminating them because they don't approve or they see something they don't like.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:53AM Haggard said
John Smith just called me the N word.
Who is John Smith? Where does he live? Perhaps if I'm lucky he'll live in my local area, and I can look him up in the yellow pages. Then I can start a campaign of phone-harassment against a completely innocent person with the same name.
Seriously, having your real name on display is only going to stop illegal things like grooming etc.
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Who is John Smith? Where does he live? Perhaps if I'm lucky he'll live in my local area, and I can look him up in the yellow pages. Then I can start a campaign of phone-harassment against a completely innocent person with the same name.
Seriously, having your real name on display is only going to stop illegal things like grooming etc.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 9:29AM (Unverified) said
And this is who we borrow money from!?!?!!
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:59AM (Unverified) said
More like "this is who we are giving money to".
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Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:48AM (Unverified) said
.......
Seriously dude.....
dam the Consumer aspect of it.......sure all our toys and cheap electronics come from there......
but on a GOVERNMENT aspect the US Owes China BILLIONS if not TRILLIONS of dollars......
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Seriously dude.....
dam the Consumer aspect of it.......sure all our toys and cheap electronics come from there......
but on a GOVERNMENT aspect the US Owes China BILLIONS if not TRILLIONS of dollars......
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 9:48AM (Unverified) said
It sucks to force someone to do this, but I'll bet it works. There would definitely less jackasses on Xbox Live if people were forced to use real names.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 9:49AM jhowlett said
i'm reminded of a joke about chinese phone books
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:00AM (Unverified) said
"A man and a monkey enter to a bar...I forgot the rest of the joke but your mother is a wh*re".
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Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:18AM SirFishouse said
What does that have to do with a Chinese phone book? You can be so silly sometimes DrJ... Silly goose.
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Posted: Jan 16th 2009 9:50AM butaneko said
What happened to you China? You used to be cool
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:01AM (Unverified) said
Those were really obscure I almost forgot that episode.
A Winner is you.
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A Winner is you.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:00AM (Unverified) said
And the catalyst for the new Cultural Revolution is introduced. Soon, the forces of asshattery will sweep across China in a tsunami of gold farmers and bloggers.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:02AM Joeybeast said
I just hope people don't think this will solve the larger social issue in China.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:05AM (Unverified) said
I think having your online alias reflecting your real name would be impossible. Think of all the Lee's etc.
So it's probably just that you have to have your real name registered, instead of using a fake name to make an account. Which doesn't sound too bad, as illegal activities would be easier to take care off.(Of course illegal activities there would be talking about democracy and stuff like that, so it's just a move to increase censorship,and general evil commie stuff.)
So it's probably just that you have to have your real name registered, instead of using a fake name to make an account. Which doesn't sound too bad, as illegal activities would be easier to take care off.(Of course illegal activities there would be talking about democracy and stuff like that, so it's just a move to increase censorship,and general evil commie stuff.)
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:21AM WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco said
You guys are missing the real point of this.
The Chinese government wants this so that if you go into your favorite MMO and start handing out pro-democracy parchments or create pro-Tibet guilds, etc., they can come to your house and make you disappear.
China already forces various software and Internet companies to release personal data so they can send black ops/police to raid and seize dissenters and their personal effects. Remember that guy Yahoo! basically sold out? He will probably die in jail after rotting for a couple decades.
Additionally since China bans depictions of religion, human skeletons, and other things in games, they want absolute control over in-game content, including user generated content.
Fuck the Chinese government.
The Chinese government wants this so that if you go into your favorite MMO and start handing out pro-democracy parchments or create pro-Tibet guilds, etc., they can come to your house and make you disappear.
China already forces various software and Internet companies to release personal data so they can send black ops/police to raid and seize dissenters and their personal effects. Remember that guy Yahoo! basically sold out? He will probably die in jail after rotting for a couple decades.
Additionally since China bans depictions of religion, human skeletons, and other things in games, they want absolute control over in-game content, including user generated content.
Fuck the Chinese government.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:26AM Vcize said
Shouldn't the Chinese government be focused on figuring out how to cheat again in the 2012 olympics, rather than wasting their time on legislation like this?
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:26AM (Unverified) said
I wonder how the ID check system works there.
"Hmm, ok Xiang Li didn't pay his bill. Let me look in the address register. Where is it? Ahh there... Xian Li - Xiang Li volume 1 of 4. Shall we start calling people then?"
"Hmm, ok Xiang Li didn't pay his bill. Let me look in the address register. Where is it? Ahh there... Xian Li - Xiang Li volume 1 of 4. Shall we start calling people then?"
Posted: Jan 17th 2009 3:40AM (Unverified) said
Many of the 300 million internet users don't even have their own computers and use public terminals and internet cafés. Whaddya sayin'?
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Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:37AM Foetoid said
I was wondering. With online games/gamertags not allowing you to use the same name twice, how the heck is this even going to work at all. The first person named Xian Li to register their name will be the only one and the other 40 million with the same name can just miss out?
As Rove would say: WOT THE!
As Rove would say: WOT THE!
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 10:53AM arsohn said
Seriously, we're using "People's daily online" as a source? Some of the comments on here are scary, thinking this is going to be a GOOD thing. It's funny to hear folks in this country whine and complain about library records and the patriot act, but something like this and it's the best thing since sliced bread.
Sorry folks, if you want to live in an oppressive country go right ahead, but if my fiance and I ever decide to have a baby and it ends up being a girl, we'd like to know that we can keep her. Seriously, how this can be positive at all is beyond me, this is a country that rounds girls up during their periods and hold them until they are finished so they can prevent them from getting pregnant.
I'll stick with my freedom thank you very much.
Sorry folks, if you want to live in an oppressive country go right ahead, but if my fiance and I ever decide to have a baby and it ends up being a girl, we'd like to know that we can keep her. Seriously, how this can be positive at all is beyond me, this is a country that rounds girls up during their periods and hold them until they are finished so they can prevent them from getting pregnant.
I'll stick with my freedom thank you very much.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:31AM Negatron said
A little too patriotic there guy.
You mixed people thinking "less trash talk online" is good, with a communist country regulating its population. Last i checked its pop. is currently 1,330,946,809. Not disagreeing with your thoughts here, just saying "girls rounded up", and "submitting your real name" for the internet are different in what people think is good.
http://www.cpirc.org.cn/en/eindex.htm
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You mixed people thinking "less trash talk online" is good, with a communist country regulating its population. Last i checked its pop. is currently 1,330,946,809. Not disagreeing with your thoughts here, just saying "girls rounded up", and "submitting your real name" for the internet are different in what people think is good.
http://www.cpirc.org.cn/en/eindex.htm
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 12:08PM (Unverified) said
i'm pretty sure the one-child issue regarding girls has to do with men being the ones who are supposed to get a job and take care of their parents when they're older. chinese don't want daughters because they'll marry someone and then the parents won't have anyone to take care of them later in life.
but yes, it's still super shitty
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but yes, it's still super shitty
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 2:32PM borland502 said
I just picked up some Freedom Fries™ this afternoon in fact. However, to take your point seriously, it's not *why* China is enforcing real names but a happy contemplation of no anonymous cowards online.
Do you detect a difference? I think only a minute fraction of people are happy to send people to jail for expressing themselves online. Yet a majority, including myself, enjoy the thought that at a bare minimum we would be forced to act as we do in public.
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Do you detect a difference? I think only a minute fraction of people are happy to send people to jail for expressing themselves online. Yet a majority, including myself, enjoy the thought that at a bare minimum we would be forced to act as we do in public.
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:07AM Professor Lario said
@Tyler -
Meaning is one thing. Putting into practice is another...
Here is another good test. Where would you rather live? Communist China or somewhere else?
Meaning is one thing. Putting into practice is another...
Here is another good test. Where would you rather live? Communist China or somewhere else?
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:14AM Emophia said
Ugh... China...
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 12:04PM (Unverified) said
China has one of the oldest societies on the planet, and invented just about every idea and device there is to invent and they did it first. Don't let a crappy government this last 100 years or so make you think the other 5,000 years were all oppressive this and evil that.
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Posted: Jan 16th 2009 1:17PM aristokrat said
Except when they hit stagnation in the 1100's, no longer building on the past and declining to accept foreign inventions because they thought that China was too good for outside help. Then they fell behind.
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Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:30AM F1 Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu said
Wanna know why they want this info? So they can track down people who spread anti-communism beliefs!
WOW: Know with more KGB!
WOW: Know with more KGB!
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:46AM TheDarkWayne said
just a matter of time before this sorta thing hits the US
Posted: Jan 16th 2009 11:58AM spin cycle said
This is just another law for people in China to ignore or bribe their way out of. It won't affect gold farmers, count on it. It might affect regular users.






