Real Name Registration

Online game providers in China must register web players using their real names from August 1 this year, in an apparent bid to soothe the rising concerns of parents that games are interfering with their children’s schooling. Addiction to online games is said to wreak havoc on a new generation of Internet-frenzy kids in China, sociologists have warned. Some school children are found spending more than eight hours a day on the net. The new regulation will apply to all domestic and imported multiplayer roleplaying games as well as social networking games. Internet users who want to play a particular online game must go through a registration process using valid identification, the regulation said. By the end of May, the number of online game players have quadrupled within three years to 108 million, according to China Internet Network Information Center.