Miami Herald (Sunday)

China to ban video games promoting gay relationsh­ips

- BY MURI ASSUNCAO

China will reportedly ban video games that don’t promote “correct values” and “accurate understand­ing” of the country’s history and culture, a leaked internal document shows.

That includes a ban on any portrayal of “effeminate males,” the promotion of same-sex relationsh­ips, and the showing of characters who have no “clear gender.”

The leaked document comes from a recent training session organized by China’s state-backed gaming associatio­n. It addresses Beijing’s new plans to regulate the industry while advising game developers on how to produce content that can be approved for sale in the future.

The document was reviewed by the South China Morning Post and confirmed by several people familiar with the situation.

According to the memo — which was developed to help video game makers understand China’s new approach to future releases — developers are instructed to treat video gaming as a new form of art, one that’s no longer apolitical “pure entertainm­ent.”

“If regulators can’t tell the character’s gender immediatel­y, the setting of the characters could be considered problemati­c and red flags will be raised,” the memo says.

Similarly, male game characters who wear female clothing could also be pose a problem for regulators. The crackdown on the video game industry goes beyond social issues related to gender identity or sexual orientatio­n, according to the memo.

Beijing says that video game plots shouldn’t “have blurred moral boundaries,” and players shouldn’t be given a choice of being good or evil.

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