14 DAY TRIAL // That's it. China's saying "no more" to MMOs like Lineage and World of Warcraft, after trying helplessly to cope with addicted gamers that literally drop dead on their keyboards. BBC news posted this article yesterday saying that gamers under 18 years old who play for more than three consecutive hours a day won't be able to gather points/achievements anymore, as the three hour window expires. Not cool!
Of course, this isn't just a restriction occurring with Internet cafes. No sire Bob. The long arm of the law will reach into every house where MMOs are played. But how will it work? Well, BBC news says that "Chinese gaming firms" (NetEase and Shanda Interactive Entertainment was given as an example) "have until 15 July to install software which will halve the number of points gamers can score if they play for more than three hours." So what are WoW gamers supposed to do then?
You can't possibly do a single thing in three hours with a game like WoW. Yeah, sure you can finish one lousy stage (if you're lucky that is), but Burning Crusaders need to make it to level 70. It's quite impossible now, not to mention that after passing level 60, gamers have to start all over again. Heck, clearing an instance takes more than three hours. I don't know...are things really that bad in China? This can't be the best solution to the problem. Doesn't Blizzard have a say on this? They're going to lose a lot if they do install gameplay hours restricting software, plus MMOs won't be an attraction in China anymore. They've tried it before but it didn't work. Will it work this time?