The Chinese government will start real-name registration for online game players this year, said Zhang Yijun, director of the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication‘s technology and digital publication department. 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.
Zhang says at the end of 2008, an anti-addiction test was implemented on 59 online games run by influential Chinese game companies and the pass rate reached 95%. Only four companies were closed for failing to meet the standards.
In 2009, China will continue to promote the online game anti-addiction system and launch the real name certification system, hoping to raise online game companies’ attention to accelerate the development of relevant software. The real name system will ensure that gamers register to play games using their real names and real identification.
