China has added new rules to its gaming laws that target games with ‘effeminate males’ and ‘blurred moral boundaries.’ This is in response to the country’s growing problem with online gambling, which it says has reached $70 billion in annual revenue.
The signs of a feminine man is a new rule that China has added to their laws. These rules are against games with ‘effeminate males’ and ‘blurred moral boundaries’.
According to the details of a new internal memo from a new training course organized by China’s state-backed gaming association, the Chinese government is further tightening the screws on game developers in the country. The memo outlines a wide range of new red flags that game developers in the country must follow in order to get approval, representing “a correct set of values” for the country as games are co-developed.
The letter begins by stating that any games based in a post-apocalyptic future in which players must murder may fail to pass muster. “Some games have moral limits that are hazy. Part of the letter says, “Players may choose to be nice or evil […] but we don’t believe that games should offer players this option.” Any games featuring homosexual romance or “effeminate men” would also fail inspection, according to the letter, which states that if inspectors “can’t identify the character’s gender instantly,” “red flags will be raised.” Additional cautions are being sent in respect to history, religion, and even aesthetic design, as the letter says that “many contemporary Chinese games now appear more Japanese than Japanese games.”
As a consequence of the new internal rules, no new licensed video games have been approved in China for the months of August and September, breaking a pattern of monthly approvals.
On top of game time limits for younger players, regulations on how old streamers must be, and a state-run news agency’s hit piece about gaming as “spiritual opium,” game developers in the nation now have to respond to these new government-led warnings. The consequences of China’s new gaming crackdown are already being felt, with stock losses for the country’s largest publishers and game servers collapsing under the weight of required time limits.
