Man, would it suck to be under 18 in China now! Found this news article that explains how China's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Information Industry have put rules in place that make it illegal for minors to play online games that allow player kills (Players killing other players).

While this may seem drastic to most of us from North America it reminded me of something. Shortly after WoW was released in China I saw an article that talked about a player that had an epic sword ninja looted from them. The player then tracked down the opposing player in real life and attacked and killed him with a sword! I have never heard anything remotely like that here. Makes me think maybe it might not be completely without merit. Drastic? YES. But if other things like the example above are happening, I could see it being looked at as an option.

Shanghai. August 3. INTERFAX-CHINA - Chinese authorities unveiled new regulations on Tuesday that will prohibit minors under the age of 18 from playing more violent online games, which currently dominate the Chinese online gaming market.

Effective immediately, all minors are banned from playing online games in which players are allowed to kill other players, an activity that has been termed Player Kills (PK). China's Ministry of Culture (MOC) and Ministry of Information Industry (MII) have also ordered the country's online game operators to develop identity authentication systems that prevent minors from playing games These authentication systems would require all players to first enter their Citizen ID Card numbers before being allowed to play games that allow Player Kills. No timetable was given for when these authentication systems must be implemented.

You can read the whole article here