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China already forbids Chinese citizens access to a multitude of specific online games, in much the same way as it forbids access to many social media services. Most recently, Animal Crossing was added to the blacklist. Essentially, any time that the Chinese government becomes aware that one or more of an online game's players have communicated Chinese-government-unfriendly thoughts or positions in-game, China completely and permanently removes access to that game in country and prohibits its sale or distribution.
But it looks like the Chinese government has finally come to the conclusion that this reactive policy isn't working. Citing what it calls an "authority vacuum" in this genre of games, China is in the process of preemptively prohibiting access to ANY and all online multiplayer games in which Chinese players can encounter or communicate with non-Chinese players whose speech and behavior cannot be regulated or punished by Chinese authorities - or at least in which there is no way for Chinese authorities to monitor those communications and take action against Chinese participants/recipients of the offending communication. Also being banned are games which allow players to form guilds, and games which allow players to alter or create game environments - think Minecraft, or games that allow map-editing or level creation - since players could use those tools to create what amounts to protest-art within the games (which is what happened that caused Animal Crossing to be blacklisted).
Additionally, single-player games that still require online connections will be heavily scrutinized, and China will be implementing a legal requirement that players of these games must register and log in using their real names rather than an arbitrary username.
But it looks like the Chinese government has finally come to the conclusion that this reactive policy isn't working. Citing what it calls an "authority vacuum" in this genre of games, China is in the process of preemptively prohibiting access to ANY and all online multiplayer games in which Chinese players can encounter or communicate with non-Chinese players whose speech and behavior cannot be regulated or punished by Chinese authorities - or at least in which there is no way for Chinese authorities to monitor those communications and take action against Chinese participants/recipients of the offending communication. Also being banned are games which allow players to form guilds, and games which allow players to alter or create game environments - think Minecraft, or games that allow map-editing or level creation - since players could use those tools to create what amounts to protest-art within the games (which is what happened that caused Animal Crossing to be blacklisted).
Additionally, single-player games that still require online connections will be heavily scrutinized, and China will be implementing a legal requirement that players of these games must register and log in using their real names rather than an arbitrary username.