Chinese government official: online gaming is one of the three "devil-claws" of the internet

China’s National People’s Congress is…interesting. It’s an elected body that is ostensibly responsible for China’s laws, but it meets for just two weeks a year and is essentially a rubber-stamp congress. That doesn’t mean it’s totally useless though; the NPC has nearly 3,000 reps, and every year at least a few of them conspire to say something truly stupid to the press.

This year’s first contestant is Mr. Zhang Dengshan, an NPC rep from Anhui, who recently produced this gem:

Internet games, internet chatting, and internet porn are the three devil-claws of the internet; the three main killers that degrade our youth.

(I’m not sure what he means by devil claw, but as a gamer old enough to have played in arcades I can only assume he’s referring to the frustrating contraption pictured above).

Zhang’s main suggestion is that internet cafes be limited to operating between 8 A.M. and midnight. Net cafes found to have violated this policy more than twice in a single year would be shut down.

I myself have argued that kids probably shouldn’t be allowed in internet cafes, but that’s no reason for the government to start setting a “bedtime” for mature adults. And as commenters on the stories about Zhang’s proclamation have pointed out, if internet cafes shut down at midnight, many of their users might opt to seek out China’s other ubiquitous and popular late-night activity: “karaoke” bars that often serve as hubs for prostitution.

Thankfully, it’s unlikely that Zhang’s suggestion will go anyway, because as previously mentioned, he’s just one rep of several thousand and NPC reps have little real power anyway. Still, it’s concerning that anyone in a position of authority in 2014 could be so ignorant about the internet and online gaming, especially given that online gaming is a huge part of China’s tech sector.

(via 17173)