Korea Supreme Court rules virtual currency convertible – PlayNoEvil
I think the headline says it all.
Korea Supreme Court rules virtual currency convertible
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Jan 122010
Venezuela bans violent video games
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Nov 052009
Ugh, yet another country…
Last Thursday in Venezuela, a new law criminalizing “violent” video games and toys was approved by the National Assembly.
The law scapegoats gamers for the obscene levels of violence in our country (see below), and goes to extraordinary lengths to criminalize gaming, to the point of holding out long jail terms to people who buy the wrong kinds of games.
It’s no joke. Last year, on a trip to the US, I was able to buy a Nintendo DS for my brother, and a puzzle game that deals with using weapons to defend the fish stock of penguins in Antarctica, Defendin’ de Penguin. Early next year, when the law kicks in, bring such a game could land me in jail for 3 to 5 years, for importing forbidden violent games, as the penguins use snowball guns to ward off walruses, foxes (in Antarctica? OMG think of Biogeography!), polar bears and the Yeti.
via Venezuela bans violent video games: a first-person guest essay – Boing Boing.
CNN on how games are healthy
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Oct 272009
Are video games good for your health? – CNN.com. It’s one of those slideshow dealies. Among the anecdotes:
- Playing games can cure “lazy eye” better than an eye patch
- Training with Wii Fit and Wii Sports improved balance in Parkinson’s patients
Always nice to see more of these studies…
China Hasn’t Banned Gold Farming
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Jul 012009
What it has banned is spending virtual currency for real world items. In other words, it is more about defending the real world currency than anything else. I have mentioned in the past that many people in China regard the QQ coin (Tencent’s virtual currency) as solid enough to put savings in. Sounds like maybe the government thinks that is a bad idea.
This is a government restriction on the use of the quasi-Paypal-like currencies (mainly QQ coins) that are used extensively in China to pay for virtual game stuff. As announced they can now only be used to pay for virtual stuff, and you can’t buy real things with them as game companies were allowing to happen, nor can you gamble. This therefore is not about what gold farming clients do: use real money to buy these virtual currencies; it’s the mirror image. And it’s not about the major trade in gold farming such as World of Warcraft, which relates to other types of virtual currency. And it’s not about buying/selling in-game items. And it’s not about the power-levelling of avatars. Bottom line: it’s not about gold farming.
[via a commenter, via Blue’s News]
All VWs/games over 15+ banned in Australia?
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Jun 252009
The headline reads, “Confirmed: Second Life, online adult games to banned outright in Australia“. But I don’t know enough about the issue.
If true, it’s boneheaded. I dont think Australia bans books and movies intended for ages 15+, do they?
A spokesman for Censorship Minister Stephen “Goebbels” Conroy confirmed to Fairfax newspapers that “under the filtering plan, it will be extended to downloadable games, flash-based web games and sites which sell physical copies of games that do not meet the MA15+ standard.” In Australia, the MA15+ rating means that the content is restricted to those aged 15 and above. Australia does not have a R 18+ or similar rating for computer games, with all adult games automatically being classified as RC (Refused Classification.)
A commenter in the thread notes,
The reason it’s news now is because Conroy just got around to answering the latest batch of Senator Ludlum’s questions on notice in which he confirmed that games will be blacklisted – prior to this, many knowledgeable people in the debate assumed that they would somehow make an exception for games. See QON 1496(13) from the Hansard of Monday, 22 June 2009.
