China's Press and Publication Administration has released a new notice that it intends to more tightly police content for online games - as it does with the country's newspapers, television and general media.
The move comes with word that the government body has seen what the Chinese news agency Xinhua calls a "rash of problems with imported online games," including references to un-named religious material and territorial disputes, likely, in the latter case, referring to Taiwan.
The report also specified imported games as a source of violent or pornographic content that has yet gone un-monitored. It also blamed online game operators and distributors for purposefully hiding controversial content when applying for approval, as well as adding 'improper content' after the approval process.
According to the Xinhua report, the Chinese government has demanded that online game operators submit monthly monitoring reports to confirm that content meets standards, with violations leading to 'disqualification' from operation.
