Mao-era model soldier to clean up online gaming

Iria · Sep 14, 2005, 06:26 AM

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese game developer is betting a Mao-era model soldier and other patriotic figures are just the kinds of heroes needed to steer impressionable youths toward cleaner online gaming content.

In Web-based games under development by a Shanghai-based company, gamers would be able to play as one of 100 heroes from Chinese history, such as Lei Feng, a self-sacrificing soldier whom Mao Zedong hailed as a spiritual example for all to study after his death in 1962, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

Aside from Lei, revered for darning his comrades' socks and helping old ladies across the street, other patriotic characters in the games would include Zheng Chenggong, a pirate also known as Koxinga who seized Taiwan from Dutch colonial rule in 1661.

The games will hit the Web after a five-month national campaign scouring the online gaming industry for pornography, gambling, violence and content "threatening state security."
__________
Read More / Source: Reuters

Sep 14, 2005, 06:26 AM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 87	Mao-era model soldier to clean up online gaming BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese game developer is betting a Mao-era model soldier and other patriotic figures are just the kinds of heroes needed to steer impressionable youths toward cleaner online gaming content. In Web-based games under development by a Shanghai-based company, gamers would be able to play as one of 100 heroes from Chinese history, such as Lei Feng, a self-sacrificing soldier whom Mao Zedong hailed as a spiritual example for all to study after his death in 1962, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. Aside from Lei, revered for darning his comrades' socks and helping old ladies across the street, other patriotic characters in the games would include Zheng Chenggong, a pirate also known as Koxinga who seized Taiwan from Dutch colonial rule in 1661. The games will hit the Web after a five-month national campaign scouring the online gaming industry for pornography, gambling, violence and content "threatening state security." __________ Read More / Source: Reuters