Chinese government swings world's biggest nerf bat

Wow! And a lesser, leaner, more compact WoW! Which is formed by dividing available game time (i.e. 24 hours per day) by approximately three. Gamesindustry.biz has reported that the Chinese government is introducing legislation designed to calm the swathes of Horde, err, that is all MMORPG players down to a socially acceptable addiction of 3 hours out of every 8.

The plans are that all MMORPGs operating within China will introduce in-game penalties for players logged in over the three hour mark. When (if) the addict realise that playing with diminishing returns is a crappy idea, they log out. FIVE HOURs must then pass before their in-game stats are back to normal.

Even though I suspect that many see this as a crazy, crazy idea (as I do), worried families will be making a collective prayer that the West will adopt similar legislation to rid the nasty MMORPG demon from their home.

Will this dent the creativity of MMORPG designers, keen to do well in the huge Chinese market, relying on delivering quick MMOG thrills, rather than deep RP and strategic gameplay? I am reminded that great innovation has come from the confines of situations where harsh restrictions have forced games developers to think hard about how to reach their goals. Braben and Bell performed magic with only 32k of available RAM and a tape loader, so here's hoping.