Unggi just alerted us to this: The Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has declared that on October 1, a fatigue system will be instituted in many major MMORPGs, including WoW and Lineage 2. See this report. The Chinese regulations are aimed at reducing time spent playing. According to the linked report: "The system will only award players full experience points for the first three hours of each day, half experience for the next two hours, and no experience after five hours." If you read Chinese, see this and this too -- and feel free to translate for us.
Looks like we're starting to see state involvement with MMORPG game mechanics. Undoubtedly this has something to do with addiction concerns and the several reported incidents of death during over-playing. It is interesting to note that a fatigue system was originally built into WoW, but was swapped in beta for the inn rest=XP bonus system they now have -- I think this was due to negative player reactions. More details on the "Beijing Accord" from Gamasutra and the Financial Times.
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