Beijing - China's Ministry of Culture has launched a crackdown on online games with themes related to gang culture and organized crime, saying they "undermine morality and Chinese traditional culture," state media said Tuesday. The ministry issued a notice prohibiting websites from hosting, publicizing or displaying links to online games that feature Mafia-like gangs, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The gangland-style games violate China's internet regulations because they "advocate obscenity, gambling or violence" and websites hosting such games face "severe punishment," the ministry was quoted as saying.
"These games encourage people to deceive, loot and kill and glorify gangsters' lives," it said. "It has a bad influence on youngsters."
Several leading websites had already removed or blocked access to offending games by Tuesday, including two popular ones known as "Godfather" and "Gangster," the agency said.
The crackdown is part of a wider campaign against pornography and what the government deems "unhealthy" online content, which often includes any political views that differ from those of the ruling Communist Party.
"Some companies provide unhealthy and persuasive contents in online games for players, especially the young ones, so as to attract players and make unlawful profits," Sun Shoushan, vice director of the state media watchdog, said last week.
China has an estimated 200 million players of online games, the agency said earlier.
The online gaming industry in China was forecast to grow by up to 50 per cent this year, generating revenue of up to 27 billion yuan (4 billion dollars), it quoted Sun as saying.
