“Minors should not be allowed to play online games that have PK content, that allow players to increase the power of their own online game characters by killing other players,” Liu Shifa, head of the MOC’s Internet Culture Division, which drafts policies governing the online gaming market, told Interfax. “Online games that have PK content usually also contain acts of violence and leads to players spending too much time trying to increase the power of their characters. They are harmful to young people.”

I admit it, I’m speechless. Sure, it is China and all, but wow… that’s one heavy hand. I actually liked the part that said “MOC’s Internet Culture Division“. China has an Internet Culture Division? Holy hell Batman. We’re all worked up over sex mini-games and blurry Sims while China is laying down the law.

I’m curious as to what Blizzard has to say about all this. Considering that in less than a month they had 1.5 million, yes, 1.5 million WoW accounts in China. How many of those are now considered “illegal”? I’d guess a good chunk.

In a sad kind of way, I can sympathize with China on this one. I’ve been addicted to these types of games before. I did spend a ton of time playing WoW, killing other online players’ characters, gaining power and better gear. It became very obsessive. I’m glad I quit, I’m so so glad. Sometimes there are real consequences from playing these games too much. And anyone who plays these games for the same reasons, power and gear, tells you they aren’t addicted, they’re in denial.

I’m getting quite a few Google refers from people searching for both hot coffee and now this crazy thing called “The Sims 2 should be AO”. Are you people serious? Let’s put this into perspective shall we.

In a high level overview, Grand Theft Auto, of any variety, allows the following actions… senseless killing, car-jacking, simulated sex in various forms, simulated drugs, mafia undertones, gang undertones, driveby shootings, high speed car chases, and causing general mayhem. All of this in a videogame mind you, but one that should never be played by anyone but an adult. In my personal opinion, GTA should be Adults Only from the start because of the extreme violence but alas it wouldn’t have sold as many copies as it has. Hence why the ESRB doesn’t work.

As for The Sims 2, you can perform “woo-hoo” which is considered “having sex” in the game. However, “woo-hoo” translates into extreme french kissing and groping. Unlike the “hot coffee” mini-game for GTA which actually simulates… erm… “sexual acts” (Don’t click the link if you’re easily offended) to put it mildly. Oh, people kiss in The Sims 2. You can have them kiss romantically, harmlessly, or friendly with various other types in between. You also can see “blurry” Sims taking showers, bubble baths, and going potty. Oh NOES! Call Hillary Clinton!

Seriously, The Sims 2 is a damn dollhouse simulation and GTA is pure madness and mayhem with ZERO comparisons. Deal with it people. And for the record, I own and play both games.

Update: Ok, I can’t take it. I do have to quote one thing from the article.

bq. “Don’t you think we’re helping the US economy by doing the work here?” asks an exasperated Lalit Suryawanshi. It frees up Americans to do other things so the economy can grow, adds Jairam.

Simple answer, NO. And sweetheart, what exactly are those other things? Tossing lattes at Starbuck’s? Flipping Indian raised cattle at McDonald’s?

Argh!

bq. “What to do? It’s fairly easy to see what’s happening, but extremely difficult to know what to do about it.”

I know what to do and it’s not a very favorable opinion but what are we going to do about our children’s future? Surely we’re not going to let it get washed down the toilet.

bq. “Now comes word that BofA will establish a 1,000-employee subsidiary in India to significantly expand its presence in the country. The bank has yet to say where the facility will be located or what specific functions it will oversee, only that it will be up and running by April.”

Still don’t know why this stuff isn’t being covered in the main stream media. First “medical records”:http://www.snapturtle.com/archives/2003/10/22/19.40.00/, then “your tax information”:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/24/BUG6U2I81K1.DTL and now this. What next? Does BofA really have their customers best interests in mind or are they more concerned about their bottom line? I’m guessing the later and I’m also guessing they aren’t the only ones doing this with your customer data or financial information.

We all have visited the doctor, dentist, or some medical facility at least once in our lives (I guess you COULD have never… but anyway). What happens to all that paper work you leave behind? What happens to the doctors notes, voice mail, etc.? More oft than not, this information is sent to a company contracted by the medical firm to transcribe the information into their computer system for them.

What you may not know is that sometimes this information is then sub-contracted out to another company and sometimes a third or fourth time. It can get so diluted that the original company, in this case UCSF (University of California at San Francisco), had no idea that someone in Pakistan was in control of thousands of personal medical records. And guess what? She thought it would be “cute” to threaten UCSF by posting the records on the internet if she didn’t get paid for her work from one of the sub-sub-contractors who hired her.

bq. “A woman in Pakistan doing cut-rate clerical work for UCSF Medical Center threatened to post patients’ confidential files on the Internet unless she was paid more money.To show she was serious, the woman sent UCSF an e-mail earlier this month with actual patients’ records attached.” (source: “SFGate”:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/22/MNGCO2FN8G1.DTL)

Why do I care? I feel that it’s unethical to send medical records of any kind off-shore due to their nature of confidentiality. Unfortunately, there is NOTHING the United States government can do about someone in a foreign country violating our own laws. What should our government do? Make it illegal to off-shore medical records. Problem solved.

Un-f-in believable. Now my family car, which happens to be an SUV, will cost me $700+ a year in just taxes? I don’t f-in think so Mr. Bush… erm… Davis.

Let the “recall”:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/06/16/national0701EDT0469.DTL began!