Excited and intrigued by what I found on Flickr regarding China's "hospitals" for internet junkies, I let my fingers do the walking... On Google. Here are some highlights:
1. China identifies a growing disorder as social crisis.The Chinese government has opened a number of institutions around the country to combat internet addiction - which is apparently a "growing disorder". The institutions are designed to "cure" those who can afford the treatment, which only the very well-off can. According to a number of sources (including China's own propaganda poster boys), addiction occurs because of the excessive stress put on young people to succeed at school, uni, etc. In order to unwind, they turn to internet Role Player Games (RPG's).
The institutions, run by the military, are a combination of boot camp and hospital. Treatment can include drugs, electric shock and psychologically targeted activities. Many inmates of the rehab system have been involuntarily checked in by their parents. Some have tried to escape or commit suicide.
"Tao Ran, who built his career treating heroin addicts in the 1990s... is convinced that Internet addiction is virtually the same as other more conventional addictions both in terms of its symptoms and the negative impact it has on the addict's ability to function normally in society... the patients that are brought to the clinic usually suffer from a mixture of anger, loss of self-esteem, depression, bad nutrition, insomnia and lack of self-control." (Asia Times Online, July 4th 2007)
The government is also apparently targeting prevention of internet addiction by tightening up its regulation of internet bars. Such bars are often packed full, open far past mandated closing times, and serving "under-age" customers.
"I do believe they want to fight this internet addiction," said Julien Pain, of Reporters Sans Frontières. "But with the Chinese government always behind this justification there is also the will to control political speech.
"If you have thousands of small illegal cybercafes it is very hard to know who posted what, who downloaded what on the internet." (Telegraph.co.uk, March 13th 2007)
Not surprisingly, critics who are already concerned about government interference with the internet in China, see this as just one more avenue through which the government aims to control the community.
"Parents design a life for their child before he is even born... but now we realise that if we let them be who they want to be, they would not suffer so much." (Journeyman Pictures, Jan 29th 2008)
2. Social disorder can mask social changeAfter researching the machinima sub-culture, I can't argue with the idea that some people are using the internet for escapism. I also noted that very little in machinima is actually original, most of it being quite nostalgic. I think this idea of escapism is not new either, although the connectivity and interactivity of recent internet communities must surely be greater than any other escapist community in the past.
Setting aside the Chinese government's obsession for control, the Serious Games Institute argues that many useful skills which are difficult to teach conventionally, can be gained through gaming. "Serious Games", they claim, can increase the value of this escapism in society.
They can cause us to confront serious issues - games such as the Super Columbine Massacre RPG and Escape from Woomera have been compared to films such as Flight 93. Sim City was originally created so that people could understand a little bit about the dynamics of a real city. Augmented Reality games can get us much more acquainted with out real environments. Game tasks can demand the development of new skills, not necessarily limited to combat.
Maybe internet and MMORPG addiction is itself an indicator of something larger: our need for social and collaborative learning in a physical world which demands high productivity even in our personal lives; a world which is not very personal and even less accessible.
YouTube/Journeyman Pictures, Jan 29th 2008Asia Times Online, July 4th 2007Telegraph.co.uk, March 13th 2007Serious Games Initiative
