Peking University Latest to Offer Video Game Course in China

Peking University Latest to Offer Video Game Course in China
Mar 28, 2018 Translated by eChinacities.com

Peking University has become the latest to offer a video game course in China.

 

According to a report in the Beijinger, an experimental course run by a Professor Chen was at full capacity this month.

Topics that will be covered include healthy game psychology, the history of the gaming industry and gaming regulations.

“Whether you view them with love, indifference, resistance or with suspicion, video games have grown to become one of the most important pillars of the entertainment industry," said Professor Chen, who added that the course is a “necessity”.

According to figures from the 2017 China Game Industry Report, the video game market in China has increased by 23 percent since last year to more than 203 billion yuan.

In fact, by 2015, the domestic video game industry was bigger than China’s film industry by three-fold.

However, video games are not without their controversy in China.

Before a ban on gaming consoles was lifted in 2015, youths would frequent internet cafes to play PC games.

This in turn caused alarm among the older generation to the point where even the word “internet” was stigmatised in China.

China also became the first country in the world to recognise internet addiction as a disorder in 2008, with the phrase encompassing everything from excessive social messaging to the binge-playing of games.

Some of the approximately 24 million people with internet addiction in China attended so-called “internet boot camps”.

However, these too proved to be controversial after some patients claimed they were forced to go against their will, usually by their parents, and treated with aggressive measures, including electric shock therapy.

Some even died at the facilities; in July last year, an 18-year-old patient was found dead just days after being admitted to a boot camp in Anhui province, eastern China.

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Keywords: Video Game Course in China

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hooter021

China game industry is growing massively

Mar 31, 2018 07:59 Report Abuse