The Ministry of Culture has decided to collect a group of homemade and healthy online games for minors, to guide them to play with healthy entertainment products.

"Entities running Internet game businesses, experts, parents, media and other social sectors can all applied for the collection," said the ministry.

Altogether six standards have been set for the collection, including that the game theme is patriotic and games will help spread fine Chinese culture and morals, encourage young people for scientific exploration, conform to social norms while having effective measures to prevent kids from indulging in it.

In past three to four years, the most eye-catching problems included suicide attempts of teenagers derived from game addiction and juvenile delinquency.

At the end of last year, a net-addicted pupil in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, jumped from the 24th floor of an apartment building. Prior to this, a sudden death of another pupil in the provincial capital was reported after he kept playing online games round-the-clock in April 2002.

Xu Jian, a law-school professor and a senior official with China Research Institute of Juvenile Delinquency, said "Internet has become an important part of modern society and serves as a good instrument. It is imperative to standardize the web-related business, including online game, rather than banning it."

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2005)