The east China's Ningbo Haishu District Discipline Commission that launched China's first government-sponsored anti-corruption online game "Incorruptible Warrior" has shut it down less than a month after releasing it.

The announcement was posted on the game's official website and read, "According to notification from above, the game is closed."

An official with the local discipline commission told Xinhua said, "It has been closed for updates. More and more users have registered, overloading the server."

The game, the first of its kind to target corrupt behavior of government officials, was released on July 25. It had reportedly attracted more than 10,000 players by August 1.

However, the game's server could only accommodate 600 players at a time, according to head designer Hua Tong. He explained that "It was created by amateur designers and the government only invested 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) in the project."

The game requires players to learn governmental anti-corruption measures and to kill corrupt officials while avoiding attacks by their henchmen and mistresses clad in bikinis.

"The game is a new method of anti-corruption education," Hua said. Players have criticized the game, calling it unprofessional. User "gmbbc" suggested that it was improper to encourage players to kill corrupt officials violently.

China had more than 31 million online game players by 2006. The computer game industry made a total profit of more than six billion yuan (US$818 million).

It is not known when this game would be back online.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2007)