As reported on Ars Technica, China are taking some interesting steps to battle MMO addiction. Ignoring the hyperbole around the issue, it poses some interesting discussion points around the role of governance in regards to virtual worlds.

In the tightly controlled society of China, compulsory registration is rightly or wrongly more achievable than most other countries. Even then, once widespread registration is achieved, what happens next? Who determines what level of MMO use constitutes addiction? How much money needs to be expended on monitoring registered users that could be spent on treatment and prevention services to stop the issue occurring in the first place and to support the small percentage of MMO players who are truly addicted?

Ars Technica in their article make a pretty uninformed call by stating “the problem has gotten so severe” – there’s no way of knowing how large the Chinese problem is, or whether the main issue is the Chinese Government’s perception that there’s a problem. That perception could be based on some non-health issues like needing to maintain control and a lack of insight of what MMOs offer.

Like any addiction, there’s an enormous number of idiosyncrasies and challenges that aren’t resolved effectively by top-down, generic approaches. Registration per se may not be inherently undesirable, but basing policy on stereotypes and fear isn’t likely to achieve a lot of good.

What do you think? Is registration likely to bring some benefits or is it just another blunt mechanism of control?