Agreement and action is needed from all sides to tackle the negative aspects of online games.

There are always obstacles to doing business. The key is how to tackle and overcome them effectively. Domestic enterprises operating in the digital content field, especially online games, must deal with their fair share. In the face of negative attitudes among the public, enterprises are cooperating with management bodies and relevant agencies to implement measures to address any concerns.

Vietnam’s online games industry has developed strongly in recent times, recording relatively high growth and contributing to the development of the local digital content industry and the country’s telecommunications infrastructure. Besides its positive aspects, there are indeed some negatives. These have been given a lot of space in the media, especially as the public and enterprises wait for regulations on online games management to be approved by the Prime Minister. The new regulations will supplement Circular 60, approved in 2006, and create the conditions for the development of the games industry as well as restrict its negative aspects, such as violence and obscenity.

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has introduced some temporary management measures and enterprises have adopted a cooperative attitude in actively observing them. VNG, FPT Online, VTC Game, NetGame Asia, VDC-Net2E and others have recently changed some functions in their games with the aim of removing any violent content.

According to Mr Vu Viet Son, Deputy General Director of the distribution company VNG, which has the largest market share in Vietnam, although they have been affected in business activities such as the advertising and distribution of new games, they must cooperate with management bodies in order to correct perceptions about online games.

Similarly, Mr Hoang Trong Hieu, Deputy Director of VTC Game, the second largest distributor in the games market, said: “As an enterprise operating in the digital content field we need to obey regulations issued by authorities. The concerns of authorities, the public and the media present us with an opportunity to reassess our activities to make them consistent with the current environment.”

Like VNG, VTC Game has seen losses in its business activities but accept them because it understands that such measures are necessary at this point in time and agencies, enterprises and the games community must comply. However, in the long term, the two large distributors seek stable legal regulations that help enterprises in the field to develop.

In regards to the effect of online games on young people, Dr Trinh Hoa Binh from the Institute of Sociology under the Vietnamese Academy of Social Science said that while online games do contain violence the important thing is its context. If the violence is in pursuit of protecting a beauty or defeating evil, it should be encouraged, he believes.

Around the world it’s common for games to be subject to a system of classification. Such a system divides content based on age and offers recommendations to help users select or reject specific content. According to Mr Son, games generally aren’t subject to an age classification in Vietnam. Classification based on international standards would help Vietnamese gamers and the public have a better view on the effect of online games. A representative from VTC Game agreed with Mr Son on this issue. He said that such classification was a scientific method for game management and is found in most developed countries. “But to have a classification system we need to secure the agreement of relevant agencies, distributors, games agencies, and families,” he said.

In an online forum called “Which way for online games?”, held by the Vietnamnet online newspaper in early August, participants, including psychologists, lawyers, distributors, and gamers, held the common view that there is insufficient evidence to prove that online games are the cause of the rise in violence over recent years. Many said that the issue requires a combination of educating families and technological solutions from distributors and agencies, all of which must take a degree of responsibility.

On the issue of censorship, Mr Son said that games officially released in Vietnam are assessed to ensure their content is consistent with Vietnamese customs and culture. However, “on the internet there are many games accessible from overseas that are uncensored and the domestic games industry is affected by this,” he said.

Many domestic games enterprises said that they face a range of restrictions while their foreign competitors, who provide games outside of Vietnam, face no such restrictions. Policies managing content and information on the internet are inconsistent in their treatment of domestic and foreign enterprises. For instance, domestic enterprises must spend time obtaining licences and certificates, but Yahoo!, Gmail, and You Tube do not. Mr Son from VNG said: “The policies in content management cannot be applied to overseas providers, and this creates the conditions for internet users to use more of their services and not ours.”

All enterprises in the field have had to deal with constant changes in management policies. Mr Son said that if regulations are not clear and uniform from the beginning, enterprises will continue suffer from lower revenues.

The regulation on online games management will be approved by the Prime Minister this month. VNG and other enterprises in the field hope it will provide equality between domestic and foreign providers. In addition to regulations restricting any negative aspects, they hope to receive certain levels of support. The online games industry is now among the largest in many countries around the world, such as the US, Japan, South Korea and in Europe. “As domestic enterprises are able to develop and serve the domestic market in a globally competitive environment, we need to receive support in government policies,” said Mr Son.

Source: VnEconomy