Last week, one of my clients had an event in one of Beijing's largest and slickest Internet cafes. China has something over 120 million Internet users, and the visit to the  Internet Cafe was a good reminder of what most of them are doing there: Playing online computer games. There were a couple of hundred people in the cafe while I was there, and with the exception of two people using the stations to watch DVDs, everyone else was using them to play computer games. There was no surfing, no email, no VoIP, no Internet supply chain management. There were lots of Counter Strike and, especially, World of Warcraft (the most popular online game in China).

So much for the Government's fitful attempt to use an engineered "fatigue system" to persuade China's youth to go do something--anything--else. Instead, it seems the Government has taken an "if you can't beat them, join them" approach. It has decided that if China's male youth are going to do nothing but play online computer games, they might as well play some socially redeeming games. It can't all be cleaving skulls in twain and rescuing buxom nymphettes in leather bikinis (although it's not hard to see the appeal). Thus, the Government's answer has been to support the  development of a game featuring "Chinese heroes" and designed to teach socially redeeming values.

To which we must offer a hearty, best of luck with that! But don't get your hopes up.

When I think about people qualified to design and develop computer games, the Chinese Government is almost never the first organization that leaps to mind. And probably with good reason. In fact, the General Administration of Press and Publication is only backing development. Noted online game house Shanda is actually developing it. Nevertheless, an article from the Chinese Government's own Xinhua news service doesn't do much to talk up Chinese Heroes' chances:

There is still no release date for "Chinese Heroes", a government-backed online game.

Begun in September 2005, the patriotic Internet game showcases 100 national heroes in the hopes of infusing young gamers with traditional Chinese values such as altruism and patriotism. The heroes all have cute cartoon images.

The game aims to wean young players from the grip of the dramatic, violent games with stunning graphics interfaces that are immensely popular with young people the world over.

But can members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) or ancient generals really become new game heroes and brush aside the challenge from Internet orcs?

...

The first group of heroes includes Zheng Chenggong (1624-1662), a Qing Dynasty general who liberated Taiwan from the Dutch, and Lei Feng (1940-1962), a faithful CPC member and a national example of altruism.

Shan Hui, chief designer of the game, said the heroes gather on "Hero Square", where gamers can click their statues to learn about their experiences and carry out tasks like moving bricks and catching raindrops on a building site. Gamers will be asked about the heroes' life stories to earn scores.

"We hope the game will teach players about Chinese ethics," said Kou Xiaowei, an official with China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), main sponsor of the initiative.

Moving bricks? Exciting!

Model soldier or model sorceress. It's not that hard a choice, is it?

In fact, this will not be the first videogame outing for Mao-era propaganda icon and "model soldier" Lei Feng. Lei, a soldier who died at a conveniently young age and left a conveniently revolutionary diary behind, is periodically trotted out at such times as the Government feels China's youth is in danger of mass turpitude. In fact, in these more canny times, Lei Feng campaigns seem to be losing their shine. Modern kids just aren't as impressed with a dude in a funny hat as they used to be. But, in one of the periodic attempts to keep the mythologized boy soldier relevant to the iPod generation, there was a "Learn From Lei Feng" video game announced earlier this year. No word on its numbers, but I have to think it's not attracting half a million simultaneous players the way World of Warcraft is reported to do here.

Now that's a government-backed computer game!

If the Chinese Government wants to find a way to use video games to serve their purposes, it might do better to study the slightly spooky example of my own US. Uncle Sam, who is having somewhat more trouble recruiting volunteer soldiers these days now that there is a shooting war on, has successfully--although somewhat controversially--used a video game, America's Army, as a recruiting tool. The difference? America's Army is a slick, Counter Strike-style first-person-shooter with plenty of bang-bang action.

Who says propaganda can't be fun?

Note: Lei Feng image courtesy Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Posters page.