評論
打印
Leaders
社論
Video games
電子游戲
The price of free
免費的代價
The rush to extract money from players risks a regulatory backlash
急于榨取玩家資金會帶來監管反彈風險
Moral Panics over new media are old hat.
新媒體帶來的道德恐慌已是老生常談了。
The social effects of novels, films, comic books and pop music were condemned by the grumpy reactionaries of the time.
當代暴躁的反對者早就在譴責小說、電影、連環漫畫雜志以及流行音樂帶來的社會效應。
In recent years video games have been a popular villain.
而近年來，電子游戲也已成為廣喜愛的“惡棍”。
Exasperated parents and opportunistic politicians have long fretted that they make players lazy and listless, or else unpredictable and violent.
一直以來，惱怒的家長和投機的政客都擔心電子游戲玩家會變得懶惰倦怠，或性情多變、暴躁乖戾。
Those concerns turned out to be largely misplaced.
事實證明，這些擔憂很大程度上都是錯誤的。
But new worries about the addictiveness of games, and the danger that poses to children in particular, have more substance to them and are already prompting a regulatory crackdown.
但是對游戲成癮、尤其是危害兒童的新擔憂，對家長和政客而言有更多實質性內容，且已經引起監管部門對電子游戲的打擊。
The industry would be wise to get ahead of the problem.
游戲行業最好先解決這一問題。
China, the world’s biggest video-game market, is leading the charge.
中國是世界最大的電子游戲市場，在監管方面首當其沖。
The government clamped down on the approval of new games earlier this year, and stopped approvals altogether in October.
今年年初，政府嚴加限制新游戲準入市場，并于10月完全停止審批。
Shares in Tencent, which built its business on video games and is one of the world’s largest internet companies, have fallen by 28% since the start of the year.
世界上最大的互聯網公司之一騰訊就是基于電子游戲開展業務，自今年年初股票跌了28%。
China is an authoritarian state prone to overreaction.
這是一個易反應過激的權威國家。
But it is not the only country that is worried.
但并不是唯一一個處于焦慮的國家。
Japan and South Korea, both liberal democracies, have passed laws designed to regulate a video-gaming industry whose products are increasingly seen as addictive and harmful.
日本和韓國都是自由民主國家，但還是將電子游戲產品視為上癮有害的，并已通過旨在監管電子游戲行業的法律。
And as business models refined in Asia have come to the West, lawmakers in Europe and America are becoming more concerned, too.
且隨著亞洲不斷完善的商業模式逐漸走向西方，歐美的立法者們也更加憂心了。
Such concerns feel more credible than prior panics, for two reasons.
對游戲的擔憂比以往的（道德）恐慌更可信，原因有二。
The first is that much gaming now happens online, and generates reams of behavioural data.
第一，現在很多游戲都在線進行，會產生大量的行為數據。
This allows publishers to monitor exactly how customers are playing games, and fine-tune them to make them as compelling as possible.
這使得游戲發行商可精確監控用戶玩游戲的過程，以進行微調，讓游戲盡可能地吸引眼球。
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