Standards for Mobile Game Content (Edition 2016)

Promulgation Authorities: China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association

Release Date: 2016-05-24

Effective Date: 2016-05-24

Source: https://www.cadpa.org.cn/3269/201705/41234.html

Original Title: 移动游戏内容规范（2016年版）

Article 1 These Standards are enacted in accordance with the Administrative Regulation on Publishing, the Administrative Provisions on Online Publishing Services and other applicable laws, regulations and rules of the State as well as the Articles of Association of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association for the purposes of guiding self-regulation in the industry, strengthening the development of mobile game content and promoting the healthy and prosperous development of mobile game publishing.

Article 2 For the purpose of these Standards, “mobile games” refer to game works that are operated on smart mobile terminals such as mobile phones and are provided through information networks for public download or online interactive use.For the purpose of these Standards, “mobile game content” refers to languages and texts, story background, plot scenes (maps), character designs, props and equipment, music and sound effects, mission functions, instructions and advertisements, etc. within mobile game works.

Article 3 Any mobile game shall, under the requirements of the Notice on Posting Healthy Gaming Advice in Game Publications (Xin Chu Yin [2003] No. 861), display the full text of Healthy Gaming Advice at the prominent position of the start screen of the game.

Article 4 Mobile games shall use characters in accordance with the requirements of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language, the Administrative Provisions on the Use of Chinese Characters in Publications and the Notice on Further Regulating the Use of Characters in Publications, among others.

Article 5 Harmful content filtering software shall be installed for online interactive mobile games to block harmful content.

Article 6 Mobile games shall not contain any content that “opposes the basic principles established by the Constitution”, including but not limited to:

(1) Opposing the people’s democratic dictatorship, attacking, slandering, derogating, distorting, or vilifying China’s socialist systems, including the system of people’s congresses, electoral systems, judicial systems, system of regional ethnic autonomy and system of special administrative regions, military system, system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), basic economic system, and distribution system;

(2) Opposing the leadership of the CPC, attacking, slandering, derogating, distorting, or vilifying the leadership position, governance capability, and image of the CPC; or

(3) Opposing the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, or attacking, slandering, disparaging, distorting or vilifying Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Article 7 Mobile games shall not contain any content that “endangers national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity”, including but not limited to:

(1) Depicting the separation of any regions in China from the People’s Republic of China, including Taiwan, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Xizang Autonomous Region, Diaoyu Islands, Chiwei Islands and the South China Sea Islands;

(2) Portraying any region of China, including Taiwan, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region, as an independent sovereign state;

(3) Failing to use quotation marks for the names of official agencies and positions of the local authorities of Taiwan, including the “Academia Sinica”, “Executive Yuan”, and “President”, after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China;

(4) Displaying the logo of the official agencies of the local authorities of Taiwan after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China;

(5) Containing content that promotes aggression:

a. distorting historical facts, promoting and glorifying aggressors, deliberately exaggerating the acts of aggression, and playing the characters of aggressors;

b. virtually depicting foreign armed forces, organizations or individuals invading China’s territory, territorial airspace, territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, continental shelf and subsoil; or

c. showing foreign armed forces, organizations or individuals attacking targets within the territory of China or the embassies and consulates stationed abroad under the guise of fighting against terrorism or pursuing fugitives, etc., or engaging in activities that infringe upon China’s sovereignty.

(6) Portraying and describing foreign civilian vessels or aircrafts entering China’s territory, territorial airspace, territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, continental shelf, or subsoil without authorization to conduct development operations;

(7) Misstating China’s territory, territorial airspace, territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, continental shelf, subsoil, or disputed boundary sections and areas with other countries; or

(8) Having following maps claiming to be China’s boundaries (except for fictitious, similar or otherwise indefinite maps of China):

a. maps indicating the boundary of the People’s Republic of China that are not drawn in accordance with the boundary treaties, agreements, protocols and attached maps signed between the People’s Republic of China and the relevant neighboring countries;

b. maps indicating boundary sections where the People’s Republic of China has not signed a boundary treaty with the relevant neighboring countries that are not drawn in accordance with the standard sample maps of China’s boundaries;

c. maps indicating historical boundaries of China during the period from 1840 to the founding of the People’s Republic of China that are not drawn in accordance with the standard sample maps of Chinese historical boundaries; maps indicating historical boundaries before 1840 that are not drawn in accordance with actual historical boundaries; or

d. other content related to the boundaries of maps of China that violate applicable laws, regulations and policies.

Article 8 Mobile games shall not contain any content that “divulges state secrets, endangers state security or damages the honor and interests of the State”, including but not limited to:

(1) Content involving the following confidential information:

a. secrets related to major decision making on the affairs of the Party and the State;

b. confidential maps and restricted maps;

c. secrets related to the development of national defense and armed forces;

d. secrets related to the diplomatic and foreign affairs activities;

e. secrets related to the national economy, social development and science and technology;

f. secrets related to activities for safeguarding national security and the investigation of criminal offences; or

g. other confidential information that shall not be disclosed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

(2) Content that exaggerates, promotes, beautifies, or praises various separatist forces, anti-China organizations or spy agencies;

(3) Content that incites, abets, or encourages any organization or individual to engage in subversion of the Chinese government, secession of the State of China, or endangering the national security of China in any form;

(4) Content that attacks, vilifies, burns, damages, defiles, desecrates or otherwise disrespects in a non-dignified manner the national flag, the national anthem, the national emblem, the Party flag, the Party emblem, the Military flag, the Military Anthem, the Military Emblem, Tian’anmen Square, the Great Hall of the People, the Great Wall, the Ornamental Pillars, and other symbols of the State, regime, the army, and the Chinese nation;

(5) Content that attacks, derogates, defiles, distorts, fabricates or tampers with the image of China, the history of the Party and the army, or the image of outstanding figures thereof;

(6) Content that violates China’s foreign policies and international norms, or that attacks, defames, defiles, distorts, or damages the image of other countries’ regimes, nations, political parties, leaders, and armies, etc.; or

(7) Content that promotes fascism, glorifies the image of wars of aggression, armies and war criminals, or uses the aforesaid armies or people as optional characters, etc.

Article 9 Mobile games shall not contain content that “incites ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, undermines national unity, or violates the customs and traditions of ethnic groups”, including but not limited to:

(1) Fabricating or exaggerating contradictions, conflicts and disputes between ethnic groups;

(2) Slandering, insulting, defiling or distorting the images of various ethnic groups of China, including their ethnic features and character images, etc.;

(3) Minimizing, distorting or denying the history, status, role, contribution and value, etc. of all ethnic groups of China;

(4) Advocating the predominance, privileges, or other preferential treatment for a specific ethnic group or religion;

(5) Undermining the unity of ethnic groups, religious harmony and freedom of belief, etc.;

(6) Slandering, damaging, defiling or insulting the unique traditional customs, taboos, and symbols of ethnic characteristics of each ethnic group of China; or

(7) Encouraging the sabotage of China’s ethnic unity or interference in religious affairs by foreign forces.

Article 10 Mobile games shall not contain content that “promotes cult or superstition”, including but not limited to:

(1) Promoting the “Falun Gong” or other cult organizations that are hostile to the country, against government or endanger the society;

(2) Promoting the “worship of cult leaders”, displaying their portraits or deifying them;

(3) Promoting the cult rules, doctrines, scriptures, classics and logos of cults;

(4) Promoting and engaging in cult-related activities;

(5) Fabricating and spreading heresy, bewitching or deceiving others, or implementing mind control;

(6) Distorting or tampering with the traditional religious doctrines;

(7) Setting up functions such as fortune-telling and warding off evil that are associated with superstition; or

(8) Fabricating, exaggerating, or misrepresenting the super-physical and supernatural phenomena in real life under the guise of science.

Article 11 Mobile games shall not contain content that “disrupts social order or undermines social stability”, including but not limited to:

(1) Setting up relevant functions or plots based on real social life and promoting various activities that disrupt social order or undermine social stability;

(2) Encouraging the use of violence or threat to resist or hinder the lawful performance of duties by state officials;

(3) Maliciously defaming or attacking people or races in specific regions; or

(4) Inducing users to directly or indirectly invest the statutory currency to obtain the game products or services by random selection or other accidental means without expressly specifying the specific rules.

Article 12 Mobile games shall not contain content that “promotes obscenity, gambling, violence or incites crimes”, including but not limited to:

(1) Containing obscene or pornographic content:

a. showing the process and details of acts of incest, rape, gang rape, or collective promiscuity, etc., or setting up related functions;

b. showing sexual behaviors involving minors or between adults and minors, or setting up related functions;

c. specifically depicting homosexual sexual acts or setting up related functions;

d. specifically depicting abnormal sexual behaviors or acts of violence, abuse, and humiliation related to such behaviors, or setting up related functions;

e. specifically depicting the process and details of prostitution or whoring, or setting up related functions;

f. specifically depicting human or humanoid nudity and reproductive organs;

g. specifically depicting animal reproductive organs;

h. specifically depicting sexual products or their functions;

i. specifically depicting sexual intercourse, implied sexual intercourse, or associated sounds;

j. specifically depicting, describing, or teaching sexual techniques;

k. specifically depicting or describing diseases related to sexual behaviors, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, or AIDS;

l. using explicit language to describe sexual transactions, sexual psychology, sexual behaviors, or sexual experiences, etc.; or

m. promoting sexual openness or sexual freedom.

(2) Containing gambling content:

a. specifically introducing gambling forms, or methods and skills to use gambling devices;

b. setting up gambling functions and providing gambling services;

c. charging commissions or doing so in disguised forms, such as “virtual currency” tied to game outcomes;

d. setting up functions for winning or losing games or guessing with the game credits, without setting limits on the quantities of credits won or lost per round or per day;

e. providing services for trading or exchanging game credits for cash or property, or in disguised forms such as “virtual currency”; or

f. providing game credit transfer services between users, such as donation or transfer.

(3) Containing content that advocates violence, terror, or cruelty, etc.:

a. realistically depicting mutilated human bodies, decomposition, or showing detailed injury processes and scenes such as blood spurting, blood flowing into rivers, or blood covering the ground, etc.;

b. deliberately showing behaviors that defy common sense, such as exposing, dismembering, forking, or abusing corpses, etc.;

c. promoting or advocating the roles and effects of weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, or anti-human weapons, and deliberately exaggerating the terrorist scenes of mass destruction; or

d. deliberately depicting or designing characters, images, or scenes that are excessively horrifying in appearance.

Article 13 Mobile games shall not contain content that “insults or defames others or infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of others”, including but not limited to:

(1) Maliciously ridiculing and insulting others with language, gestures or actions;

(2) Maliciously using the names or homophones of names of political figures or public figures;

(3) Deliberately portraying others’ physical or mental deficiencies in a way that infringes upon their human dignity;

(4) Disseminating false facts that damage others’ reputations or cause humiliation;

(5) Illegally or disrespectfully using others’ images, thereby infringing upon others’ right to portrait; or

(6) Disseminating others’ privacy or disturbing their private lives.

Article 14 Mobile games shall not contain content that “harms the social morality or the excellent national cultural traditions”, including but not limited to:

(1) Violating the fundamental moral requirements of loving the motherland, loving the people, loving labor, loving science and loving socialism;

(2) Deliberately portraying fighting, dirty words, spitting, or other words or behaviors that are filthy, vulgar, low-level and indecent;

(3) Occupying, damaging or destructing Chinese cultural relics, scenic spots and historic sites, government office premises, or landmark buildings, etc.;

(4) Ridiculing, discriminating against, or insulting socially vulnerable groups such as women, children, the elderly, or the disabled, etc.;

(5) Blurring the boundaries between right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness or portraying other situations that are detrimental to building a harmonious society;

(6) Promoting corrupt and parasitic lifestyles such as prioritizing money above all else, squandering, engaging in wife swapping games, extramarital affairs, one-night stands, being a sugar mummy or a sugar daddy, keeping a mistress and being a gold-digger, etc.;

(7) Promoting the abuse of power for personal gain, or engaging in corrupt practices such as trading power for money or sex, etc.;

(8) Trampling on the excellent national cultural heritage, maliciously distorting major historical and cultural events or the image of representative figures;

(9) Promoting the patriarchal clan system concept, male superiority over women, polygamy, or polyandry, etc.;

(10) Weakening, defaming or denying the historical significance and value of excellent Chinese cultural traditions; nihilating and vulgarizing these excellent national cultural traditions; or promoting the worldviews, historical perspectives, or values that contradict the excellent national cultural traditions; or

(11) Defaming or denying the great national spirit of unity, peace-loving, hard work and bravery, and ceaseless pursuit of self-improvement with patriotism as its core.

Article 15 Mobile games shall not contain content that induces minors to imitate acts that violate social morality, laws or constitute crimes, or content that is harmful to the physical and mental health of minors, including but not limited to:

(1) Promoting illegal and criminal acts, or containing content that induces minors to imitate and study;

a. detailed depiction and description of the means, methods and details of crimes, which may induce or encourage minors to imitate and commit crimes;

b. glorifying the image of criminals, which may lead minors to sympathize with or admire them;

c. promoting acts that infringe upon national, collective or private property by improper means, such as playing the character of thieves or engaging in theft, fraud, seizure or robbery;

d. showing criminals escaping from legal sanctions and undermining the dignity of the law, such as setting up purgation functions, bribery and prison break, etc.;

e. promoting or specifically depicting organizations with the nature of criminal syndicates and their activities; or

f. encouraging, inducing or rewarding malicious Player vs. Player (PK) behavior.

(2) Promoting drug use and drug trafficking, or containing content that induces minors to imitate and learn:

a. specifically depicting the cultivation of the mother plants of drugs, such as opium poppy;

b. promoting and specifically depicting the manufacturing, smuggling, transportation, sale and purchase of drugs;

c. promoting or specifically depicting methods or processes of taking or injecting drugs, or luring, abetting, cheating or forcing others to take or inject drugs;

d. promoting or preaching the effects of drugs; or

e. promoting and specifically depicting the profits by selling drugs.

(3) Promoting other content that endangers the physical and mental health of minors;

a. displaying, in a concentrated manner, content that is vulgar in nature;

b. specifically depicting minors engaging in behaviors such as drinking or smoking, etc., or using tobacco as a prop in games;

c. specifically showing minors entering or leaving the venues that are inappropriate for their age; or

d. encouraging minors to engage in activities such as cohabitation or marriage, which are inappropriate for their age.

Article 16 Mobile games shall not contain other content prohibited by the laws, regulations and rules of the State.