Who ARE These People?

[Lager]

I'm in a PC room and there are 100 people here playing screen games. At 5 in the morning.

My excuse (ahem-is there a cough avatar?) is I can't sleep and need to send an e-mail.

But who TF are these people ? Shouldn't they be at work or school---or at least sleeping. Perhaps they are these dangerous internet addicts I have heard of? Ahh it's a free world eh? They want to play Counterstrike 24/7 who am I to say anything ? More power to them I say. Play games for days on end...

Lout out! ;D

[con's fly is open]

And the women are gawky and the men are dumb,
The children are loopy 'cause they live in a slum.
The river's polluted and the mayor's a dork,
They dress real bad and they think they're New York
In Shanghai
(or Toronto, Sidney, Paris, Munich, etc.)

The city that never sleeps: those guys probably night shift workers. Or meth junkies.

[Mattholomew]

Yeah- about the only thing I can get my students excited about are computer games- both guys and girls. Several of them have chosen names from computer games. And of course, whenever I've been in Shanghai the Internet Cafes are teeming with gamers.

When I asked my students what they did over the festival, they overwhelmingly mentioned: computer games, TV, and sleeping. Amazing what comprises a quiet night at home in the West equals an enjoyable vacation for teenagers in the PRC.

[George61]

Amazing, innit? For my first classes this term, I chose the old chestnut (an oldie, but a goodie) "What did you do during your holiday?....yes, we ate, watched TV, played computer, and slept.
Did we help our parents?...."Of course"
Did we visit friends?...."umm, of course"
Did we play with fireworks?...."Huh?"
It was like pulling teeth to get them to actually say what they did.
I don't think many of our actual students spend too much time playing computer games. I think those kids are mostly degenerate, unemployed, dropouts. I have been into computer bars at 7am (when I had no computer of my own) and discovered young couples flaked out in front of their still running games. Because I am a remarkably tolerant young bloke, I smile and pass by.

[con's fly is open]

I see it differently, Georgie boy. Half my students played computer games, and this group included the most studious ones... and all the fat kids. I consider computer games a predator on the academically inclined, wasting their time, energy, eyesight and fitness. It would be nice if the Chinese could import the diversity and technology of the West without the obesity and, say, celebrity worship that seems to come with it.

[George61]

poo, Con...Is this role reversal? I'm the fuddy-duddy old bloke, remember? You are the young, modern now-generation.

[ChinaGurl]

I can just see the Communist Party meeting to talk about this.

"Should we let them have computers?"

"Yes, I think computers could help them to be more industrious."

"But what about about the internet?"

"Ah, good point. What about the internet... that's a dangerous tool."

"Yes, they could use it to learn things that are actually useful... then we'd be in trouble."

Silence, with the occasional sound of someone genbei-ing their baijiu.

Suddenly:

"I'VE GOT IT! We just won't tell them about the internet!!"

"Huh? I don't get it."

"Here's the plan. Give them games that connect through the internet, and tell them that's what the internet is for!!"

Well executed, gentlemen.

[Ruth]

Yes, Chinagurl, that's it. Keep them thinking the internet is for playing games. That way they'll continue to be impressed by the fount of information and photos I glean from that source on a weekly basis.

[con's fly is open]

George61 said:

poo, Con...Is this role reversal? I'm the fuddy-duddy old bloke, remember? You are the young, modern now-generation.

Let's look to Marshall McLuhan. When you add new media to a culture, everything in that culture is affected. Now, for example, reading material is a hot medium in that one has to be active in receiving it, i.e. read. TV is a cool medium in that one just stares and lets the TV do al the work.
Now, what do kids do for fun? Playing is perhaps the hottest medium of all: talking, running, even fighting- good exercise.
Watching TV is a great way to gain weight: your body sits upright (if even that) and breathes. But the very fact that kids do nothing while watching becomes boring. But then throw in a joystick and you have a child actively participating... without exercising.
Never has it been possible to do so much for so long without standing up.

In my town, there was a way higher proportion of fat kids than fat adults. When I saw their parents, sometimes they were fat too... but more often they weren't. When I have kids I'll make sure they don't veg out for 3 hours at a time.

[Mr Nobody]

Yeah.

My kids class' teachers (kung fu school) complain that their hardest job isn't teaching, it is the parents who let the kids play playstation or whatever, for for or five hours day, plus they fit in 4 hours tv, then wonder why they don't have the energy for one hours training a week. They actually have dark marks under their eyes like racoons or as if they have been fighting, the first thought of the instructor.
I would have said it was virtually impossible for kids to normally get like that without illness.

I blame the parents. And, of course, Bill Gates, who is the devil incarnate. He has no guilt here, but i still like to blame him.

I think maybe the Global Village has been replaced with a global online gaming for ten year olds.

[Newbs]

I blame ..... Bill Gates, who is the devil incarnate. He has no guilt here, but i still like to blame him.

Amen, brother. With you 100% there, regardless of how much money he may have given to worthy causes in the third world.

Over at the spoon they're bitching, quite rightly too, about the slow internet connections at the moment. There's lots of reasons, and I'm sure that we could all think of one or two. However, this morning I couldn't sleep so I got up at about 3am to do e-mails, and see how many of you guys were on. (Answer zero) BUT the speed was fantastic and brought tears to my eyes. So partly it just has to be the volume of the traffic, and maybe our 5am zombies are on to something.

[ilunga]

or it could be because they get a special deal, something like 9pm-7am for 10RMB

they're not stupid!