SEPTEMBER 8TH-14TH 2018
LAST December, at a conference in the southern city of Guangzhou, Pony Ma joked that he felt a little nervous to be parted from his phone while on stage. He was responding to criticism about the addictive nature of smartphones, fuelled by what some in China call “electronic opium”: video games, among Tencent’s best-known products and its single-biggest revenue source. Mr Ma, its boss (and China’s richest man, according to the latest annual ranking from Forbes, a magazine), added that his myopia had worsened of late and that eye strain was “also a problem”.
去年12月，在南方城市广州举行的一场会议上，马化腾开玩笑说，离开手机站在舞台上让他感觉有些紧张。他回应了关于对智能手机成瘾本质的批评，一些人称之为电子鸦片助涨了这种批评。电子游戏，是腾讯最知名的产品之一，也是腾讯最大的单一收益来源。马化腾先生，作为腾讯公司的老板（根据最新的福布斯杂志年度排名，他也是中国最富有的人）表示最近他的近视有所恶化，眼睛的压力也是一个问题。
1 | opium ['oʊpiəm] |
Xi Jinping, it emerged, takes such things more seriously. Last week, according to state media, China’s leader read with dismay a report on the poor eyesight of his young citizens. Late on August 30th the ministry of education and other bodies published a plan to prevent myopia in children and teenagers. Among encyclopedic instructions to beef up the training of optometrists and to adjust the height of school chairs, one sentence directs regulators to curb the number of total online games as well as that of new releases. It also guides them to restrict teens’ playing time. Tencent’s stock promptly took a tumble, losing 5.6% on the following day of trading, thus shaving around $20bn from the market value of the world’s largest gaming company. On September 6th the firm announced a new system to identify minors and limit their daily gaming time.
习近平对这些态度更加严肃。上周，根据官媒报道，中国的领导人沮丧地阅读了一篇关于年轻公民视力不佳的报道。八月30的晚些时候，教育部和其他部门发布了一个关于预防儿童和青少年近视的计划。百科全书式的指导方针包括加强对验光师的培训和调整学校椅子的高度，其中有一条要求监管机构控制所有在线游戏的总量以及新发行游戏的数量。它还指导他们限制青少年的游戏时间。腾讯的股价随即暴跌，在第二天的交易日下跌5.6%，使这家全球最大的游戏公司市值缩水200亿美元。9月6号，该公司宣布了一个新系统用于识别未成年以及限制他们每日的游戏时间。
1 | dismay [dɪs'meɪ] |
The recent crackdown is not the first blow Tencent has suffered. Regulators froze new game approvals in March without explanation. The freeze has stopped Tencent making money in China from a mobile version of one of the world’s hottest titles, “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG), a South Korean game in which players scavenge on an island for weapons with which to slay each other. In mid-August Tencent reported its first quarterly profit decline in nearly 13 years, which it blamed chiefly on the regulatory limbo.
最近的打击行动并不是腾讯遭受的第一次打击。监管层3月份在没有任何解释的情况下冻结了新游戏的审批。冻结令腾讯无法在全球最热门的游戏之一的PUBG的手机版获利，这是一款韩国游戏，玩家在一座小岛上搜寻武器用以相互残杀。8月中旬，腾讯公布了13年来的首次季度利润下滑，该公司称主要归咎于监管的不稳定。
1 | approval [ə'pruːvl] |
“Monster Hunter: World”, involving the killing of fearsome beasts, was expected to be another bestseller in China for Tencent, which licensed the game from Capcom of Japan. Regulators, apparently thinking it too gory, pulled it within a week of its release in August (it had been approved just before the freeze began). To David Dai of Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, the regulatory hold-up and the ensnarement of “Monster Hunter” are no coincidence. Seven in ten internet users—or 560m people—play games in China, estimates Newzoo, a research firm. Since last year communist-party mouthpieces have been excoriating games companies for poisoning young minds. In response Tencent set up an “anti-addiction” measure for “Honour of Kings”, one of its own blockbusters, to limit the playtime of Chinese teenagers to two hours a day and that of under-12s to one hour. In the Chinese-language version of PUBG (on desktops and consoles), blood is rendered green to appease regulators.
《怪物猎人：世界》,是关于猎杀可怕怪物的游戏，曾有望成为腾讯的又一爆款，该游戏由日本的Capcom授权。监管机构认为它太血腥了，在它8月发布后的一周内就撤销了它（在冻结开始前，它已经获得了许可）。对于Sanford C. Bernstein研究公司的David Dai来说，监管机构的拖延和《怪物猎人》的陷入困境并非偶然。研究公司Newzoo估计，十分之三的网民或则说是5.6亿人会玩游戏，自从去年以来，共产党的喉舌一直在谴责游戏公司毒害了年轻人的思想。作为回应，腾讯为自己的大作《王者荣耀》设定了防沉迷系统，将中国的青少年的游戏时间限定在每天2小时，12岁以下的儿童限制在1小时。为了安抚监管机构，在中文版本的PUBG（无论是桌面版还是主机版），血液的颜色都被修改为绿色。
1 | fearsome ['fɪrsəm] |
Lisa Cosmas Hanson of Niko Partners, a tech consultancy, thinks the ministry of education may have viewed this broader regulatory hardening as a chance to further its own quest to shield youngsters from the gaming frenzy. After all, the myopia directive makes no mention of putting controls on other recreational screen-time activities that might harm eyes, such as enormously popular short-video apps. (Recent research suggests myopia may have more to do with insufficient sunlight—acknowledged in China’s injunction to schools to step up outdoor sports).
科技咨询公司Niko Partners的Lisa Cosmas Hanson认为，教育部把这种更广泛监管的强化视为一个机会以便进一步保护年轻人免受游戏狂暴的影响。毕竟，近视指导并没有提及对其他可能损伤眼睛的娱乐屏幕活动进行控制，比如最近很流行的短视频APP。（最近研究表明近视可能更多与日照不足有关，在一点在中国禁止学校加强户外运动的禁令中得到确认）
1 | quest [kwest] |
For all this, a view prevails among some analysts that tighter control will strengthen the position of Tencent and other big players, such as NetEase. UBS, a bank, expects game approvals to start up again in October or November. In the long run, a limit on the number of new titles should favour those with the biggest budgets to lavish on their development. If larger compliance teams are needed to keep censors happy, that too will help incumbents.
尽管如此，一些分析师普遍认为，收紧控制将会强化腾讯，网易等其他大公司的地位，瑞银银行预计游戏审批将在10月或11月重启。从长远看，限制新游戏的数量有利于那些预算较大的公司，让他们在开发上大把花钱。如果需要更大的合规团队来取悦审查机构，这也将帮助他们。
1 | prevail [prɪ'veɪl] |
As one bit of the industry is crimped, however, another flourishes. A form of competitive video-playing called eSports, with 200m fans in China, is helping the country to shine. In the same week as the myopia memo, China’s national team became the first to win gold in an eSports demonstration event at the Asian Games in Indonesia. China defeated Taiwan at playing the international version of Tencent’s “Honour of Kings”. This year the medals do not count in official tallies. When Hangzhou, a Chinese city, hosts the next games in 2022, they will. (749 words)
然而，随着这个行业的一部分受到限制，另一部分却蓬勃发展，一种被称为竞争性视频播放形式的电子竞技，在中国有2亿的粉丝，正在帮助中国脱颖而出。就在这份“近视备忘录”发布的同一周，中国的国家队在亚运会的电子竞技示范项目中成为首个获得金牌的国家。在国际版的腾讯的“王者荣耀”游戏中，中国大陆击败了台湾队。今年的奖牌将不会被收入官方统计，2022年在中国城市杭州在举办下一场亚运会的时候，他们会。
1 | crimp [krɪmp] |