AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Beijing

China is to release a set of new rules to vet the content of online games as part of a campaign to combat what it sees as harmful influences on the young, state media said on Tuesday.

"The move is part of governmental efforts to purify the content of online games, prompted by strong public pleas," reported Xinhua news agency.

Under new rules drawn up by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Information Industry to be released later this month, game manufacturers were required to revise game rules that might lead to addiction, it said.

The two ministries would also recommend a number of healthy "premium games" endorsed by the government to youngsters during the summer vacation.

"Players of online games are mostly people under 35 years old," Zhang Xinjian, a cultural ministry official, was quoted as saying. "These people are prone to the negative influences of sex, violence and other types of unhealthy content in online games."

The report quoted the example of a 13-year-old boy who leapt to his death from a 24-storey building in a flying posture, after leaving a note saying he was joining three friends, who were characters of an online game.

Beijing launched a nationwide crackdown on online computer games last year, banning foreign games with sensitive political content such as those portraying Tibet and the western region of Xinjiang as independent nations.

The Ministry of Culture has already banned 50 electronic games earlier this year, including Fifa Soccer 2005 and Microsoft's Age of Mythology.

Xinhua said China had 23 million online game players, a surge from 13.8 million in 2003. China's internet population reached 94 million at the end of last year and saw sales of online games last year soar 47.9 per cent to 2.47 billion yuan (HK$2.3 billion).