China continues to lead the world to the cyber dystopian future with a censored alpha client for Steam.

Back in 2018, China announced that it’d require all software available in the country to conform to Chinese laws regarding video games. This means strict censorship of certain terms, limits on gameplay time for younger players, and the segregation of Chinese players so that they could only play with other Chinese gamers.

Valve has been quietly working on a new Steam client that complies with these rules, and it looks like an alpha version of Steam China has just been released.

There aren’t any Steam China servers yet, but the updated client gives us an idea of what we can expect when those servers go live. Win.gg notes that there are three big differences between regular Steam and Steam China, starting with a strange warning message that displays for five whole seconds every time someone boots up a game.

Healthy Gaming Advisory
via win.gg
Healthy Gaming Advisory

"Boycott harmful games, reject game piracy, exercise self-protection, avoid deception,” reads the slightly disturbing message presumably written by the Communist Party of China. Also, the CPC wants Chinese gamers to limit their game time as it is “harmful to the body.” Creepy.

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The second big change is the complete lack of Steam names, descriptions, or even pictures. Everything is just a sea of Steam ID numbers without any way of determining who’s who. It’s speculated that all info listed on a Steam profile (including names) will need to be vetted by a Chinese agency, so Valve has taken everyone’s info down as they await approval from China.

Steam China
via win.gg
Steam China

And third, there’s a system that limits game time for younger players. This includes a curfew as well as a time limit that prevents kids and teenagers from gaming all night long.

So far this is just the alpha version of Steam China, so we can expect to see lots more changes as Valve continues development.

Source: Win.gg

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