What Games Are Chinese Government Officials Playing at Work?

Recently, the Chinese media has been buzzing with the results of an investigative report that found that 30 percent of Chinese public servants are wasting significant amounts of time at work talking on QQ, and playing video games. Given that this was only from a sample size of 55 officials, it’s not exactly scientific data or anything, but it has still captured the public interest given that it plays into the general conception that many of China’s officials don’t do much other than sit around collecting bribe money.

But of course, some Chinese gamers are asking a different question: what games are these public servants playing? The answers, it seems, are pretty similar to what regular Chinese gamers are playing. But if you want to play games like a Chinese government official, here’s what you should be playing:

Casual Games: Fight the Landlord!, Mahjong. No surprises here as these are popular games offline as well (Fight the Landlord is a card game) and they’re very easy to find and play online.

Flash Games: Happy Farm. Needless to say, browser-based flash games are quick popular because they can be exited with one quick click if your boss comes walking around the corner. Chinese public servants are apparently partial to social games like Happy Farm (the Chinese game that Zynga cloned to make Farmville).

PC Games: Demigods and Semi-Devils, Fantasy Journey to the West, Zhuxian, Do Po Cang Qiong. MMORPGs like World of Warcraft don’t see to be as common among Chinese officials as they are among regular Chinese gamers, but clearly public servants have nothing against historical-fantasy-style RPGs.

Multiplayer Competitive Games: DOTA, League of Legends. Yup, even Chinese officials aren’t immune to China’s DOTA craze, apparently. So watch out the next time you fire up a game of League of Legends with strangers; your teammates might just be the people who are supposed to be running your city!

Mobile Games: Fruit Ninja, Fishing Master, Temple Run. Here, Chinese officials are basically just reflecting what the top free game downloads are on Chinese app stores, so these titles shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Again, these results come from an investigation with a very small sample size, so take them with a grain of salt. But if other Chinese public servants game like these guys apparently do, then Chinese officials are playing more or less the same games as regular Chinese gamers.

(via QQ Games)

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