Photo taken of a player at a game centre in Ha Noi. The Ministry of Information and Communications has been working with the Ministry of Public Security to investigate violations by gaming companies. — VNS Photo Truong Vi

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ministry of Information and Communications has been working with the Ministry of Public Security to investigate violations by gaming companies.

Minister of Information and Communications (MIC) Truong Minh Tuan said the ministry had not only inspected and fined companies, but also forwarded documents to the police for further investigation, ICTnews online reports.

In the future, the ministry will continue to review and closely control online gaming services to ensure gaming companies follow the rules.

Speaking at a ministry briefing last week, Minister Tuan said that over the years, many gaming companies had not followed the rules. As a result, the ministry's Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI) and the MIC's inspectors fined some gambling businesses and sent documents to police for further investigation.

The minister also asked the ABEI to work with the departments of Information and Communications in cities and provinces to continue closely controlling online gaming providers to ensure they follow the rules set by the ministry.

Tuan said the ministry would impose strict fines on those who provide illegal games. If they violate the rules, the MIC will ask the police to investigate the cases.

Head of the ABEI Hoang Vinh Bao said some domestic gaming companies had petitioned the State to initiate measures that would create a level playing field for both local and foreign gaming companies.

Bao said the authority would ask the ministry to work out measures to control foreign-made unlicensed online games being used in Viet Nam.

Over the years, the authority has discovered several violations among local gaming companies, such as the issuance of online games without licences to provide G1 game services (games in which multiple players interact simultaneously with each other and with the game server, such as multiplayer online role-playing games) or a certificate of registration to provide G2, G3 or G4 game services.

G2 games have multiple players interacting with the game server without interacting with each other, while G3 games have multiple players interacting with each other without interacting with the game server. G4 games are downloaded games with no interactions with other players or any other game server.

It has been reported that all gaming companies have violated laws, and some providers have run advertisements without obtaining licences or published "unhealthy" advertisements.

Some gaming providers are offering unlicensed foreign and local online games while many service providers have upgraded to new versions or supplemented the content or scenarios of the games without reporting it to the ministry.

In addition, they do not self-classify the online games into three age-based categories: games for adults (18+), games for teenagers (12+) and games for all (00+).

MIC inspectors said that going forward, they would expand investigations to include foreign game companies. The inspectors will work with authorised agencies to handle violations. — VNS