China has ‘Communist training camp’ in metaverse – with ‘cultural spirit’ class

THE METAVERSE is meeting global politics.

Officials in China are organizing a metaverse course that some critics think is indoctrinating.

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The Chinese virtuality reality firm, Mengke VR, is developing both historical and politically charged courses for users to experience.

The Register reported that China’s “custom build metaverse” has thinly coded political undertones with courses like “Chinese Spirit – The Spiritual Genealogy of Chinese Communists.”

South China Morning Post noted that The Chinese Academy of Governance was a driving force behind the project.

Chinese citizens have been quick to adopt VR technologies – the country “accounted for 54.7% of commercial and consumer spending on VR and augmented reality worldwide,” according to EMarketer.

Part of what spurred the development of a VR government school is the Chinese government trying to force kids off video games.

Children under 18 can only play at night for three hours on the weekend.

Mengke VR emphasizes the educational element of virtual reality writing their course “can save a lot of travel costs and time costs” and students will “learn more deeply.”

A high school in the US made headlines when it became the first in the nation to offer virtual reality courses.

In China, media is largely state-controlled and rigid control of metaverse content tracks with the government’s scrutiny of the internet.

FreedomHouse completed a 2021 analysis of internet use in China and “confirmed the country’s status as the world’s worst abuser of internet freedom for the seventh consecutive year.”

Meanwhile, metaverse users outside of China are seeing the digital world grow unbound by regulation.

Political and technological forces are meeting as the metaverse grows.