Vietnam has been implementing a series of measures aimed at attempting to curb what it believes is an overenthusiastic reliance on online gaming, but it isn’t above using games to lure the populace to a new government-backed Facebook competitor.

The state-owned [URL=http://www.vtc.vn/]Vietnam Multimedia Corp.[/URL] launched a beta version of a social networking website called [URL=http://www.go.vn]go.vn[/URL] earlier this year. As [URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703305004575503561540612900.html#articleTabs%3Darticle]detailed by the Wall Street Journal[/URL], the website requires prospective users to register using full names and government-issued identity numbers.

To help lure younger Vietnamese, the site features “several state-approved videogames, including a violent multiplayer contest featuring a band of militants bent on stopping the spread of global capitalism.”

The Journal piece mentions a university student named Pham Thanh Cong, who was waiting for “his turn to play an online shoot-'em-up game at a street-side Internet café.” When asked about go.vn, Cong replied, “I didn't even know it existed.”
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