Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested on Friday that Russia should develop an alternative for the popular multiplayer online RPG World of Warcraft (WoW), which he said was "destructive."
"Apart from the destructive elements, it carries hidden connotations related to the development of the human civilization," the Russian president said at a joint session of presidential councils for culture and science.
"As it is so popular, we are quite capable of doing something similar... at least on a national level," Medvedev said.
With 11.4 million subscribers as of March 2011, WoW is currently the world's most-subscribed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and holds the Guinness world record for the number of users.
The highly addictive game has generated a lot of controversy in recent months, including the death of a three-year-old girl in the U.S. state of New Mexico, who withered away from malnutrition and dehydration while her mother played WoW online.
This spring a former Chinese prisoner claimed he and his fellow inmates were forced to play WoW, earning credits that prison guards could sell for real money.
