About the Characters

Xi Wang (Hope)

Xi Wang ("Hope")

16 years old, the mastermind of the escape.

Gao Quance (

Gao Quance ("Hacker")

15 years old, has an online girlfriend.

Wang Yuchao (

Wang Yuchao ("Nicky")

16 years old, depressed and in violent conflict with his father.

ao Ran

Tao Ran

A psychiatrist. The addiction specialist and director of the Daxing camp, Beijing Military Hospital.

The documentary Web Junkie highlights the tragic effects on teenagers who become hooked on video games, playing for dozens of hours at a time often without breaks to eat, sleep or even use the bathroom. Many come to view the real world as fake.

— Jane E. Brody, The New York Times

China has 400 of these camps already, and it's probably a safe bet some parents and officials in many other places would be fine with this becoming the next big Chinese export.

— David Hinckley, New York Daily News

Bewildering and surreal...The specificity of the documentary, staying within the walls of the boot camp for virtually the entire movie, is one of its biggest strengths since it is able to place you right alongside these kids.

— Drew Taylor, Indiewire

Web Junkie offers a troubling glimpse into anxieties that are hardly China's alone.

— A.O. Scott, The New York Times