China to limit minors to 3 hours of video games per week

[Qub3d]

Summary

 

China's National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) has issued rules restricting Chinese citizens under 18 to a maximum of 1 hour of playing a day, and only on the weekends. The move comes officially as a way to counter the "spiritual opium" of video gaming addiction, though many believe this is part of the state crackdown on the growth of large tech corporations, both internal and external to the Chinese mainland.

 

Quotes

Quote

[the new rules] limit under-18s to playing for one hour a day - 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. - on only Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, according to the Xinhua state news agency. They can also play for an hour, at the same time, on public holidays.

...

Gaming companies will be barred from providing services to minors in any form outside the stipulated hours and must ensure they have put real-name verification systems in place, said the regulator, which oversees the country's video games market.

 

My thoughts

It will be interesting to see how well this holds. Even in China, with all the sophisticated tracking tools, I can't imagine them tracking the cumulative playtime of a user cross-referenced over every game on any device, from PC to console to Mobile. It may be this is more a flex of the governmental muscles to remind the gaming companies that they operate at the pleasure of the state.

On a purely ethical level, I don't hate the idea of restrictions. As our own Linus Sebastian noted: we sort of expect a child's gaming to be limited -- by their parents. If the society at large is failing to do that, is it wrong for the state to try and step in? We know that modern games are making increasing use of gambling-style mechanics to both increase playtime and money spent. 3 hours a week seems a bit strict, however.

 

Sources

 https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-rolls-out-new-rules-minors-online-gaming-xinhua-2021-08-30/

[porina]

Seems very specific to not only limit the duration but specify the specific allowable window. Obviously this will have a significant impact on mobile and other online gaming, where providers are easier to detect and fine if they do not enforce the rules. Might not do anything to offline or local networked gaming, so that might shift what is played. How long before even non-online games will require a server ping to work? I think it is a thing already where single player games save metadata on server, but might become more widespread as a result of this.

[dizmo]

Quote

If the society at large is failing to do that, is it wrong for the state to try and step in?

Yes. 

As the saying goes: give them an inch, and they'll take a mile. 

[Qub3d]

5 minutes ago, porina said:

Seems very specific to not only limit the duration but specify the specific allowable window. Obviously this will have a significant impact on mobile and other online gaming, where providers are easier to detect and fine if they do not enforce the rules. Might not do anything to offline or local networked gaming, so that might shift what is played. How long before even non-online games will require a server ping to work? I think it is a thing already where single player games save metadata on server, but might become more widespread as a result of this.

Yeah, forcing the entire cohort of multi-millions of Chinese children to all be gaming at the same hour sounds like a technical nightmare. At best, you will be paying for the server load that is maxed an hour a few days, then 50% or less of load for the rest of the week. $$$

[porina]

2 minutes ago, Qub3d said:

Yeah, forcing the entire cohort of multi-millions of Chinese children to all be gaming at the same hour sounds like a technical nightmare. At best, you will be paying for the server load that is maxed an hour a few days, then 50% or less of load for the rest of the week. $$$

I do wonder, as a demographic, how many gamers are <18 vs older? That's the possible impact I guess. Again, I do suspect this is probably leaning more towards mobile gaming which is arguably more accessible.

 

I also had a further thought. If we're looking at PC gaming, most big name games these days are distributed through a launcher, either 1st party or some kinda store. They require an account and online authentication, so I think unless you limit yourself to DRM free games, even single player games could be restricted. You could use someone else's account who isn't restricted, with the obvious problems that come with that.

[CTR640]

Does this means finally less Chinese modders in GTAO?

[Mark Kaine]

... 3 hours is a bit ridiculous... that basically should kill "GAAS"? 

 One can only hope lol, but still... ridiculous...

 

2 hours ago, porina said:

You could use someone else's account who isn't restricted, with the obvious problems that come with that.

wasnt there the other news recently that China now enforces face recognition in order to play games (for under 18 yo)? I wonder how this ties in with that - and also what happened to that rule, which seemed similarly  "ridiculous". 

[porina]

11 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

wasnt there the other news recently that China now enforces face recognition in order to play games (for under 18 yo)? I wonder how this ties in with that - and also what happened to that rule, which seemed similarly  "ridiculous". 

Must have missed that as I don't recall that one. Assuming it is a thing, again that points more towards mobile gaming where a camera is a given, which probably is not the case for PC or consoles.

[adarw]

business for vpns will be booming...

[Mark Kaine]

25 minutes ago, porina said:

Must have missed that as I don't recall that one. Assuming it is a thing, again that points more towards mobile gaming where a camera is a given, which probably is not the case for PC or consoles.

It's basically the same story, just slightly different with additional forced face recognizing (because how would you enforce this otherwise!)

 

So, this isn't really new, the rules just keep changing Vader style lol... 

 

[pythonmegapixel]

Regardless of whether you think this is a sensible idea or not, you have to agree that 8pm to 9pm is a stupid time window to choose if (and it's a big if) you actually want them to be able to access gaming at all. Staring at a computer immediately before they are supposed to be going to sleep is the last thing they need, all it will do is wreck their sleep patterns. 4 to 5 might be more sensible.

[Mark Kaine]

11 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Regardless of whether you think this is a sensible idea or not, you have to agree that 8pm to 9pm is a stupid time

There also won't be any issues at all when millions of kids try to go online/ log in *at the exact same time*

 

They could just as well outlaw gaming for kids altogether  (this is where this is going anyways seemingly)

 

Kinda sucks personally for me, vast majority i play with are Japanese or Chinese... wonder how this will affect me... Chinese definitely have more wild times when they're online,  Japanese are much more predictable, they definitely don't play during school or late evenings,  1 o'clock (their time) is end of story (the majority anyways)

 

 

[LAwLz]

Who actually wanted this?

I can't imagine companies are very happy about having to implement this system, and limit their user base.

I can't imagine minors are very happy about it either.

Some parents I'd imagine are happy about it, but at the same time I'd think that a lot of parents, especially those who trust their kids and think they behave appropriately will dislike this because they see their kids having something they like get taken away from them.

 

I guess some parents that dislike video games will be happy? It's pretty obvious that this isn't about gaming addiction or whatnot anyway, because the limits are way too restrictive. If spending one hour a day on the weekend on your hobby is "normal" then basically everyone who has a hobby is addicted to it. This is about enforcing control over Chinese citizens.

[WereCat]

I wonder if this is a half-assed attempt on shutting down in-game gold farmers / sellers with a shotgun spread so wide that it affects everyone... then again, it's aimed at kids so idk how they actually know what's your age when playing a game. 

[AnonymousGuy]

Interested in what the actual angle is here.  Were they worried that china kids were getting too westernized via video games and that threatens the party?  Everything China does is related to the party.

[Quackers101]

4 hours ago, AnonymousGuy said:

Interested in what the actual angle is here.  Were they worried that china kids were getting too westernized via video games and that threatens the party?  Everything China does is related to the party.

not sure of china has most of their own software down there, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue?

not to be talking about the various camps china has, from difference in people to gaming.

Various other topics around the stance china has around some of gaming, also if it goes back to different living standards and the youths want change.

Which would impact the more workaholic businesses and practices to "social rewards" that other parts have dealt with in their generation.

 

a set of freedom that would push some that wants be more like hong kong (how it used to be), something that goes against their current structure. and various other reasons.

[porina]

48 minutes ago, WereCat said:

I wonder if this is a half-assed attempt on shutting down in-game gold farmers / sellers with a shotgun spread so wide that it affects everyone... then again, it's aimed at kids so idk how they actually know what's your age when playing a game. 

Korea has/had a system where you needed your governmental ID to access (some?) games. I only came across that as there were some I wanted to check out but couldn't, short of identity theft. I don't think it much of a stretch of the imagination that China may have a similar ID system in place. They know who you are. No disposable burner accounts.

[Arika]

4 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Who actually wanted this?

the people who "know" "better" than "their" "citizens"

[xg32]

5 hours ago, LAwLz said:

.

i think most over 18 would see it as something that doesn't affect them. I check the chinese news sites, alot of propaganda supporting this. This is the most messed up gaming news i've heard of in a long time, if ever, at least the most widespread. I'd be very careful about cheering about governments telling what citizens cannot do. If the parents suck at their job, let them suck.

 

The wording is targetting mobile and online games/companies, most chinese users on steam already use a vpn, be interesting to see how the kids get around this.

 

Possible unintended side effects, kids completely wasting themselves to cram as many hours in as possible on the weekends.

parents not letting their kids use other accounts could also become a problem

[Brooksie359]

This makes me wonder how this will effect esports. China has been pretty dominant in league of legends but now that people can't start seriously practicing the game until they reach 18 this will hamper the growth of new talent tremendously. 

[Moonzy]

7 hours ago, LAwLz said:

This is about enforcing control over Chinese citizens.

If you ask me, this is about producing a more productive next generation of work force

 

Though I can't really say how well it is, learning through gaming is also a thing and there are many things to learn from gaming, just not educational I suppose

 

8 hours ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Regardless of whether you think this is a sensible idea or not, you have to agree that 8pm to 9pm is a stupid time window to choose if (and it's a big if) you actually want them to be able to access gaming at all. Staring at a computer immediately before they are supposed to be going to sleep is the last thing they need, all it will do is wreck their sleep patterns. 4 to 5 might be more sensible.

im not sure about china, but i used to go to school from 7am to 4pm (wake at 5:30am, arrive home around 5:30pm)
so gaming in the afternoon is no go, and i loved cycling before 7:30pm, so gaming at night seems the most sensible choice

 

but the most sensible choice would be options, let citizens choose what time they can best fit their schedule

[ARikozuM]

Bruh... I'd hit that just idling on the Minecraft start menu. #music

[albertmamama]

Kids will just use their parent's account, smh.

[Andreas Lilja]

Let me guess, boomers who find video games detrimental but spend 40 hours watching TV each week?

[Mihle]

Do they do the same with TV or Shows and stuff?

 

If not, maybe this is more an effort to try to get them to watch Chinese TV/Shows/movies instead.