China Bans Children From Playing Video Games for More Than 3Hrs a Week

Children in China experienced their first weekend of drastic new rules limiting the amount of time allowed for online gaming. China announced plans to restrict children to just three hours of video games a week, and the question now is, how will gamers cope? What does it mean for China’s booming video games industry? And as a parent do you think it’s best for your child?

Under 18s are now forbidden from online games from Monday to Thursday, and can spend just one hour on each of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and public holidays playing. Authorities say the ban is designed to protect the physical and mental health of children. But not everyone is convinced.

Gaming addiction, or gaming disorder, has troubled China for years and some state-run media have labeled online games a “spiritual opium”. The China Internet Network Information Centre said more than 30 percent of Chinese children in 2018 were suffering from gaming disorder, which was recently recognised as an illness by the World Health Organization. In addition to time limits, China’s new rules also require all online games to link to a state anti-addiction system, while gaming companies are banned from providing services to users without real ID registrations.

The new rules had an immediate impact on China’s lucrative online gaming industry. Tencent and NetEase, two major gaming companies in the country, saw their share prices fall this week after the rules were announced. But analysts believe there will be limited long-term effects on gaming giants. According to China’s Gaming Industry Report, there were total sales of more than 150 billion yuan ($32 billion) from 667 million Chinese players in the first half of 2021.

Tencent said players aged under 16 accounted for only 2.6 percent of its gaming income in China. Online gaming companies have begun launching new methods to ensure the latest rules are abided by. But it has been reported that some Chinese children are using fake IDs, while some illegal websites are selling software that can randomly generate adult ID numbers.

Tencent said players aged under 16 accounted for only 2.6 percent of its gaming income in China. Online gaming companies have begun launching new methods to ensure the latest rules are abided by. But it has been reported that some Chinese children are using fake IDs, while some illegal websites are selling software that can randomly generate adult ID numbers.

Tencent recently rolled out facial recognition technology and an algorithm that identifies underage players based on their time, how long they play, and their behaviours in the game. Despite assurances from the company that facial recognition technology would only be used for the common good, there are concerns that a sophisticated surveillance system could be built that will be able to feed algorithms even more information. Ethics experts say it is a space that needs to be watched.