China cuts amount of time under 18s can spend playing online games to 3 hours a week

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China cuts amount of time minors can spend on online games

SHANGHAI, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators on Monday slashed the amount of time players under the age of 18 can spend on online games to an hour of gameplay on Fridays, weekends and holidays, in response to growing concern over gaming addiction, state media reported.

The rules, published by the National Press and Publication Administration, said users under the age of 18 will only be able to play games from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time on those days, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Online gaming companies will be barred from providing gaming services to them in any form outside those hours and need to ensure they have put real name verification systems in place, said the regulator, which oversees the country's video games market.

Previously, China limited the total length of time minors could access online games to three hours on holiday or 1.5 hours on other days.

The new rules come amid a broad crackdown by Beijing on China's tech giants, such as Alibaba Group (9988.HK) and Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), which has unnerved investors, hammering Chinese shares traded at home and abroad. read more

The National Press and Publication Administration also told Xinhua it would increase the frequency and intensity of inspections for online gaming companies to ensure they were putting in place time limits and anti-addiction systems.

Source: Reuters
 
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That's clearly a dictatorship move, but it may actually benefit the younger population considering how they could put their time to more useful activities. Can't say it's healthy for anybody to spend too much time online, and even more so for kids.
 
'Under 18' may be a bit harsh, but I wouldn't be opposed to such a move in my country for children under a certain age. In fact, not only for online games, but for internet and social media too. Frankly, children shouldn't have unsupervised access to the internet at all, imo. Not in this day and age.
 
The way to ensure/enforce/control it is bad this kind of regulation is what we need if we don't want wild capitlism to end turning us into idocracy leading to our end for "growth" (of the wealth of a few)
 
Elysion said:
'Under 18' may be a bit harsh, but I wouldn't be opposed to such a move in my country for children under a certain age. In fact, not only for online games, but for internet and social media too. Frankly, children shouldn't have unsupervised access to the internet at all, imo. Not in this day and age.
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Then move to North Korea you commie.
No government should have this right. Parents raise their children.
 
People in this thread asking how the chinese could accept this are so funny. Chinese people under 30 do everything they are told by the state.
 
I think government involvement how to manage kids is stepping the line too much. I do agree kids should be limited game time but thats for the parents to deal with.
 
Highway Star said:
Then move to North Korea you commie.
No government should have this right. Parents raise their children.
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I am pretty sure that there would be less draconian ways than face-scans and 24/7 control of gaming companies to encourage youth in the west to stop playing fortnite for 6 hours a day and the rest of their day stare into mind-altering tiktok garbage.
 
Videospel said:
Why not just ban it altogether?
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i don't think really about the games at all.

seems to me like it's their way of getting people to connect their real life ID to their online ID. imagine needing to provide a driving license/passport to make an online account to play your favourite games. you finally just got hold of a PS5 and you want to play some games online? you need to put in your driving license/passport. want to play some League of Legends? passport please.

It makes you less anonymous and more trackable. before your online id might have been "ChineseCitizen30493" but now they know who is behind that ID. your name, age, dob, address, etc. you say anything against the government online then they will know who you are and where to find you.
 
Highway Star said:
Then move to North Korea you commie.
No government should have this right. Parents raise their children.
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I have family members that sit down after school and do nothing but watch tiktok on full blast and when they cant bare it anymore they play fortnite or whatever. And while playing those games they have a youtube video running in the background.

Something has to be done.
 
nightmare-slain said:
i don't think really about the games at all.

seems to me like it's their way of getting people to connect their real life ID to their online ID. imagine needing to provide a driving license/passport to make an online account to play your favourite games. you finally just got hold of a PS5 and you want to play some games online? you need to put in your driving license/passport. want to play some League of Legends? passport please.

It makes you less anonymous and more trackable. before your online id might have been "ChineseCitizen30493" but now they know who is behind that ID. your name, age, dob, address, etc. you say anything against the government online then they will know who you are and where to find you.
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They already know that and much more. That is absurd.
 
thelawof4 said:
I have family members that sit down after school and do nothing but watch tiktok on full blast and when they cant bare it anymore they play fortnite or whatever. And while playing those games they have a youtube video running in the background.

Something has to be done.
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yeah people need to be better parents.
 
Online games huh.

That's ok then, maybe these kids will actually play something with more substance right now(ain't against online, I play regularly, but it's not the same).
 
thelawof4 said:
They already know that and much more. That is absurd.
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yeah. it's just basically them wanting more control and doing the classic "think of the children" approach.

it might start off with <18 year olds and video games but once it's in place then they will start pushing it to more people in different situations.
 
thelawof4 said:
Tell that to a single parent working mom. I don't agree with those parents but i am not in the position to do anything about it.
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being a single parent sucks but still you gotta be a parent. it's hard i know but you gotta do it. it's your kid and it's your job to look after them and raise them. even if it's just you on your own.
 
thelawof4 said:
Tell that to a single parent working mom. I don't agree with those parents but i am not in the position to do anything about it.
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I understand the issue. Kids are hard work and throwing an ipad at them is easy and quick to get them out your hair. Even at certain times it would be acceptable when you've had a rough day, dealing with shit etc. But the problem is it becomes a magic bullet for any isssue and the ipad gets pulled out instead of addressing the underlying behavioural problem.

Especially when those parents are then spending the downtime taking their selfies for social media or on facebook messenger. You know if you really came from a poor background you wouldn't have ipads and playstations. And I say that as someone who had a tough upbringing but despite that I'd never say we were 'poor' though we struggled for money.

I couldn't be arsed with that hassle, so you know what? I didn't have kids, nor do I want them.
 
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In my country even if the government would make something stupid like this, no one would care since there is no way to enforce it for them.
I guess in china you are required to login with your id to play those games, which is even worse to me than this rule.
 
Elysion said:
'Under 18' may be a bit harsh, but I wouldn't be opposed to such a move in my country for children under a certain age. In fact, not only for online games, but for internet and social media too. Frankly, children shouldn't have unsupervised access to the internet at all, imo. Not in this day and age.
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'I agree with the dictators!'
 
Ah, there's me having just read 1984 for the first time. Yep, The Party is 100% modern day China.

Also, this has probably been posted before, but worth watching for anyone who's not seen it:

 
nightmare-slain said:
being a single parent sucks but still you gotta be a parent. it's hard i know but you gotta do it. it's your kid and it's your job to look after them and raise them. even if it's just you on your own.
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And a PARENT should decide when THEIR OWN child can or can't game or be online. Right, wrong, or indifferent . Never a fucking government that is oppressing their own people. It's called freedom, and we should all have that God given right.
 
How can everyone be so passive to China buying up everything and continually enriching their country with our endless thirst for cheap crap that we don't need that is made with slave labor?

Everybody hates Nazi's until they are willing to sell you a cheaper phone or stock your dollar store.

We're doomed.
 
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