Here’s a story about China and video games that isn’t directly about Blizzard’s Hong Kong debacle for once. While studies still debate how exactly real gaming addiction actually is, the People’s Republic considers the disorder a pressing threat to its youth. That’s why the Chinese government is introducing new curfews and restrictions to limit how much time and money kids spend on online video games.
As reported by CNN, arguably the biggest change here is the introduction of an online gaming curfew. Players under 18 won’t be able to game between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. On weekdays they can only play for 90 minutes, and they can play for 180 minutes on weekends and holidays. So hopefully no one else dies from marathon gaming sessions with no food or water.
Many of these time limit restrictions are what you might find in parental control software for mobile phone or console gaming. China is just taking it to the next level by making these restrictions blanket-wide, the kind of authoritarianism you would expect. Players even have to register their real name in a police database.
However, while we still want the freedom to game as long as we want and still stay healthy, there is one part of the “Notice on Preventing Minors from Indulging in Online Games” that I would like to see other governments adopt. The new rules also limit how much money young players can spend in online games. Players between the ages of 8 and 16 can only spend about $29 per month, and under 18 you can spend $57 per month.
The way free-to-play games target ignorant kids and trick them into wasting thousands of dollars is one of the most despicable things about them. Many of those games also come from the massive Chinese gaming market. So it’ll be interesting to what effect this regulation has, if any. Ban loot boxes next, please.
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