China has introduced a restriction on minors that prevents them from playing video games at night and limits the hours they can dedicate each day to this leisure option. China has introduced strong new regulations in the video game market, limiting gaming hours to underage players. The restriction prevents playing between 10 PM and 8 AM the next day, and limits game time to 90 minutes a day, Monday through Friday, and 180 minutes on weekends.
The objective of this measure is to combat the addiction of many Chinese to video games and try to improve academic performance. To implement it, they will also force players to use their real name and identification data in order to start playing, thus preventing the controls from being skipped.
It is not, in any case, the first time that the Chinese government has set its sights on the world of video games. During the last two years, there have been common measures that have tried to control an increasingly important market within its borders and that millions of players are passionate about. Fortunately, in our country, there is no government control, but excessive play by a child can negatively affect his health. You can safely buy a phone or tab for your child at the Shoppok, but do not forget about the safety of your children.
Already more than a year ago, China launched a campaign against video games in an attempt to reduce high levels of myopia. In addition, it also paralyzed the launch of many games by not giving, for a time, the approval required to be able to market them within its borders.
Technology Companies Stepping In
The Chinese giant Tencent has announced the use of facial recognition technology to apply restrictions to video games for minors, taking advantage of the mobile camera to check if they are adults and can play late at night.
The measure, designed to control video game addiction, has actually been in place since 2019. It was then that the Chinese government introduced rules that imposed limits on the amount of money that minors could spend on video games, especially children. free for mobile (known as F2P, free-to-play).
These titles usually have microtransactions, which allow you to get advantages in exchange for small payments; however, most programmers encourage these payouts, designing the games to favour players who spend money. Controversy over these tactics reached a fever pitch a couple of years ago, and the Chinese government’s reaction was swift.
In addition to payment restrictions, the new rules limit the amount of time that those under 18 can play to 90 minutes a day, in addition to prohibiting gambling between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. However, soon after, young people had already found methods to overcome these limits, including the use of their parents’ identity cards as explained on the BBC.
Tencent has also announced the creation of a “midnight patrol”, an automated system that will identify minors who try to play at night and will ban them from the platform. In China, the vast majority of gamers play on mobile, and Tencent has taken advantage of that to use the front camera; When the game starts within the limited hours, the camera captures the player’s face. The algorithms will look up the face in a government database, used for the social security system.
Months later it was announced that, given that many of the restrictions are more focused on minors, Tencent would begin to include facial recognition in their games to prevent minors from playing, since they themselves limited the playing time: one hour for those under twelve and two between twelve and eighteen.
The Chinese government’s clash with video games has had Tencent in the middle of it many times. In mid-2019, the company was surprised by announcing the closure of PUBG Mobile in China to replace it with a version that could more easily go through censorship and thus enable its monetization.
Before that, it was rumoured that China would be pursuing banning a multitude of games that did not conform to its code of ethics and among which included, among others, the main battle royales and, more broadly, many of the most popular multiplayer titles of the moment. . However, nothing has been heard about it again.
China Facing the Threat of Video Games
The new regulation of the video game market in China has revealed the power that the world’s largest market can have in redefining video game content and the interest in China to control what is played and what is said in that virtual space. Video games have become a threat to the Chinese government.
Video games have been a revolution in the market for new technologies: not only have they become a sector whose economic growth is difficult to predict, but they also cover more and more space in the entertainment of our societies. There are many countries that have seen how a form of entertainment that was not very established has grown enormously in recent years. The best example is China, which has become the heavyweight in the industry. The Asian country is not only the largest market in economic terms – around a third of total world income – but also in terms of population: there are currently almost 620 million active players in China.
However, in March 2018 the Chinese government stunned everyone when it froze the premiere of new video games nationwide. Why was the world’s largest market hindering this sector? Beijing needed to reorganize the regulation on what was published and what content it was going to have. Video games yes, but not without adapting to the standards set by the Chinese Government.
Adults Expelled by Mistake
Tencent has confessed that the system can expel adults by mistake, but affirms that in that case, those affected only have to request a new scan of the face; however, users who refuse will be completely banned from the Tencent platform, regardless of their actual age.
Not all users will be identified in this way, at least not initially; Tencent explains that only accounts that use real names and have played for a certain period of time at night will be checked.
Tencent is the owner of countless development studios, and has published some of the most popular video games of recent times, at least in China; Its influence is reaching the West, with the purchase of the Americans Riot Games (creators of League of Legends) and the Finns Supercell (creators of Clash of Clans). It even owns 40% of Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite who are in the middle of a legal battle against Apple over App Store rules.
