Image source,Edwin tan
At the beginning of the new semester of China’s primary and secondary schools, the authorities gave a heavy blow to online games on Monday (August 30), stipulating that teenagers under the age of 18 can play games for a maximum of 3 hours a week, and only on weekends and holidays. .
The authorities said that this strict new regulation was introduced to solve the problem of minors’ addiction to online games. As the phenomenon of Chinese teenagers indulging in games has become more and more serious, some Chinese official media described online games as “spiritual opium” earlier this month.
This decision is also the latest move since Beijing recently launched crackdowns and rectifications against a series of industries. Previously, the authorities had strengthened controls on technology companies, education, real estate and entertainment industries. The response to this regulation in China was polarized. Some parents responded with applause. However, some people think that this is too strict and that it is the responsibility of parents to educate children, not the responsibility of the government or game companies alone.
Every three hours
According to the new regulations of the State Press and Publication Administration of China, for minors under the age of 18, all online game companies in China can only provide one-hour service on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and statutory holidays from 8 to 9 pm every day .
The ban applies to any device including mobile phones, tablets and computers. Currently, the vast majority of online games in China require players to register and log in with an identity verification name.
The authorities said it will strengthen inspections of online game companies to monitor whether the time limit is enforced.
“Young people are the future of the motherland,” Xinhua News Agency quoted an unnamed State Press and Publication Administration official as saying. “The protection of the physical and mental health of minors is related to the vital interests of the broad masses of the people, and it is related to cultivating new people in the era of national rejuvenation.”
Image source,Getty Images
The official called on parents, teachers, and students to study policies and regulations together, and encourage young people to participate in physical exercise, social practice, and “other games that are good for physical and mental health.”
Previously, according to 2019 regulations, China restricted the time that children under 18 can play video games to 1.5 hours a day, and the time on holidays was relaxed to 3 hours.
In July of this year, Chinese gaming giant Tencent announced that it would launch a facial recognition function to prevent children from playing games between 10 pm and 8 pm the next day.
One month before the latest restrictions were introduced, an article published by the official media “Economic Information Daily” compared online games to “new drugs” and “mental opium.” The author accuses many teenagers of indulging in online games, affecting their eyesight and academic performance, and “causing personality alienation.”
The article also directly named Tencent’s game “Honor of Kings”, referring to its “viral spread and unrepeatable player stickiness”. This caused the stock prices of many large online game companies to plummet.
Social reaction
The announcement of this regulation has reaped a polarizing response in China. Some parents of underage children responded with applause.
“It’s really great. Both my wife and I are busy with work, and we are late at home. The child is completely unattended at home, so he can’t control it if he doesn’t play games… I carry my mobile phone everywhere every day,” a Beijinger Said to the BBC.
The parent said that his child is about to enter the second year of high school. Although the high school curriculum is very intense, he is still addicted to games.
“Previously there were restrictions on anti-addiction, but it felt useless. Maybe he played this game for a while and that game for a while, so now it is best to stipulate a uniform time,” she added.
Image source,Reuters
“King of Glory” became the highest-paid mobile game in China.
But there is also strong opposition on social media. Some netizens believe that the government’s mandatory policy intervention in people’s lives is “unreasonable” and “arbitrary.”
“One size fits all is the performance of lazy politics. If everyone wants to become a saint, is it necessary to close the mahjong hall, chess room, and clubhouse? After all, it is not positive energy,” a netizen said.
“Why don’t you stipulate when I go to the toilet, eat and sleep?” Another netizen said sarcastically.
Ma Rui, a Chinese technology analyst and host of the podcast “Tech Buzz China”, told the BBC that in China, many parents believe that the responsibility of children playing games lies with the platform and the government, rather than taking too much responsibility on their own.
“The background of this regulation is that there have been restrictions on minors playing games before, but when the regulation was introduced, parents complained that this was not strict enough, so the regulator adjusted it again,” she said.
She also said that some people are worried that because the players in the international e-sports industry are often very young, the regulations may have an impact on the players in the Chinese e-sports industry.
The world’s largest online game market
China has the largest gaming market in the world. According to data from the analysis company Newzoo, in 2020, the revenue of the Chinese game market reached 44.263 billion U.S. dollars, followed by the United States at 42.107 billion U.S. dollars.
According to official media statistics, about 62.5% of minors in China often play online games, and 13.2% of minor mobile game users play games for more than two hours a day on weekdays.
From the perspective of the game market, Tencent games and Netease games account for almost half of the country. Many popular Chinese games, such as “Honor of Kings”, “Peace Elite”, and “Onmyoji” are developed or operated by these two companies.
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Tencent Shenzhen headquarters building.
The young people’s obsession with games worries officials. In 2018, the regulatory authorities restructured the approval process, freezing the approval of video game version numbers in mainland China for nine months. The release and cessation of new games on the shelves have cooled the fast-growing gaming industry in mainland China.
At the end of last year, the Central Propaganda Department launched an online game anti-addiction real-name authentication system to distinguish online game under-age users to prevent indulging in online games, and requires all game companies to complete access before May 31, 2021.
Major game companies that have sensed policy changes have implemented a number of measures including a “healthy game system” in recent years to ensure compliance with relevant laws, regulations and policies.
After the launch of the crackdown measures, Hong Kong stocks and online game stocks generally fell on Tuesday (August 31). Netease fell 4% at one time, Tencent fell 3%, China Mobile Games fell 8%, Dreamland and Feiyu Technology fell 9%.
However, according to Tencent’s latest financial disclosures, in the second quarter of 2021, players under the age of 16 accounted for only 2.6% of its total gaming revenue in China. Some observers believe that the policy has limited impact on many game companies.