'China restricts minors to playing just 3 hours of online video games a week starting September 1'

[Mr. Karate II]

China is restricting all citizens under the age of 18 from playing online video games Monday-Thursday, and will allow only for one hour of play on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays between 8 pm and 9 pm.

This new policy was announced on Monday by China’s National Press and Publication Administration and will roll out on September 1. The Chinese state media recently referred to gaming as 'spiritual opium', somewhat foreshadowing this move to restrict play time.

This will be enforced through the companies that provide online gaming services. Said companies will not be allowed to provide services to users unless they have created an account, (which reveals their age) and then must limit accounts belonging to children and teens under 18 to the aforementioned windows of time.

While this move is a crack down on gaming, it might not be as drastic a change as you'd think. In 2019, minors had restrictions of 1.5 hours any day of the week and 3 hours on holidays, and China had most gaming consoles outright banned from 2000-2015.

"Enforcement measures weren't detailed, but in response to previous moves by the government to limit video game playing by young people, Tencent Holdings... has used a combination of technologies, automatically booting off players after a certain period of time and using real-name registration and facial-recognition technology to limit game play for minors," explained the Wall Street Journal in its recent coverage of the matter.

These restrictions will apply not only to personal computers and gaming consoles, but also to smart phones. Given China's massive population, this will surely have an impact on the emerging global eSports market and culture.

China restricts minors to playing just 3 hours of online video games a week starting September 1 - eventhubs.com

 

[Heinz]

I wonder how many underground societies there are in China due to all these crazy rules.

 

[RAZO]

My parents restricted me when I was a kid as well, but that was my parents, not the goverment. Kind of glad they did though.

This doesn’t surprise me coming from China.

 

[theMot]

That’s actually a good move. 3 hours a week is a bit extreme but maybe 1 or 2 hours a day max. Kids spend way too much time on games these days. Most games are now these huge online sandbox collectathons, kids get addicted and lost on them for half a day or longer at a time.

 

[prof]

It's about time someone thought of the children.

 

[evil wasabi]

This will affect RPGs, but could mean good things for short games like arcade style.

 

[Lagduf]

This is nothing more than the beginning of the conditioning of the next generation of subjects to expect and submit to increased state control without question.

America is a very bad dream but China is an absolute nightmare.

 

[Late]

That’s actually a good move. 3 hours a week is a bit extreme but maybe 1 or 2 hours a day max. Kids spend way too much time on games these days. Most games are now these huge online sandbox collectathons, kids get addicted and lost on them for half a day or longer at a time.

Yeah, for example a friend of mine allows his sons to have one hour per day of playing on the computer, no smartphones either.

 

[StevenK]

I find these arbitrary time allowances parents set kind of weird. I have friends who are happy when their kids put down a controller and sit and watch a film for two hours instead, as though watching tv is the new 'reading a book'.

Provide your kids with something better to do and they'll do it - if you kick a football in the back yard your kids will throw the controllers on the ground and run out to play. If you can't be bothered to do anything fun for them don't just sit on the sofa and tell them they're not allowed to do the most fun thing they can find to do because of your vague video game bogeyman old man complex.

 

[theMot]

I find these arbitrary time allowances parents set kind of weird. I have friends who are happy when their kids put down a controller and sit and watch a film for two hours instead, as though watching tv is the new 'reading a book'.

Provide your kids with something better to do and they'll do it - if you kick a football in the back yard your kids will throw the controllers on the ground and run out to play. If you can't be bothered to do anything fun for them don't just sit on the sofa and tell them they're not allowed to do the most fun thing they can find to do because of your vague video game bogeyman old man complex.

We live on acreage. My kids have all manner of play equipment, Enough concrete around the property they don’t even need to ride their bikes on the street, Almost a half court basketball set up. They use it all but given the option they would rather be on devices. As soon as they go back inside it’s straight on the iPad to play games or the Switch. If we don’t pry them off it, they would sit on them for 8 hours. The addiction is real.

I’m not against the games. The way the world is going they need to be able to know how to use the devices but they way the games are designed these days is almost like fruit machine. They make them addictive to keep the kids coming back. Back in our day they weren’t designed like that. Arcade games kept you pumping in the coins but still they were meant for a quick 10-20 minute play. I don’t remember sitting down to have a 5 hour sesh on Mario World. An hour or so tops and I would go do something else.

 

[oliverclaude]

Provide your kids with something better to do and they'll do it - if you kick a football in the back yard your kids will throw the controllers on the ground and run out to play.

Sports are a fantastic way to provide non-electronic entertainment for kids, the other is education - both demand your time as a parent, that's the key to success. Like Steven posted above: do it first and your kids will follow. After all, it's your attention they're after, nothing more, nothing less. Regarding this "law", it'll only inspire kids to go against it and go further in the wrong direction. Such prosaic laws put on kids tend to do that.

 

[LoneSage]

Based.

I don’t remember sitting down to have a 5 hour sesh on Mario World. An hour or so tops and I would go do something else

LMBO literally everyone here probably made a face when they read this

 

[NGT]

I don't think i played for "hours" until PSO came out on Dreambox and I didn't have a bed time in the summer. My kids have played a lot since the pandemic started, but the only long sessions happen when they can't go outside because of fires and the air quality. Before Covid, they didn't care about videogames. Now, it's a way for my son and daughter to talk with their cousins and family/friends from out of state as well. I'll admit, my son probably plays too much, and my daughter just wants to watch cartoons. They'd both rather be at the park or be out playing, but during days like yesterday when they're outside for a long period of time, they come in with soar throats from the air.

We've been making paper rockets and going to the park. We built our own launcher a while back. We also have recently gotten into boogie boarding at a local beach. All of the outside fun depends on the direction the wind is blowing and which way the fires are burning.

I feel bad for my kids. This was a great place to grow up, but not anymore.

 

[heihachi]

First the ban on sissy men, and now these extreme limits on video games? Might as well just put out a blanket ban on fun or anything else that makes life enjoyable.

 

[LoneSage]

First the ban on sissy men, and now these extreme limits on video games? Might as well just put out a blanket ban on fun or anything else that makes life enjoyable.

Society here is like, why have fun when you can be productive and learn or make money? So parents are supportive of the ban. "A bird who has lived in a cage its whole life will think flying is a sickness."

 

[terry.330]

Based.

LMBO literally everyone here probably made a face when they read this

Nah, when I was a kid it was usually about an hour or two at a time unless it was a new game, especially if it was nice out or a friend was over. Lengthy gaming sessions were usually for when the weather was shit or in the evening/night. Sure there were times I played more but it wasn't everyday. Like wasabi said unless it was an rpg most games back then could be beat in an hour or less. I love Shinobi 3 but even as a kid I couldn't sit and play through it more than twice before getting bored.

I've watched my sisters kids grow up playing games way more than I did and it's all online and designed to be addictive. It's not healthy.

As for this law, I'm sure the Chinese people affected by it will find something else be distracted by until it eventually gets noticed by the government as they continue their unending incremental reductions in freedom, it's all part of the grooming.

 

[Late]

Nah, when I was a kid it was usually about an hour or two at a time unless it was a new game especially if it was nice out or a friend was over. Lengthy gaming sessions were usually for when it was weather was shit or in the evening/night. Sure there were times I played more but it wasn't everyday.

Same, only games I remember playing for longer times were rental ones.

 

[terry.330]

Lonesage was a very awkward child.

 

[LoneSage]

lmbo, was

 

[evil wasabi]

I haven’t met a kid who wasn’t

thank god.

 

[wyo]

If you ignore the Orwellian implications, this is fundamentally a good idea. Children are already restricted from a variety of dangerous and unhealthy activities: smoking, drinking, gambling, driving, etc. Online gaming is addictive and can quickly become a problem, even for adults.

 

[Late]

If you ignore the Orwellian implications, this is fundamentally a good idea.

Exactly, and in a few years they'll be adults and if they want they can play Dynasty Legions Kung Fu in a LAN café until they drop dead

 

[GohanX]

Based.

LMBO literally everyone here probably made a face when they read this

When I was a kid I once woke up in a Saturday morning, started playing Mario 3 completely though without using the warp whistles and only took breaks for food and the bathroom. I think it took like 10 hours.

 

[evil wasabi]

If you ignore the Orwellian implications, this is fundamentally a good idea. Children are already restricted from a variety of dangerous and unhealthy activities: smoking, drinking, gambling, driving, etc. Online gaming is addictive and can quickly become a problem, even for adults.

I agree, but ignoring the Orwellian implications, you should avoid even the patina of political discourse.

 

[Heinz]

Based.

LMBO literally everyone here probably made a face when they read this

I think it depends on the person, games have been addictive time obliterators for me since the first game I ever picked up.