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China Bans Kids From Gaming After 10pm, And Over 90 Minutes A Day

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
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As the rest of the world continues to debate the impact of video games on children, China has decided to go all-in on a solution of its own. A new law came into effect on Tuesday that places pretty hardcore limitations on the nation's youth. Anyone under the age of 18 is now restricted - by law - from gaming for longer than 90 minutes a day, or between the hours of 10pm and 8am.

The New York Times reports (via Kotaku) that the changes were announced earlier in the week by China's National Press and Publication Administration. These new restrictions are supposedly in aid of tackling issues like video game addiction, nearsightedness, and "poor academic performance across a broad swath of society".

"These problems affect the physical and mental health of minors, as well as their normal learning and living," the National Press and Publication Administration said in a statement.


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While the 10pm curfew is a seven days a week kind of deal, the good news is that kids will still be able to play for three hours a day on the weekends. I say good news. I don't really mean it. This whole thing sounds truly awful.

To make matters worse, it seems kids will have to register online gaming accounts using their actual names and ID. Presumably this is so the authorities can monitor players and enforce the law. It's unclear what the penalty for breaking curfew might be.

It would seem the government isn't just intent on restricting the time spent in front of screens, either. In addition to the curfews and time limits, a spending cap is also being introduced. This, apparently, is to limit the amount of money kids spend on DLC and microtransactions.

This new spending cap means that there's now a hard limit of between $28-$57 a month that minors are able to spend on in-game items. The limit is dependent on how old the user is. This comes as part of the government's efforts to "rein in" China's online gaming industry, according to the NYT. China's online gaming industry is reportedly one of the largest in the world, generating more than $33 billion in annual revenue.


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Various analysts say that the new regulations have been known about within the industry for a while. As a result, many developers and publishers have already prepared for the restrictions.

It remains to be seen if the restrictions will have a positive effect on the youth of China, or whether they'll simply find various loopholes to continue gaming long into the night. Life uh, finds a way, after all.


 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Interesting to say the least. I guess the revenue for a lot of companies will drop....

Most of the revenue comes from everywhere else, however, this could impact the addictive loot box/skin whatever MTX curve to be more aggressive since you only have some peak times of play.

Or, people will be more willing to P2W than they are now, since they have less time to grind.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
In principle I can't say that I disagree with limiting kids to 90 minutes on weekdays and three hours on weekends. That is totally reasonable.

In execution, its totally unnecessary attempt at regulation. If you raise a lazy kid then life will handle them accordingly. Having a kid submit their real name and information into a game is stupid and easily bypassed. Plus, you know, you can play offline games.

Interesting to say the least. I guess the revenue for a lot of companies will drop....

It points out that companies already saw these regulations coming and that the law includes caps on in-game spending.
 

Tesseract

Banned
In principle I can't say that I disagree with limiting kids to 90 minutes on weekdays and three hours on weekends. That is totally reasonable.

In execution, its totally unnecessary attempt at regulation. If you raise a lazy kid then life will handle them accordingly. Having a kid submit their real name and information into a game is stupid and easily bypassed. Plus, you know, you can play offline games.



It points out that companies already saw these regulations coming and that the law includes caps on in-game spending.

feel free to limit your own children, if you have them

the state can fuck itself until it crumbles
 
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Nero_PR

Banned
In principle I can't say that I disagree with limiting kids to 90 minutes on weekdays and three hours on weekends. That is totally reasonable.

In execution, its totally unnecessary attempt at regulation. If you raise a lazy kid then life will handle them accordingly. Having a kid submit their real name and information into a game is stupid and easily bypassed. Plus, you know, you can play offline games.



It points out that companies already saw these regulations coming and that the law includes caps on in-game spending.
That is great
 

Discusguy

Member
In principle I can't say that I disagree with limiting kids to 90 minutes on weekdays and three hours on weekends. That is totally reasonable.

In execution, its totally unnecessary attempt at regulation. If you raise a lazy kid then life will handle them accordingly. Having a kid submit their real name and information into a game is stupid and easily bypassed. Plus, you know, you can play offline games.



It points out that companies already saw these regulations coming and that the law includes caps on in-game spending.

Imagine a billion SJWs wanting UBI for being lazy.
 

iconmaster

Banned
China also recently mandated that all online classes should end by 9pm. Which is less odious to the kids, I'm sure; but it just shows how much power that government has.
 

Fbh

Member
I don't agree with the government getting involved but... no more than 2 hours during the week and 3 during weekend days? Sounds more lax than my parents when I was a kid lol
 

RealGassy

Banned
In execution, its totally unnecessary attempt at regulation. If you raise a lazy kid then life will handle them accordingly
So kids should be punished for bad parenting?

I don't see an issue with this regulation since this applies only to underage kids.
I see so many young kids these days suffer from nearsightedness, it's especially damaging to shove smartphones and handheld devices very close to the face, but alas.

It's kind of refreshing when a country is in a position where it can take strong stance regarding various issues.
 
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Shifty

Member
Fortnite's chinese userbase to collapse overnight. Film at 11 on mixer.com/whatever-ninja's-url-is
 
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Reactions: Isa

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Aside from the authoritarian nightmare this is a symptom of, instances like this show that China is not the limitless profit-stream that companies like ActiBlizzard are counting on.

Sure, kowtow to them to be allowed to sell your product in the country, but when the government limits the time your consumer base can spend on your products (and therefore their attention and their money), how profitable is that really? When that same government can shut you completely out of their market and remove your products from sale at the flip of a switch, how profitable is that really?
 
China just shot themselves in the foot.
I don't know how much the rest of you know about Chinese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an e-sports player. If you screw the Government over in China, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is Re-Education.
What this means is the Chinese public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Games for their PCs, nor will they purchase any of the World's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but China has alienated an entire Global market with this move. With Tencent reaping the rewards.

Xinneh, publicly apologize and cancel this law for your country or you can kiss your people goodbye via emigration.
 
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Kagey K

Banned
Seems like a bit of an over reach to me. I don’t know what I would do if I lived in a country where the government tries to dictate what I do in my house.
 
A low-key win for everyone who hates the companies who are selling out their artistic integrity trying to get into the microtransaction empire that is China.

It'd be a bigger win if they ban everyone regardless of age to just 90 minutes a day.

They might have to play at 10.30pm til 1.30am to even get a decent amount of gaming time....every two days.
 

Keihart

Member
Most of the revenue comes from everywhere else, however, this could impact the addictive loot box/skin whatever MTX curve to be more aggressive since you only have some peak times of play.

Or, people will be more willing to P2W than they are now, since they have less time to grind.
From what i understand , short burts of playtime are more addictive than long marathons, so effectively cutting your time to 90 minutes daily and that being barely enough to complete one session of a game for example, might be an advantage for games trying to exploit pay to play and lootbox mechanics.
 

RealGassy

Banned
Government can provide general protections for society (like you can't put lead in kids toys) but it cannot substitute for your parents.
I'd qualify these restrictions on videogames for kids in the category of "general protections for society" then.
 
Woah....time to see if gaming addiction is real and whether or not people will stand in the face of certain doom to "get their fix", so to speak.

Really though, I hope they have some sort of programs set up for those with super addictive personality types who will really have a hard time with these restrictions at first. It's like if they made Coca-Cola illegal overnight. Some sad sacks would not be able to kick that habit and DEFINITELY end up breaking the law.
 

ROMhack

Member
Having seen it first hand, Chinese people have an extremely strange relationship with digital media. In my master's classes all of them were on their phones for the whole hour.

I know westerners tend to be addicted to social media and the like but China knocks them out of the park based on my experience.

So yeah, maybe a good thing.
 
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IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

MaestroMike

Gold Member
Even when school is not in session like the summer??? Thats when I did my most gaming back in the days. Stimulated me.
 
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