China has been in the spotlight for a few weeks now as the country has been trying to tackle gaming addiction in children. After months of research, the National Press and Publication Administration have found that Chinese children are spending way too much time playing video games both online and offline. This excessive gaming has now led to a new mandate in the country that enforces game time limitations across the youth. The Chinese government has started rolling out new procedures to tackle excessive gaming including limiting screen time and facial recognition to prevent kids from getting away with more time.

At the moment, China is implementing a new “1-hour gaming” mandate and will see kids blocked from playing online games. The National Press and Publication Administration say kids will only be allowed to play video games between 8 pm and 9 pm on Fridays, weekends and holidays. This has now decreased from the previous restrictions of 90 minutes per day.

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Gaming in China has now been labelled as “spiritual opium” and the move to ban kids from enjoying video games will have a long-term effect on not only the country but the companies that make them. Chinese gaming giant Tencent says they are now implementing facial recognition to stop kids from playing games between 22:00 and 08:00.

Up to now, gaming companies in China have required kids to register with their ID in order to create online accounts. The company fears that kids were using adult ID’s to get past the previous restrictions. Gaming companies are also banned from offering gaming services to players outside of these new limited hours.

“Gaming addiction has affected studies and normal life… and many parents have become miserable,”

Authorities in China have been trying to tackle this “spiritual opium” issue for a while now. The government hopes to create positive energy among the youth. While some adults applaud these new measures, others find them unreasonable.

Gaming in China is huge, especially in the youth. This new law is definitely going to affect the industry that is booming in the region.

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Source: AFP