Online gamers under the age of 18 will only be allowed to play for an hour on Fridays, weekends and holidays, China’s video game regulator has said.
The National Press and Publication Administration told state-run news agency Xinhua that game-playing would be only allowed between 8pm to 9pm.
It also instructed gaming companies to prevent children playing outside these times.
Earlier this month a state media outlet branded online games “spiritual opium”.
Inspections of online gaming companies will also increase, to check that the time limits are being enforced the regulator said.
Earlier rules had limited children’s online game-playing to 90 minutes per day, rising to three hours on holidays.
The move reflects a long running concern about the impact of excessive gaming on the young.
A month prior to the latest restrictions, an article published by the state-run Economic Information Daily claimed many teenagers had become addicted to online gaming and it was having a negative impact on them.
The article prompted significant falls in the value of shares in some of China’s biggest online gaming firms.
In July, Chinese gaming giant Tencent announced it was rolling out facial recognition to stop children playing between 22:00 and 08:00.
The move followed fears that children were using adult ID’s to circumvent rules.
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Children will just identify as being older than 18…
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LOL you think that woke bullshit works anywere but pussified westren countries?
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Good for them.
My kid would figure out a way to defect lol.
cant tell if serious
I think it’s pretty clear that excessive indulgence in the digital world is irreparably harming the modern generation. Things like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even innocuous games like WoW and a host of others are affecting how these people form and maintain relationships, diminishing their potential and productivity, and skewing their value systems. After a certain point you move beyond “Okay, you have the freedom to do what you want with your time” to “Your actions are collectively harming our society and twisting your psyche into something grotesque and if you won’t stop it, we’ll stop it for you.” So I applaud the Chinese for their willingness to confront an issue the West has been content to allow to just grow and rot in our midst. Sometimes, tough love is necessary.
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Interesting, what does the filthy C.H.U.D’s fucking with bat viruses regulator say though?
I heard they were cutting Biden’s allowance, too.
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I don’t 100% hate this.
But China’s not right.
I could see this happening here too.
I wonder how much screen time the CDC recommends? I wonder if they’ll add that stat to our vax passes.
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Yeah it’s weird that someone would be ok with a government taking freedom “for their own good” and stepping on parents’ toes in the process.
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I’d say the potential negative of social media is magnitudes larger than video games. Especially team building ones like WoW.
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Our service provider allows me to control WiFi connectivity. My son knows that he gets an allotted amount of time for gaming and if he were to try and go beyond that, I go China and sever the connection.
He’s outside a lot and I coach his baseball team so it’s not really an issue, but I would rather parent than rely on government to make those decisions.
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Then parents need to step the fuck up and get their kids off their machines.
you dont allow or expect the govt to crush freedoms just because you think kids spend too much time gaming. Thats preposterous
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Parents have to be fulfilling their parental duties in order for their toes to be stepped on.
I agree it’s the parents’ place to do it. But if they’re not willing…something has to be done about it. If you have two parties unwilling to address it, the parents and the children, then whom do you compel by force to correct things?
Because it can’t remain uncorrected. That’s not tenable.
The govt is just not equipped to do this and shouldn’t
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