China: Online game time for children and adolescents clearly limited

The gaming industry is one of the winners of the Covid 19 pandemic. Over the past one and a half years, the average season in Germany doubled from five to ten hours a week. Children and adolescents are supposed to have spent 75 percent ** more time with games.

An intensive use of video games is rarely problematic for itself alone, as further risk factors have to be added to the development of an addiction. Nevertheless, China has decided to restrict the use of video games for children and adolescents per se.

Only 3 hours a week

In the People's Republic, children and adolescents are allowed to access online games until the age of 18 years old at the age of 18 - on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 20 to 21 o'clock. On public holidays, online sessions are allowed under the above conditions. Offline games apparently remain outward due to the more difficult tracking.

As a reason for the fairly narrow restrictions, the authorities give the fight against gambling addiction. Games are designated by official site as intellectual opium and electronic drugs.

The review of the usage time of online games is relatively simple in China, as players have to sign up with their personal documents. Tencent also relies on facial recognition technology to prevent the circumvention of restrictions - for example about the accounts of parents -.

Not only rejection

Apparently, the restrictions in China are not fundamentally rejected. As the dayview reports, the new scheme is one of the most discussed topics in the People's Republic. It gives both the approval of many parents as well as criticism of the too hard implementation.

Tencent and other companies of the video game industry active in China are more likely to belong to the critics. After the announcement of the new guidelines, the share prices of the companies were noticeable, which in the case of Tencent but was only a temporary effect.

What do you think of the new youth protection regulations in China? Would you wish you comparable regulations for Germany or should the use restriction continue in the hands of the parents?

Further news about China.

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