Chinese Govt Calls Online Gaming ¡®Opium¡¯, Forming Strict Rules To Cut Addiction
The article highlighted a 2020 report that revealed that almost half of China¡¯s children population had become nearsighted, due to constantly playing games at night, affecting not just their vision, but also their education along the way.
Chinese state news media today called online gaming ¡®opium¡¯ likening it to a drug, resulting in shares of major gaming platforms Tencent and NetEase plunging considerably.
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Reported first by Reuters, the article called for restrictions from the industry in order to prevent addiction along with other harmful effects on children who game for hours every day.
The original article was published by Economic Information Daily, (which was later removed and republished after eliminating references to the aforementioned drug), a Chinese state-run publication affiliated with China¡¯s Xinhua newspaper. The report claimed that online gaming addiction was widespread and it could even negatively impact their growth.
The article highlighted a 2020 report that revealed that almost half of China¡¯s children population had become nearsighted, due to constantly playing games at night, affecting not just their vision, but also their education along the way.
This article didn¡¯t sit well with Chinese investors who had put their money in gaming giants like Tencent and NetEase, bringing their shares down by six percent and eight percent respectively. In case you didn¡¯t know, Tencent is the maker behind the popular smartphone online game ¡®Honor of Kings¡¯.
The report after being republished also highlighted that authorities, game developers and families had to work together to combat child addiction to online videogames, while also asking parents to be responsible for supervision.
China¡¯s disgust towards online gaming isn¡¯t newfound. Chinese regulators have since 2017 been looking to limit the amount of time kids spent on online gaming. In 2019, we saw China enforce gaming restrictions on players below 18 years of age post 10:00 PM.
Also Read: China Enforces Gaming Restriction On Players Below 18 Years Of Age, Will India Follow?
The guidelines also stated that the kids could only play games between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM. Moreover, the kids are also not permitted to play for more than 90 minutes on a weekday. On weekends, the kids are permitted to play for 180 minutes each day.
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Tencent has also announced that it would curb minors time on its popular game ¡®Honor of Kings¡¯ by introducing new measures. For starters, it would limit under 12-year olds from making any monetary purchase in the game. They have also promised to tighten time restrictions to 1.5 hours to 1 hour on non-holidays and from 3 hours to 2 hours on holidays.
Do you think online gaming needs to be strictly controlled to make it less addictive for everyone? Let us know in the comments section below, and keep following Indiatimes.com for the latest gaming and technology news from around the world.
