China imposes curfew on video games

November 08, 2019

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It will become more and more difficult for young people to play video games in China. The government has just imposed a lot of restrictions in the field, videogame curfew to the limitation of playing time, including.

China definitely has complicated relationships with video games. In addition to imposing strict control over the titles allowed to go out in the country, the government of Beijing now wants to implement a video curfew for young people under 18 years. Between 10 pm and 8 am, they will not have the right to put their hands on a joystick or even to throw candy Crush on smartphone.

The idea behind this limitation is to limit early addiction to video games that could cause sleep, attention or myopia problems. The project, which has been simmering since early September, has been pushed by the State Administration of Press and Publications (SAPP), the body in charge of content regulation in the country.

In addition to establishing this curfew, the rules imposed by Beijing will also prevent the under 18 years of play more than 90 minutes per day, or 3 hours maximum during holidays. Players will also have to disclose their true identity so that the system can determine their age and the rules that apply. To top it off, a limit will also be imposed on the amounts that minors can invest in online games. Not more than ¥ 200 / month for children under 16 and not more than ¥ 400 for 16-18 year olds. That equates to 25 € and 50 € approximately.

Pernicious rules

In fact, these rules will practically make the practice of video games impossible for children under 18, since the curfew schedule corresponds to the few moments of relaxation enjoyed by the young population. These rules, which some PC game publishers had already imposed, now extend to mobile gaming, a fast-growing sector in the country.

All publishers will need to implement these age verification systems, otherwise they may lose the right to sell their titles in the country. This is enough to cool any revolutionary hint as China is today the second largest video game market in the world, just behind the United States. Hard to be a rebel in a market that yields more than $ 36 billion annually.

According to a spokesperson for the SAPP, these rules "Protect the physical and mental health of minors and build a healthy Internet". A regulated Internet where privacy is only a vague memory incidentally. The economic impact of these limitations should be minimal since, as explained the South China Morning Post, minors do not even account for 20% of the activity on online games. No limit or identity verification mechanism has been established for adults.

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