China Restricts Video Game Playtime For Minors
China has started regulating the amount of time minors play video games during the week. Originally the law restricted 90 minutes of playtime each weekday and three hours on weekends and holidays. Now the law restricts three hours only on weekends and holidays. The law came into effect on September 1 2022. According to BBC News, the reasoning for the rule change is due to China wanting their children to focus more on education and “correct values” instead of on video games.
The law also affects how game companies operate as they now have to monitor the activity children spend on their games and prevent them from playing over the set time limit. Though the country allows three hours on weekends, some game companies have restricted even less playtime for children. Tencent, a Chinese tech giant in the gaming industry, has limited kids to two hours on holidays and one hour on weekends.
Though the government believes these changes in the law to be good, the public does not feel the same way. Many Sina Weibo (a popular Chinese social media platform) users have expressed their anger about the subject posting thoughts like, “This policy presumes that gaming is bad,” and “Are the ages of 7 and 17 the same?” The large gaming culture built up in China believes that the restrictions put in place will ultimately lead to the downfall of video games in the country. Gamers believe that the limited playtime now, will lead to a lack of audience later because of how much limited immersal the new generations will be in the virtual world.
