Sadly when I hear news like this my first reaction is wondering when it’s coming to the US :-(
Do you feel the same restrictions should be put in place for social media, TV, and non-educational books as well?
China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
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Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#22My understanding is that South Korea already does this to some extent with users having to be over 18 or having a Pro Gaming license to play after some hour.
The result has not been that the vast majority of SK gamers promptly log off at said hour. The result has been the majority of them connect to non SK servers immediately at said hour or use a friends account.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#23I have mixed feelings about this. Younger me learned a lot of problem solving skills and most importantly spent a lot of time learning how to read by playing RPGs and games that required lots of reading. My reading skills would not have been as advanced if i wasn't playing text heavy games that had a lot of plot like Square Enix games and the CRPGs of the time. Modern games though are clearly designed to get you as a…
I haven't played a good game in nearly a decade. I used to play them for the story, then it all became too grindy, trainers became moneymakers (yeah I used cheats, sue me, I played for fun), everything needs a fking Internet connection and anticheat software that does god knows what.
Kinda sad.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#24How are they realistically gonna enforce it?
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#25Like with Bitcoin regulation, good luck to the governments with enforcement.
All game companies operating in China, software and hardware, have to go through the CCP. They could definitely force companies to add software timers that automatically shut games down when a time limit is reached.
Sure but this is like DRM. You just create an arms war.
Underage users would find ways to appear to be 18 or older. Or use multiple accounts to continue playing. This is already common in many grind games. You have support accounts that feed the main account items.
Or just straight up hacking the timer system. Or playing games published outside if China.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#26Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#27From the perpsective of someone who doesn't know too much details, China's ability to nope its way out of the social excesses of liberal capitalism is somewhat amazing here. I'm guessing they took a look at Korea and Japan's well-known issues with young men isolating themselves enabled by the high availability of online gaming and said "nah". Both of those countries are also experiencing widening gaps in hetero gende…
it does look like a very small part of their attempt to solve the looming demographics crisis - to get men out of their caves and have them start families.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#28Anyone want to argue why this would be bad, apart from restricting freedom? BTW, nothing in the article about limits on TikTok or YouTube or whathaveyougot. That's as much opium as gaming, IMO.
The time I spent in virtual worlds as a child remains one of the most cherished experiences of my life. They brought me happiness at times when nothing else did. They stoked my imagination and gave me a sense of wonder. They were one of the few avenues I had for connecting with my peers. It wasn't some waste of time that I regret when I look back as an adult.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#29Like with Bitcoin regulation, good luck to the governments with enforcement.
Requiring state id to access any game is fairly easy to implement in a country like China. If you don’t provide one that’s over 18, you’re by default forced into restrictions.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#30Anyone want to argue why this would be bad, apart from restricting freedom? BTW, nothing in the article about limits on TikTok or YouTube or whathaveyougot. That's as much opium as gaming, IMO.
> apart from restricting freedom? Do you need any more than that? From the western point of view this is the apex reason. EDIT: To add - it is true in the west that minors don't enjoy all the same freedoms as adults. However for most things those decisions are made by the parents and not the state.
We restrict a lot of freedoms for the under-18 crowd though.
Purely in terms of freedom -- without arguing for any other pros and cons -- is this worse than mandatory school attendance, or not being able to vote, or take medical decisions for themselves, or whatever else kids cannot do these days.