This is insane.
There should be no debate about this, discussing the pros and cons of games and the potential for addiction.
Well, this is China, at least this has the merit of clarifying their policies.
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
#362Earlier quoted context omitted.
The feelings you (I have the same feelings about his as you do) have about this are at an individual level. State mandating how much time someone should spend doing a particular activity is a totally different topic. Even though I agree with the overall intention of this rule/law I vehemently oppose a state imposing such restrictions.
On top of the fact no kid is every going to be legally liable for the breach and therefore no overly unfair oppression is applied on them, you say "someone", but kids have to be taught how to become someone. Look it's clear it's not their fault the parents are so busy and exhausted by the rat race they cant handle properly their only child they made under family pressure. The gov regulates the consequence of years of…
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Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#363This will destroy the Chinese games industry and this may have broader implications than just stocks in free fall. Video game programming is very cutting edge technology (eg. 3D graphics, animation, wayfinding, and more). China throwing this industry away will mean there are no home grown video game programmers which will have implications on their entire software engineering capability. This gives the rest of the wo…
Tencent et al already get a single digit percentage of their revenue from minor users on online games. It will not kill them. There is also a massively underdeveloped market for single player Chinese games that is only recently starting that will benefit massively from this decision.
true, but how likely is it that those will get the ax too?
Judging from past top down decisions like this, it seems more likely that companies or parents will over implement this and extend it to appease the higher ups. (Until they correct and clarify their initial statement... rinse and repeat)
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#364Seeing how people dying playing games like PUBG. I'd like my government also implement this. Though I don't know how could it be implemented. Must be at ISP level.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#365I am appalled by all the supportive comments in this thread. Why are HN users so comfortable with authoritarian government? It’s about more than just online games. It’s about control. I’m sure the great firewall is perfectly fine as well?
I feel like the last year of 'quarantine' for most of the Western world has made people more comfortable with authoritarian governments and actions. It's rather alarming how widespread and quickly this change in ideology has happened.
This is comparing apples and oranges, frankly.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#366I feel like this might unexpectedly have a good side for consumers.
The ban applies to the service, not the client. Could we have another Renaissance of local gaming again? More games allowing LAN-based play in response to minors not being able to regularly access a centralized server.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#367Earlier quoted context omitted.
mixed feelings because it's under 18, and therefore you dont feel that freedom of self is as important? Would you feel differently if this was for adults?
I think it's important to realize that children dont have the cognitive ability to resist certain things. Gambling skinner boxes are those things. I would be completely oky with my kid binging on the latest Mario or Mario Kart. I would love to see them playing an RPG. I dont want them playing Fortnite and other skinner box style games. They have teams designed to addict kids. This probably sounds silly but i would be…
Kids don't play EA games, however Fortnite, CoD warzone, Roblox ...
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#368Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's limited to the online game because the check is on server side rather than client (console/phone) side since it utilizes national ID data you provide when registering.
Do you have a source for that? From the article it sounds like the expectation is that all games should be implementing mechanisms to limit this. But that could just be poor reporting by Reuters ( not unsurprising for a breaking foreign government regulation change like this )
The ban is on providing video game services to minors outside some hours : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28357167
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#369This is barely credible as the pitch for an episode of Black Mirror.
Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week
#370I am appalled by all the supportive comments in this thread. Why are HN users so comfortable with authoritarian government? It’s about more than just online games. It’s about control. I’m sure the great firewall is perfectly fine as well?
Really? I can't name a democratic government that doesn't restrict/ban things they consider harmful to minors. If the CCP or Sweden or whomever else has come to the conclusion that the "excessive modern online gaming" is tantamount to gambling, it's a reflection on their values / evaluations (or even just the differing characteristics of popular games in their country), not the relative reach/control exhibited by their governmental system.
> It’s about more than just online games. It’s about control.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Politics and governance is about compromise and deciding where to draw lines, not slippery-slope absolutism about vague ideals and fervent dogmas that are all-too-easily impinged.
> I’m sure the great firewall is perfectly fine as well?
If you can't differentiate between "control of information and discourse across the entire population" and "control of how long (not even 'whether or not') minors can play online videogames" that's your problem.