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China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

reuters.com

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Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#731

Post by [deleted] »

imtringued wrote: post #593
andrepew wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that playing a game might not improve a class of skills in general like coordination or problem solving, but I don’t think it requires much study to determine improvement of skills directly used. For example, to improve your reading skills you need to practice reading. If a game is providing reading material and motivation to read, it will improve reading skills. Games can also drive motivation in other areas…

Video games gave me the motivation to learn English, about machining, CAD, PCB design, economics and programming. Anyone who is against leisure is falling into the existential trap of capitalism. What is the meaning of doing productive work inside a video game? Since productive work is now leisure you actually run into the existential problem all the time. The video game runs into deflation all the time. People are h…

[deleted]

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#732

Post by seppobi69 »

Speaking only for myself, but... I have been playing +12h per day semi casually, taking non-scheduled brakes for weeks when it gets boring. For me it is more an escape than addiction. I do it because everything else sucks, not because I got symptoms if I don't play. I have real addictions and gaming is not one of them.

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#733

Post by Aeolun »

namelessoracle wrote: post #7

I 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…

Hmm, my problem with Dark Souls like games is mostly that it becomes easy when you understand the mechanics, but immediately also starts to be annoying because now your biggest enemy is timing issues and enemies just materializing behind you.

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#734

Post by pizza234 »

gallamine wrote: post #590
true_religion wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but I’m not really comfortable with this level of government interference with peoples lives. No one ever stopped me from playing soccer for 5 hours a day when I was younger, and in high school sports practice was a 3 hour minimum. This restricts game play to 3 hours per week. That means essentially you can’t play video games for leisure … while at the same time you are forced to do a minimum of 40 hours a week…

We restrict our kids to 30 min /day of screens. Try telling them it's not worth it. They are absolutely rabid about it.

There's screens and screens, they can't be really lumped them into a single content.

I place TV at the absolute worst of the spectrum, so I don't have one. In addition to the tendentially trashy content, it is also typically used as babysitter, which contributes to the factor.

But there are also lots of interesting stuff to do with a screen; most importantly, they can be done together.

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#735

Post by holoduke »

andrepew wrote: post #113
lhorie wrote: post #91

People talking about the benefits of games reminds me of people talking about the benefits of, say, a glass of wine with every meal: it's worth looking into but at the same time it's the sort of thing that obviously doesn't scale linearly with the amount/intensity of consumption. I similarly have mixed feelings as well, but for slightly different reasons. I've read about studies that say that musical training (which…

I agree that playing a game might not improve a class of skills in general like coordination or problem solving, but I don’t think it requires much study to determine improvement of skills directly used. For example, to improve your reading skills you need to practice reading. If a game is providing reading material and motivation to read, it will improve reading skills. Games can also drive motivation in other areas…

Exactly. I want to let my kid experience something similar. So I gave him (6 years old) my desktop pc. He is now playing around with windows settings. Of course looking for games on Steam. But he at least doesnt touch his Nintendo switch anymore.

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#736

Post by Aeolun »

darknavi wrote: post #37
bserge wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There are still plenty of non-garbage games if you wade out further than AAA. My friend group played Valheim a few months ago and it was spectacular (for the weekend anyways). It's a great game to lose your self in the environments and doesn't have any IAP rubbish.

I really don’t understand what people see in this game. It’s not bad, sure, but it’s almost a walking simulator.

Getting resources feels pretty grindy, and the abilities and leveling system feel lackluster to me.

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#737

Post by barnesto »

namelessoracle wrote: post #7

I 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…

All good points, but the main issue here is the government, in this case the CCP, dictating game play. It's the parent's responsibility to dictate when and how their children play games not the government.

If the government wants to go after game developers because their games are addictive that's one thing. Dictating to the players is a level of control free citizens should never experience. Although, in this case, citizens of China are hardly free in the first place.

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#738

Post by alentist »

gnull wrote: post #725
joshschreuder wrote: post #692

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t agree that the restrictions are objectively similar. Cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling all have very well researched and understood physical and psychological problems over decades. I’m not aware of any such research done into the effects of playing video games more than three hours per week (though would be interested to read it), so there’s a good chance that this is more than “government looking after the…

If there is no extensive research on gaming, it doesn't mean gaming should not be limited. Since we don't know how harmful gaming is, keeping it widely available might be as dangerous as limiting it. Keeping games available is as much of a decision as limiting them. Why do you think picking the former option requires extensive research and the latter doesn't?

Because one is forcing people to do something while the other is letting people choose for themselves.

Re: China has forbidden under-18s from playing games for more than three hours/week

#739

Post by bfors »

fullstop wrote: post #496
cvdub wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no denying that Dark Souls is hard. It's also fair. It's 100% your fault every time you die, and you know what you did wrong.

I wouldn't say 100% your fault. I'm going to blame the camera for a few of my deaths!

For the centipede demon fight the camera IS the boss
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