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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

#211

Post by dharmab »

tejohnso wrote: post #145

With school out for summer, my preschooler is either playing a video game or watching youtube for hours on end. We try to force some time away from screens but it is a never ending struggle, as screen use is the immediate, default state to return to. I find most of the youtube content worse than the gaming, but neither are all that great.

All of my similarly aged parents- most of whom are huge gamers and nerds- have instituted some effective policies:

- Strictly limited screen time, replaced with time spent reading, playing with physical toys like LEGO and playing outside actively. Devices are physically removed from the kid's environment when screen time is over.

- Kids do not get full access to the entire content library. Approved videos and games only. Most have entirely removed the YouTube app from the kid devices in favor of Disney Plus and education-focused apps. Some have kids playing more retro games rather than current games.

The kids will complain and throw tantrums, but they're toddlers, they do that anyway. And eventually they come around. Especially if their friends (children and aunties/uncles) participate with them as well.

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

#212

Post by namelessoracle »

jimbilly22 wrote: post #101
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…

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 ok with a kid being "addicted" to something because its fun and enjoyable. But being addicted because a team of scientists designed it be maximally dopamine inducing doesnt seem ok to me. Maybe there is no difference at the end of the day.

But it feels like the kind of games that Nintendo puts out and the kind of games that EA puts out are VERY different.

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

#213

Post by dirtyid »

mrlonglong wrote: post #147

Wouldn't those kids grow up resenting the CCP? If the CCP keeps doing this long enough, they're going to have millions of sullen people and then all it takes is just one spark.

"When I was young we didn't have..."

That's basically the story of 90% of parents in China pre 90s. This is more a continuation than disruption. These kids will play games when they turn into adults and enforce same limitations on their children. Keep in mind curbing video game addiction is something Chinese parents WANT, this is CCP listening to their base. Children don't vote in the west either, their interest are lobbied by adults.

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

#214

Post by moogly »

pessimizer wrote: post #84
moogly wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deathknell for esports.

Maybe the opposite. China isn't banning kids from watching people play video games. Substitute drug.

Uh, I'm talking about competing, not just spectating.

Like how, currently, a Chinese team (PSG.LGD) is the favourite to win The International in Dota2 in a month's time (prize pool: 40 million dollars).

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

#215

Post by falcolas »

sudosysgen wrote: post #198
falcolas wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tencent is implementing facial recognition on phones to enforce this. I don't believe we can realistically claim it's server-side only. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/business/video-game-facia...

The facial recognition is in order to make sure the user of the game corresponds to the ID they logged in with. It still only applies to online videogames.

Mobile games, actually. No specific word of whether they have to be online games (whose definition is pretty vague these days - singleplayer games like Diablo III require a login and internet connection to play singleplayer).

> The new functions will initially be used on around 60 mobile games, including the massively popular "Honor of Kings" multiplayer battle game, which boasts over 100 million daily users.

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

#216

Post by overgard »

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…

I'm sure there are a lot of culture differences, but as a westerner I have no mixed feelings on this -- I think it's just insane. This is what parents are supposed to be in charge of doing.

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

#217

Post by meristohm »

kiba wrote: post #127
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…

Lot of things improve reading skills, like reading novels. Arguably, writing video games and novels would seem to be more useful way to improve skills. That's how I got started in programming at all. However, video games just doesn't seem life changing at all compared to all the things you could do.

I agree. Games feel like chose-your-own-adventure books, which were novelties and not nearly as engaging as a well-written book to read and visualize and anticipate.

A great way to help a child read throughout their life is to read to them every day, enjoy stories together and apart, and not to push too hard in any direction (they may enjoy different things, no problem). Asking open-ended questions helps, too, with time to consider and respond.

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

#218

Post by kcb »

pessimizer wrote: post #84
moogly wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deathknell for esports.

Maybe the opposite. China isn't banning kids from watching people play video games. Substitute drug.

Where will the esport players come from?

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

#219

Post by NationalPark »

blackbear_ wrote: post #150
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…

> ... it's the sort of thing that obviously doesn't scale linearly with the amount/intensity of consumption. Is there anything that actually scales linearly? I thought the law of diminishing rewards applied to pretty much anything you do.

Sure, nobody is worried that if you eat healthy food every day or sleep 8 hours every night, it may eventually turn into life-impairing addiction.
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