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

reuters.com

261–270 of 1001 posts

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

#261

I'm sure I would think differently if I were a parent, but this kinda sucks from just the perspective of letting a kid be a kid. I fondly recall draining days and days and days into online multiplayer games, made some of my best friends who are still with me to this day across state lines, and came to my wedding, while eating all sorts of stereotypically bad gamer junk food. Other than spending too much time arguing…

Only online games. And kids could sign in using their parent’s account.

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

#262
This is really difficult for me to have an unbiased opinion on, but I think this is an OK decision (3 hours seems a bit too little >.>). I've pumped WAY too many hours into online games. I played fighting games, dota, starcraft, you name it, I played it and I played it before I was 18. I really think that it stunted my social growth (though not too much) because I got really hooked on the competitive aspect of those games. Those games still get their hooks in my once in a while (splitgate I'm looking at you). However, another reason I played so many games is because I lived in the middle of nowhere in florida and didn't have a car. There wasn't much I could do other than go to school, exercise, and play games. Everything was 30+ miles away by car. I think if China is going to do this, they have to provide other outlets for people to interact with each other. Games are a way of doing that for many because there simply isn't another option for them when they are young and don't have a car and don't live in a major city like new york or SF.

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

#263
post #110

Original notice from the government: https://web.archive.org/web/20210830120201/http://www.nppa.g... Google translation of the first entry: > Strictly limit the time for providing online game services to minors. Since the implementation of this notice, all online game companies can only provide minors with one-hour online game services from 20 to 21:00 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays. At other times, i…

Is the original article not a major journalistic misstep then? Nowhere does it clarify that this only applies to online gaming.

Yes, it's a very major mistake.

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

#264

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…

> Half the time I spent gaming was spent figuring out how to get the computer to do what I wanted which lead to a life long interest in technology. I remember the old days of "extended memory" which meant you needed slightly different configuration files for each game. That meant if you wanted to play a bunch of games, it made sense to learn how to write a bat script to config according to what you wanted to play. Yo…

My first computer was a 486 33mhz w/ about 250MB HD . I could only keep a couple games installed at a time, meaning i was always installing and uninstalling. Then I had to play with the autoexec.bat and cmd.com files . Then I broke it. Then i had to fix it cause my mom was still making payments on the computer (like it was a refrigerator with a 10yr lifespan) ... This is how I got into computing. Come to think if of it I owe her some "interest" on how much she invested in my career. :)

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

#265
post #31
post #5

I wonder why China feels so afraid of games.

Most of them are addicting time wasting shit. Especially mobile games, good God. Show me a mobile game that has a good story, little grind, works offline and sells for ~$60 with no in-game purchases. Phones are as capable as a PS3/PS4 these days, too.

GTA San Andreas is a mobile game now. Matches all criteria except it's cheaper :D

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

#266
post #235

I 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?

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

Actually though this is a fucking big brother atrocity of a policy that people will inevitably circumvent and the government will pick and choose when to enforce.

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

#267
post #32
post #2

I wonder how Blizzard is feeling about throwing in with the CCP right about now

They are probably too busy pretending to be activist and on the side of minorities in the western world, ie taking zero risks pretending to be virtuous. In the meantime the actual authoritarians who are persecuting religions and minorities are walking all over them and getting them to comply.

[dead]

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

#268
post #148

The rates of rule breaking and law breaking are much higher in China than they are in the West. One of my goals if I were in charge of the Chinese government would be to get that rate down by making what rules and laws I introduce easy to enforce (and easy to understand and to follow). In particular, if I were going to impose this kind of ban, I would've made it apply to everyone, not just under-18s. Well, actually,…

> a boy Seems odd that you’d only apply this to boys.

I'd apply it to girls, too.

I was assuming (but do not want to defend the claim) that most of the children wanting to play more than the allowed amount of time will be boys.

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

#269
post #184

Haven't we been through at least two generations of ubiquitous video games in the west? Is society noticeably different?

Are you kidding? Look at the US in 1980 vs. now. There has been a lot of societal change. I don't think it has much to do with video games, though.

Nationwide BBSes (Compuserv, AOL, etc.) and then the Internet have made or accelerated societal change. People can congregate and share information at a scale that wasn't feasible before, and in particular marginalized groups have found strength in numbers that just wasn't possible before.

I think the 24 hour television news cycle (and the advertising it takes to support it) has also had more of an impact than games.

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

#270

Here is the thing, those online games prey on inner mechanism of the human nature for profit, and kids are specially vulnerable, so to some extent, certain level of restriction would be desirable. Also note the general background of Chinese bureaucracy, especially at country level are almost all at Biden's age. Imagine their rage when their children abandon them for games and now it's their time to pay them back. Tha…

> Here is the thing, those online games prey on inner mechanism of the human nature for profit

You're painting with far too broad of a brush here.

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