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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

#721

Post by bradleybuda »

maccolgan wrote: post #670
Ajedi32 wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, in my opinion. If a law like this were passed in the United States I'd be vocally campaigning to get the law repealed and the people who voted for it replaced in the next election. Sadly, the Chinese people don't have that option, which only makes the situation that much worse.

I'm placing my bet on the fact that vast majority of Chinese people probably support this, and that's fair.

If only there were some political system by which we could find out if this were true.

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

#722

Post by BEEdwards »

I don't know much about youth culture in China, maybe all their teens are well behaved and obedient...

But my working experience is largely with "transition" students in America and can tell you that rules like this are like commanding the tide not to go out. At best you teach them that your rules are arbitrary and give them a framework for subverting them, they may just reject your authority outright and then you've got nothing...

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

#723

Post by jpgvm »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #604
rank0 wrote: 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?

I'm not in favour of governments doing this. But I have to admit I will relish the opportunity to tell my (11 year old) son about this around the dinner table tonight (after he spent the whole day hiding inside playing Terraria and Minecraft) And I wish as a parent I had the actual ability to enforce such a limit myself (maybe not so drastic). But the battle would be intense, futile, and conflict ridden. It's been tr…

China has as pretty scary high success rate with policies often deemed "doomed to fail" by the outside world.

I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it's highly successful at cutting down on game addiction (which is a problem you easily carry into adulthood).

Worth mentioning they aren't banning children playing games outside these hours. They are only restricting access to online games. Namely multiplayer games like Honor of Kings. If a parent is happy for their child to play other games that don't require online services they are free to do that.

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

#724

Post by majani »

theintern wrote: post #675
AustinDev wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife and I were actually considering moving there. We even started some of the paperwork but after seeing the absurdity of their covid measures We have decided against it for now.

What about their covid measures put you off? When for so much of the pandemic they were seen as absolute world leaders and were living as normal when the rest of us were in lockdowns?

That's an opinion from your filter bubble. Try get some info from conservative and libertarian sources. The results may shock you.

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

#725

Post by gnull »

joshschreuder wrote: post #692
lhorie wrote: post #687

China thinks that video games (specifically, the online variety) are harmful enough to children that it needs to be regulated at a federal level and children's exposure to games should be restricted. But here's the thing: We on the west do exactly the same thing for things like cigarettes, alcohol and gambling. The motivations behind all those restrictions are even similar (largely related to children's health/well-b…

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?

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

#726

Post by ctvo »

toxik wrote: post #703
perlgeek wrote: post #683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just limiting to three hours a week, but to three particular hours a week. Feels even more Draconian to me.

Imagine the thundering herd problems you experience when all of your users have the same three hour time slots.

The thundering herd problem in distributed systems is an often unexpected failure mode. This is great, and easy to plan for. You'd save buckets of money because most capacity is used for spikes, and you now have a good idea of when spikes occur.

Every Monday, an hour after school, scale up 5x, because the timer has reset for students. Scale down from Wednesday to Friday. Scale up 2x over the weekends.

Or whatever your data tells you.

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

#727

Post by nearbuy »

hjek wrote: post #409
sushid wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a such a classic HN comment: 1. Law does x 2. HN commenter: what about x+y? what about x-1? The answer to your decentralized chess is that no one would care if it broke the rules or not unless millions of people were hopelessly addicted to it and it warranted a second look. Your average Zoomer is not interested in decentralized chess or any other gaming service that requires only an intermittent internet conn…

> This is a such a classic HN comment: Thanks! > The answer to your decentralized chess is that no one would care if it broke the rules or not unless millions of people were hopelessly addicted to it and it warranted a second look. Ok, so you'd have a online gaming vacuum for all . Don't you think someone would make a game or two run over IRC (or SMTP some other protocol) if it meant capturing that entire market? The…

I'm pretty sure if this policy got kids to play chess or Go over IRC, instead of games like League of Legends, the government would call it a big success and pat themselves on the back.

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

#728

Post by joebob42 »

jpambrun wrote: post #334
rank0 wrote: 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?

Alcohol pretty much universally prohibited for minors and nobody calls that authoritarian. Governments have responsibility for the wellbeing of citizen, even against themselves (mandatory seatbelts comes to mind). Meanwhile, gaming addiction can also be very destructive.

I'm very far against alcohol being restricted for consumption by minors. I think it's completely ridiculous and almost completely counterproductive.

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

#729

Post by majani »

BEEdwards wrote: post #722

I don't know much about youth culture in China, maybe all their teens are well behaved and obedient... But my working experience is largely with "transition" students in America and can tell you that rules like this are like commanding the tide not to go out. At best you teach them that your rules are arbitrary and give them a framework for subverting them, they may just reject your authority outright and then you've…

Exactly. The problem with all these highly publicized, flimsy regulations is that when you eventually fail to enforce them, the extent of your authority comes into question. Better to have few laws that are strictly enforced.

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

#730

Post by holoduke »

I believe we in the west fail in creating a healthy and friendly society. I mean today I saw a TV commercial about a state funded lottery. In this commercial a well known rich person sits in his small boat. Then suddenly a big yacht appears with a not so rich looking guy on it. Smiling and overlooking the small boat. Obviously a person who won the lottery. The message: bigger and richer is better. Promoting this kind of mentality is not good for a respectful society. I am not a pro China person. Not at all. I am all for a free world in which people can take their own responsibility. But is that possible when the government is showing bad education? I don't think so.
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