Dig deeper：China limits children's video game playing time

【明報專訊】China has been strictly enforcing a policy to combat video games addiction since August 2021, only allowing youngsters (under 18) to play video games for an hour in the evening on Fridays, weekends and public holidays.Facial recognition technologies are employed. Users of the suspicious accounts need to authenticate their identities.

Students in China enjoy a relatively long winter break, which usually lasts for around a month. While students had been expecting a less restrictive gaming schedule, tech giant Tencent announced in January 2022 that youngsters could only play for a maximum of 14 hours during the 1-month winter break.

◆Is this policy new?

The policy was implemented with immediate effect on 31 August, 2021. It is the most stringent gaming policy implemented in China so far, but it is not new to Chinese youngsters. A similar but less stringent policy was adopted in 2019.

◆What is the allowed gaming time for youngsters?

20:00 - 21:00 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays. During the winter break, 14 designated days were selected and youngsters are only allowed to play for 14 hours in total. Some gaming servers were down for maintenance since a large number of youngsters attempted to log in sharply at 20:00.

◆How much could youngsters spend on gaming?

Not more than RMB200 (around HK$240) per month for users aged 8-16. The limit is slightly loosened for users aged 16-18. They could spend up to RMB400 (around HK$480) per month.

■Gear up

1. The latest rule suggests that youngsters can play for less than 1.5 hours on weekdays.

(True/ False)

2. Youngsters can play up to 14 hours per day during the winter break.

(True/ False)

(Answers on next text)

■Glossary

addiction (n) 沉迷

authenticate (v) 證明

stringent (adj) 嚴苛的

attempt (v) 嘗試

(Criticisms on this publication, if any, are aimed at pointing out the errors or defects of certain systems or policies with a view of rectifying or eradicating such errors or defects, as well as prompting improvement or remedy for them via lawful means. There is absolutely no intention of inciting hatred, discontent or hostility towards the government or other classes of the community.)

[Smarties' Power English 第347期]