To “avoid addiction,” Chinese state media stated loopholes allowing children to circumvent new restrictions limiting gaming time to three hours per week should be closed.
In August, China enacted new restrictions limiting the amount of time under the age of 18 can spend playing video games to three hours per week, claiming the measure was required to curb gaming addiction, but creating outcry among young Chinese gamers.
According to the commentary, certain game trade platforms have taken strong procedures to prevent minors from purchasing, selling, or renting accounts. Gaming companies must “actively fulfill social duties,” “be responsible for the next generation’s healthy growth,” and “support the industry’s healthy development.”
According to the opinion, families, and schools are also urged to establish a suitable environment “for the healthy growth of minors,” particularly parents, because some minors use their identities to register for a gaming account, rendering the gaming time limit ineffective.
Authorities in China, the world’s largest video game market, have been concerned for years about young people’s addiction to gaming and the internet, and have established facilities that combine rehabilitation and military drills for those with “gaming disorders.”
