Tencent in China will impose age limits on games for those who are under 12: no more than an hour per day
Tencent recently announced the introduction of an identification system for all its players. This is done in order to limit the playing time for children - gamers under the age of 12 will not be able to play more than an hour a day.
The user verification system will use data from police databases. By the end of the year, the restriction will be introduced for a dozen mobile games, by 2019 the project will be expanded.
The measures taken by the company are introduced in connection with the introduction of more stringent measures regarding the game world by the Chinese government. Earlier, local media carried out an information campaign dedicated to dependence on games, including mobile, among children and adolescents. In addition, Chinese officials are not too pleased with the abundance of violence in such games.
“This is a pilot project,” said one company representative. There are now more than 600 million gamers in China, so the Tencent verification system will affect millions of users.
By the way, the first stage of the project was launched back in September for the mobile game Honor of Kings, which over time becomes more and more popular among teenagers and students. They spend many days and nights watching the game, forgetting everything, including studying.
By the way, the age-grading system of players also introduces a ban on the game from 9 pm to 8 am for those under 12 years old (remember that this age group can play no more than an hour per day). Teenagers in the age category from 13 to 18 will have the opportunity to play two hours a day.
"The main thing for us is to realize the task of protecting against gambling addiction for the least protected segments of the population," the company said. These are just children, teenagers, students. Under insecurity refers to the inability to resist gambling addiction, completely surrendering to games - both mobile and normal.
Restrictions imposed on its players, Tencent calls care about the health of players. Modern technologies, according to the company, are the best suited to combat gambling addiction.
It is worth noting that games are the main source of income for Tencent. Now the company has taken on users, not because management has suddenly decided to fight gambling addiction, but because regulators have punished the company several times for the fact that its games are so addictive. In particular, some titles were even removed from sale - this happened in March 2018. It may well be that the "freeze" will continue until next year.
After all these events, the company's shares fell by almost 4%, and by about 40% compared with January. The company claims that its quarterly revenue fell by 2% over the same period last year. The decline, by the way, is the first since 2005. Analysts expect the next report to draw conclusions regarding the company's near future.
As for the restrictions, after their announcement, many media outlets wrote that young players would bypass the verification system in some way or another. For example, borrow a phone to play with parents or other relatives.
For example, in South Korea, restrictions of this kind exist for several years, but young people easily bypass control in a variety of ways. The company promises that it will stop possible attempts to avoid restrictions from mobile gaming lovers. In particular, it is planned to introduce a face recognition system for “Honor of Kings”, which will help solve the problem.
By the way, gambling addiction occurs not only in children and adolescents, but also quite adults. So, a few ago it was reportedthat a Siberian gamer blamed Bethesda’s studio for losing his family and work because of her game, Fallout 4. The man said that starting the game, did not even suspect that it could be so exciting. For three weeks he did not break away from the screen. Because of absenteeism, he was fired, and his wife, unable to withstand complete disregard by her husband, decided to leave.
“If I knew that this game could be addictive, I would not play it. I either would not have bought it, or would have waited for the New Year holidays to proceed with the passage, ”the gamer said then.