The Chinese government wants to combat video game addiction with a series of laws and measures that control how much and when its population plays.
The Chinese government has banned children under 18 from playing video games for more than 90 minutes a day and also doing so between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. Two measures that, according to the General Administration of press and publications of the country, aim to address problems such as addiction to video games and the poor academic performance of some sections of society.
It also controls the online and the DLC
Both laws came into force last Tuesday, November 5 and have several nuances. Although playing at dawn is prohibited throughout the week, the 90-minute restriction, for example, is only from Monday to Friday, extending to 270 on Saturdays and Sundays. And they are not the only decisions made by the Chinese government regarding video games. All those who play online must first register their account with their real name and identification, not to mention the money that one can spend on downloadable content (DLC) and microtransactions, which is restricted to a range of between 28 and 57 dollars a month, Depending on the age of the user.
The New York Times, who has echoed this information, clarifies in its pages that although the measure is drastic, it has been known for quite some time and many games and suppliers were already working with these limits in mind for the market Chinese. And in any case, it is not the first controversy between the videogames sector and China. This last month, for example, we knew that Blizzard has banned a Hearthstone team for supporting the demonstrations in Hong Kong, to which users have responded by turning Mei, Overwatch, into a symbol of Hong Kong resistance. But not everything is bad news for the Chinese population, because this weekend we have also learned about the first woman to win a Blizzcon tournament, which is also the first person of Chinese nationality to win the Grandmasters tournament trophy. What would she think of this kind of laws and measures?
