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Privacy China Entertainment Games

Tencent Will Soon Require Chinese Users To Present IDs To Play Its Video Games (theverge.com) 56

China's Tencent will soon require gamers to prove their ages and identities against police records, according to a new official statement yesterday. Under the new system, users will need to register their Chinese national IDs in order to play any games from Tencent. The Verge reports: Ten mobile games will get the new verification system by the end of the year, and all games offered by Tencent, including PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and League of Legends, will get the system by 2019. Tencent has been criticized by state-run People's Daily, which called Arena of Valor "poison," after reports that students were ditching their homework to play the mobile game.

Tencent has also faced direct regulatory pressure this summer, after President Xi Jinping pointed out that too many children were nearsighted and said the government was taking action. Beijing officially ruled to ban new games, cementing an unofficial pause that started back in March, costing Tencent up to $1.5 billion in lost revenue as it was unable to launch games it had been developing. In September, Tencent imposed the new verification system on Arena of Valor and created a feature that blurs the screen if minors look too closely at it. The new system simply enforces rules that Tencent had in place since last year: barring gamers who are 12 and under from playing more than an hour a day and establishing a curfew of 9PM. Those who are 13 to 18 can play up to two hours a day. Still, the system won't prevent minors from borrowing the phones of their parents and other adults.

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Tencent Will Soon Require Chinese Users To Present IDs To Play Its Video Games

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  • by Camembert ( 2891457 ) on Monday November 05, 2018 @09:19PM (#57597646)
    I actually do find that it is healthier to keep kids away from overdosing on video games, rather encourage them to do more physical world social activities. The iron-fist way China approaches the issue can be debated, of course. But since becoming a dad of 2 year old twins I think quite a lot about good ways for them to explore and play. Currently they have almost no screentime (a bit of Peppa Pig etc every two days) and I intend to keep it that way, increasing the use of TV, ipads, videogames in moderation over time and rather let them play in other ways. I have seen other kids who are utterly addicted to video consoles and will not let that happen. I don't plan to be heavy handed about it, rather hope to enable them to find interest and joy in many other ways. Recently they started enjoying drawing scribbles with crayon for example, they were inspired by me often drawing little things for them. Parenting is a challenge, but so rewarding.
    • To spend it wisely, "screen time" could equal genius if spent correctly.
      • Yes, that is the key. Spend the screentime wisely and don't get addicted to a dumb game. Nothing wrong with constructing something virtually in minecraft for example. Anyway, at this moment my twins are too young for much screen time anyway. As I wrote, a bit of Peppa Pig is wonderful, TV is on only a few minutes every other day.
    • Throughout the 80s and 90s, videogames created a generation of programmers. We started by playing games. Then thought 'how do these games work? could I make my own?'. Then started tinkering with BASIC, enjoyed it, and wanted to learn more, and create software of our own. It's sad how much things have changed. Instead of booting into BASIC and encouraging you to tinker, devices pretty much boot into a storefront and the apps constantly beg you to spend. :(
    • Can you imagine the outcry if this much oversight was required for lethal firearms in the U.S.!? ...but I can understand... video games are dangerous.
  • I also played Tencent's game, I really encountered the problem of authentication, but I support it. Now Tencent's game makes many minors addicted. I also saw a video yesterday. It is a child playing games on the mobile phone. After collecting the mobile phone, the child violently beat the parents and looked terrible.
    • e-liquid [slashdot.org]
    • The thing is there is no such thing as "video game addiction". People really tend to get bored with games, not something you'd expect to happen with proper,real addiction. It's just bad time management skills, they can lead to conflicts. Games is just one of millions of things over which a neglected child would make a tantrum over.
      • by Jzanu ( 668651 )
        Except that is wrong [nih.gov]. And people have died [complex.com] form this addiction. The business of video games is as unscrupulous as all gambling houses throughout history. They really don't care what the games do to you, as long as they get paid.
        • by Mashiki ( 184564 )

          The difference is, people are blaming video games for their actions(or lack thereof). People aren't blaming partying and social life when a toddler starves to death, or dies from dehydration. Rather they state that the person was inept and criminally responsible for their own actions. That's the difference between the two. It's a easy way out, and video games are just the latest round of *insert satanic bogeyman that kills kids/people/offends the ancestors*

    • You get fifty cents for making the post, plus it's simultaneously an ad for some incendiary vape equipment. Genius.

  • Ebay just locked me out of the account I've had for years and years. Why? They want to know my real identity. They either wanted to send a text to my cell, call me voice, or have me upload a scan of my ID card. I used Ebay for a long time with no problems, and now suddenly they want my infoz? Let's clean our own house before we criticize others for doing the exact same thing.
  • This is the only way to deal with the addiction engineering that drives game design. Gambling was its origin, now these mobile platforms abuse the same methods to siphon money from children. That vulnerable group is damaged in more ways than financial, while the eyesight link is dubious the social impact and academic impacts are absolutely real. China's approach may seem draconian but put aside your default bias for a moment. This option links a game player to an account, not just to a phone. To open that a
    • while the eyesight link is dubious

      Video games directly causing eyesight degradation is dubious (as in you need to use some magic filter glasses to avoid your eyes dying slowly when looking at screens).

      There is some corpus of evidence (including studies done in Japan that predate widespread use of smartphones) that somewhat link decreased time spent outside (outdoor activities in sunshine) with increasing need for prescription glasses (not simply explainable by increased reporting due to higher reporting).
      And some phenomenon replicated in la

  • This is likely related to data-gathering for the Chinese "Social Credit" system, and stopping kids play too much is the cover story. Check the relevant recent episode on NPR's "Planet Money". https://www.npr.org/sections/m... [npr.org]
  • You've gotta hand it to China, they've really hit the ground running with the whole "build a grim technological dystopia" gambit.

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