Anti-Addiction System For Online Games
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Anti-Addiction System for Online Games is a system developed in accordance with the Standard for Anti-Addiction System for Online Games issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, which was implemented in 2007, with the aim of restricting minors to prevent them from becoming addicted to
online games An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, a ...
for a long period of time. The GAPP issued "
Notice of the National Press and Publication Administration on Further Strict Management and Effective Prevention of Minors' Addiction to Online Games "Notice of the National Press and Publication Administration on Further Strict Management to Effectively Prevent Minors from Becoming Addicted to Online Games" is a document issued by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) National Press and Publica ...
" in August 2021, based on General Secretary
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
's instructions on youth work. Chinese authorities have claimed that it is the most advanced and efficient anti-addiction system in the world. Its strict
regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...
have therefore led to some controversy.


Implementation

In August 2005, the Chinese mainland government notified China's seven largest online game companies (
Shanda Shanda Group is a privately-owned multinational investment firm. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Redwood City, the firm invests in public markets, real estate and venture capital, focusing on companies in the field ...
,
NetEase NetEase, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet technology company founded by Ding Lei in June 1997. It provides online services with content, community, communications, and commerce. The company develops and operates online PC and mobile games, adverti ...
,
The9 The9 (stylized as THE9 or THE NINE) was a Chinese girl group formed through the IQIYI survival show Youth With You (season 2), ''Youth With You 2''. The group consisted of Liu Yuxin (singer), Liu Yuxin, Yu Shuxin, Xu Jiaqi, Yu Yan (singer), Yu ...
, Guang tong,
Kingsoft Kingsoft Corporation () is a Chinese software company based in Beijing. Kingsoft operates four subsidiaries: Seasun for video game development, Cheetah Mobile for mobile internet apps, Kingsoft Cloud for cloud storage platforms, and Kingsoft O ...
,
Sina Sina may refer to: Relating to China * Chin (China), or Sina (), old Chinese form of the Sanskrit name Cina () ** Shina (word), or Sina (), archaic Japanese word for China ** Sinae, Latin name for China Places * Sina, Albania, or Sinë, a vi ...
,
Sohu Sohu, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet company headquartered in the Sohu Internet Plaza in Haidian District, Beijing. Sohu and its subsidiaries offer advertising, a search engine (Sogou.com), on-line multiplayer gaming (ChangYou.com) and other se ...
, etc.) to publish the "Online Game Anti-Addiction System Development Standard" and required them to submit it. In September 2005, online game operators gradually installed online game anti-addiction systems in their products and conducted trial runs. In March 2006, the basic development work was completed, and the "
Notice Notice is the legal concept describing a requirement that a party be aware of legal process affecting their rights, obligations or duties. There are several types of notice: public notice (or legal notice), actual notice, constructive notice. ...
on Implementing an Anti-addiction System for Online Games to Protect the Physical and
Mental Health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
of Minors" decided to implement an anti-addiction system for online games in China from 15 April 2007, and ordered its full
implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, execution of a plan, idea, scientific modelling, model, design, specification, Standardization, standard, algorithm, policy, or the Management, administration or management of a process or Goal ...
on 16 July.


Principles

See According to the regulations issued by the
General Administration of Press and Publication A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online ...
of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, the system will issue reminders when it monitors players' game time approaching three hours. If it exceeds three hours, the system will continuously warn the player to stop playing. At the same time, within three to five hours, the game's benefits (including experience value, treasure drop rate, honor value, reputation value, etc.) will drop to 50% of the original value, and after five hours, there will be none at all. The system also stipulates that after a player has played a full healthy game, the account must also go through a cumulative interval of five hours of offline time before it can be activated normally. In
Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...
games, underage players or players without real-name authentication can only play for one hour in the evening from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm on holidays and weekends and will be forced offline by the system if they play more than this time.


Enforcement and reinforcement

Kou Xiaowei, head of the anti-addiction system at the General Administration of Press and Publication of the People's Republic of China, stated in an interview that the anti-addiction system will be implemented in all online games if it achieves good results and is fully recognized by the community after the trial run. On the other hand, the
General Administration of Press and Publication A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online ...
has explained some of the controversy surrounding the increasingly harsh nature of the system, affirming that moderate games can improve the family atmosphere and that games are positive for the development of art and imagination, while pointing out that the responsibility for addiction lies with parents, mainly because they do not pay enough attention to their children. It is not appropriate to shirk their inadequate
supervision Supervision is an act or instance of directing, managing, or oversight. Etymology The English noun "supervision" derives from the two Latin words "super" (above) and "videre" (see, observe). Spelling The spelling is "Supervision" in Standard ...
of children by playing games. There are no restrictions on educational games and quality games. Parents can accompany the game and control the playing time Some news articles commented that the proportion of minors in the company's income is actually not high. They believe that this will not affect the development of the game industry but will give manufacturers something to rely on. In this strict supervision, which is known as a one-step system, they admit that some details do not achieve appropriate and precise goals. It is believed that the
classification system Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...
should be implemented next, and the goal should be to be able to unleash all efforts to produce excellent games and continue to guide and expand China's game culture


Loopholes and doubts

Although online game companies can require verification of the registrant's identity certificate at registration to achieve the purpose of identifying minors, minors can avoid being restricted by the anti-addiction system by stealing the identity certificate of an adult.


References

{{reflist Online games Internet in China Video game controversies Video gaming in China 2007 establishments in China Law of the People's Republic of China