China promises broader regulatory crackdown to limit online gaming time for under-18s. Objective:to reduce dependency problems among minors.
With nearly 665 million gamers spending more than 278 billion yuan (about 36 billion euros), China is the largest video game market in the world. Such an attraction is obviously not without consequence, some quickly developing a cyberaddiction. These addiction problems have worried the Chinese authorities for several years.
In 2019, the country had already introduced a policy limiting minors to less than 90 minutes of video game time on weekdays and three hours on weekends. It was also forbidden for people under the age of eighteen to play online between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. These measures, already restrictive, will soon be tightened again.
Some people suspected tougher measures were in the works after a Chinese state-owned newspaper criticized online gambling as " opium for the mind several weeks ago.
From now on, online game providers will only be allowed to offer one-hour services to children between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, according to the Xinhua news agency. Additionally, the new measure will require all users to log in with their real names rather than online avatars.
Recall that three years ago, the WHO officially included video game addiction (gaming disorder ) in the category "Addictive behavior disorders with multiple features of addiction" of its international classification of diseases. This addiction is suspected of promoting behavioral disorders , which could cause nuisances with regard to life in society, in particular within the family, studies and work. In this way, the OMS will allow addicted players to benefit from real medical supervision.
If this decision had reacted many experts pointing out the lack of long-term evidence to conclude whether it is a medical disorder related to gambling addiction or drug addiction, a study published last year found that the vast majority of gamers (about 90%) do not gamble in a harmful way, but that a significant minority can become truly addicted to a way that negatively affects their lives .
As with everything, play in moderation. Playing video games can even be beneficial. More recently, researchers have indeed explained that serious games could help treat neurodegenerative diseases. A small study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience also highlighted the fact that playing video games could make us better at cognitive tasks .
In children, video games can also have beneficial effects. In a recent survey involving a sample of more than 4,600 children between the ages of eleven and sixteen, 80% of respondents said they had read media related to video games in the previous month (books, magazines or articles on the Internet), while 62% said they write at least once a week about their favorite game (blogs or fan fiction). According to the authors of the survey, these practices could then favor sharing cultural experiences , which can have very positive effects on the mental health of children .
