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BEIJING. – Parents and experts on education and juvenile crime have hailed China’s newly introduced regulations targeting online gaming addiction among minors, urging their strict implementation.
The new rules come amid surging concerns about the severe physical and mental impacts of excessive online gaming among children in the country.
Many parents have called for tightened measures to strictly conduct real-name verification of users and shorten time lengths of online gaming services available to minors, said the National Press and Publication Administration, the competent authority that issued the regulations.
Under the new rules, online game providers can only offer one-hour services to minors from 8pm to 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on public holidays. They must not provide any form of gaming service to users who fail to register and log in using their real identifications.
Wang Jiaqi, mother of a fifth-grader in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, hailed the news. Fellow parents in her neighbourhood also lauded the new regulation on social media channels.
Wang added that online gaming addiction was hindering her son from fostering any hobby, affecting studies, and damaging his physical health, especially eyesight.
Owing to his overindulgence in online gaming, he quit ice hockey training, seldom took part in outdoor sports or talked to his parents, and just stayed at home playing online games, Wang said.
Zhang Yue, a student of No 1 Middle School in Laizhou City, east China’s Shandong Province, noted that the new rules will help teenagers, who are curious but not mature enough, stay away from online gaming addiction.
“Some of my classmates are addicted to their mobile phones and online gaming and have no desire to improve their academic performances,” Zhang said.
Education and juvenile crime experts believe that apart from affecting academic and normal lives as well as the health of minors, online gaming addiction is also becoming a key factor leading to youth crime.
Li Xiaobo, a research fellow with a think tank affiliated with People’s Public Security University of China, noted that there are recurring cases in which some minors seeking to pay for online games resorted to theft or even robbery. Some even had psychological issues and became violent after playing online games for long hours. – Xinhua.
Online Reporter