China’s tighter video game restrictions spring a few leaks during country’s long holiday as kids seek online fun
- An August state media article called video games ‘spiritual opium’, and in September authorities moved to limit gaming time for minors to three hours a week
- Minors are still able to either steal their parents’ national IDs to obtain an adult gaming account, or pressure them into handing over the IDs voluntarily
About a month after Beijing restricted kids to playing video games only three hours a week, the tougher rules have been put to the test by “Golden Week”, a seven-day holiday following China’s National Day. And the results have been mixed.
Kids have continued to use workarounds such as using their parents’ accounts to bypass various game age limit checks, although some have cut down their playing time and spent the extra hours watching more short videos, according to multiple interviews the South China Morning Post conducted with both kids and parents over the holiday season.
For Evan Liang, a 14-year-old middle school student using a pseudonym to protect his identity, China’s tougher rules have not disrupted his gaming habits much. “Most kids have access to adult accounts … I do,” he said. “People have secretly registered adult accounts by stealing and using their parents’ national IDs.”
An August state media article called video games “spiritual opium”, and in September authorities moved to limit gaming time for minors to three hours a week, only between 8pm and 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays. The measures have knocked billions of the market value of leading domestic gaming firms, such as Tencent Holdings and NetEase.