In an effort to combat mobile gaming addiction in China, new anti-addiction guidelines for people under the age of 18 have been proposed by the State Administration of Press and Publications (SAPP).
The new guidelines were published by the state media on Tuesday and outline a strict set of rules. Applying to those under the age of 18, these rules hope to limit gaming hours to between 8 am and 10 pm for minors. On top of that, players can only spend up to an hour and a half (90 minutes) a day, or up to three hours on holidays playing games. Another clause states that no more than ¥400 ($57) can be spent each month on in-game micro-transactions and purchases.
All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, however. The SAPP is aiming to work with the Ministry of Public Security in order to create personal identification systems that will verify the age and identities of users while being difficult to hack and/or break into. This will also apply to gaming companies. If any are found in violation of the new rules, various penalties will be enforced such as having their publishing licenses lost.
There are already policies set in place to combat long gaming hours, but those mainly apply to computer games. The rules were initially drafted in 2007 when little attention was paid to mobile games. Now, mobile games will be added to the regulations.
According to the SAPP, although mobile gaming has been providing entertainment for the public, it has been causing addiction and excessive spending within the minor population (which makes up 20% of China's internet users and a smaller percentage of online players). Speaking with Xinhua, a SAPP spokesperson stated that the new regulations "will protect physical and mental health of minors and build a healthy internet environment." Ultimately, the aim is for the guidelines to be drafted into laws via the regulations.
Earlier this year, more than 10 of China's biggest gaming firms pushed for an age-rating system similar to the ESRB system in the United States. The year before that, Tencent -the world's largest gaming company- pushed out anti-addiction measures for 31 of its games after receiving criticism from state media and the government.
Source: Pocket Gamer