Summer is almost here, and parents around the world are likely more than ready to push their kids out of the house to experience the wonders of the great outdoors. Apparently, Tencent, the studio behind PUBG Mobile, couldn’t agree more.
Tencent has added a “Gameplay Management” system that will directly affect any PUBG Mobile players that are under the age of 18 years old.
The new system was implemented in an effort to "promote healthy gaming behaviors" by requiring players under the age of 18 to "acknowledge a gaming advisory" message before the game becomes playable. Additionally, as players spend time in-game, pop-up notifications will appear at various intervals to remind players to "rest or stop the game," similar to the “Why not take a break?” messages that popped up while playing Wii Sports.
"Today's announcement is a proactive step in ensuring that hundreds of millions of players worldwide can continue to enjoy PUBG Mobile in a sustainable manner," stated Tencent executive, Vincent Wang, while adding that the system will allow players to make “informed choices.”
The Gameplay Management system is currently only live in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the USA, but other regions will soon see the same system put in place. PUBG Mobile is - according to Tencent - the first of its kind to implement this type of age-based management system.
"As PUBG mobile grows into one of the world's most trending mobile games, it is devoted to providing a better gaming environment and being proactive in building a balanced and sustainable online gaming ecosystem," Tencent stated. There has not been any word on whether or not this sort of system will come to PC or console versions of PUBG.
The implementation of this Gameplay Management system is certainly applaudable and good in theory, but its effectiveness remains to be seen. It’s likely that most kids playing PUBG Mobile will just blindly acknowledge whatever pop-up message flashes across their screen before queuing up for another match.
It will be interesting to see if more mobile games add these sort of “gentle reminders” for younger players (excluding Pokemon Go, of course, considering that game is most likely being played outside anyway).