How China finally stopped kids from gaming

[@TechAltar]

Get Nebula using my link, including lifetime memberships for a limited time: go.nebula.tv/techaltar Education crackdown bonus video: nebula.tv/videos/techaltar-chinas-crackdown-on-private-education-explained

[@Rediwed1]

Is the lifetime fee 250 dollar or 300 dollar? It says both numbers on the page at 1:12

[@weltsiebenhundert]

300 $/Euro(ger) with or without the CuriosityStream (about 3 $/month) Bundel? Or do I have to wait for the Bundel Deal Cupon? 10 Years x 30$/Year = 300$. Nebula founded in 2019, so it's 4 Years old. So if I belive Nebula survives >10 Years (no inflation/Cupons/...) it's a better deal then the /Year one?

[@issonyt]

The wanted 250 and then said nah 300 people will pay 300

[@salentino]

Even with that offering it's still not worth it. The potential is there, but it's not good besides the content of KZbinrs like TA.

[@420beffjezos]

These Nebula exclusive bonus/extra videos are only like 4-5 mts long, not really worth getting a subscription.

[@charaznable1131]

I do disagree with china's aggressive gaming regulations but there is an issue here gaming companies are hiring neurologists to make their customers addicted to their products

[@Dad-lu1oi]

For sure I was playing Apex Legends for some time and as I was playing I would often notice these weird high frequency beeping sounds in the background and also weird flashing. Think of the mcollough effect and how easily the mind can be manipulated.

[@Butter_Warrior99]

With every worldly issue that isn’t just arguing about fiction. It’s complicated.

[@johnnychang4233]

I think gaming and gambling or any adrenaline related thrill seeking activity has a common root. By the way I have yet to see that they ban gambling parlors in PRC, those are more harmful in my opinion than video games.

[@D4no00]

Maybe their choice of handling is not the best, however nowadays addictive games are bad news, the fact that kids spend their parents money is one thing, however the real danger is what the lasting effects of such interaction can be and how they can change the way kids percieve the world forever.

[@gamaltk]

got a link for that?

[@allenqueen]

When I was a kid (not in China), my parents would scoff at me playing games and watching TV while completing ignoring the fact that there was nothing else to do, as all the nearby playgrounds had been turned to buildings and parking lots. No D&D culture either. I guess forcing me to attend a 12hour school and classes for chess, piano and what not could have kept me busy lol. Might as well be a robot

[@Slav4o911]

I remember when my parents wanted for me to stay longer at school my results actually went down (*there were some after school lessons). You can't productively learn more than about 2 or 3 hours per day..... it's just impossible. Learning is not like "chopping wood" sometimes less is more. More lessons and more learning is not the answer to anything. More motivation to learn is the best but you still can't force yourself to learn more. There is some limited capacity and if you go into overdrive too much your results will go down, not up. Also if the environment around you is stressful somehow, your results will go down if your parents constantly fight or if your family has financial problems anything which moves your "brain attention" away is very bad. My best result in school were the best when my family was most "healthy" as a whole. You can't expect a kid with problems in the family to perform well. It's very complex problem of course the most important is motivation but even with all the motivation in the world you should know your limits and not go above, or your results will certainly go down and you can't overcompensate, because you'll get even worse. It's like fighting with water when going to drown, you should stop fighting the water, more intense flapping will not save you.

[@davidk.d.7591]

China does have a lot of playgrounds and parks though.

[@sallylauper8222]

@@davidk.d.7591 2 or 3 of them I hear! But seriously, 雲南 was one big park- can't same the same for 廣東。

[@mackenziel1266]

Mine yelled at me for playing games a lot too, but yelled at me even more when I wanted to go visit a friend, go out to eat, to the park, etc. It made no sense.

[@hydraulichydra8363]

Damn... That is so sad.

[@ZaryanUrRehman]

On the side note Nvidia's approach of increasing gpu prices could also work in this situation too😂

[@dacueba-games]

Nvidia doesn't need our peasant money when AI companies pay them millions monthly for GPUs

[@webflyer035]

​@@dacueba-gamesMoney is something that's never enough...

[@ggeilokowski]

Thats true. And because GPU Chips are limited it makes more sense for them to sell them to AI companies instead of gamers since they will pay a lot more.

[@galamotshaku]

Most people game on their phones tho

[@pham3383]

Most chinese kids play on their phones

[@kimakhiangte]

Outright banning or total restriction was never the answer. I'm living in the 'dry state' of India and I'm pretty sure we're the state with the most death by alcohol poisoning. As the proverbs said "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant". This is so true.

[@metaphyzxx]

Never heard the saying, but I will use it

[@ANU3NAY6]

Gujarat has a very sophisticated black market of alcohol.

[@willstikken5619]

Any type of prohibition just prompts the creation of black markets to get around it. Americas 18th amendment prohibition or the war on drugs are both good examples of how this works at different scales.

[@Grogueman]

Gujarat?

[@g3nj1]

No. Stolen things are not sweet and secrets will rot you to the core ... What a disgusting proverb.

[@guill90]

Increase of myopia (3:17) is strongly associated with lack of sunlight exposure for your eyes as a minor. This can also happen when you are in a cram school from 09.00 till 21.00 without ever seeing a screen.

[@heckoff7904]

theyre trying to fix that too tho to be fair

[@guill90]

@@heckoff7904 Yea they are, it is also kind of sad how much pressure Chinese parents put on children trying to pass the Chinese central exam with high grades.

[@kubotite9168]

​@@guill90even then that still didnt guarantee a job hence the high youth unemployment

[@MenkoDany]

When I was a kid, I spent lots of time outdoors. When I was diagnosed with myopia, I was told it's because I "read books too much". The blame game never ends... When I looked at the studies last time, I got the impression that rather than just sunlight exposure, myopia is caused by lack of re-focusing (and sunlight exposure) during a *crucial developmental age* which is however *different for everyone*. So like I got myopia because I didn't spend time outdoors when I was 5-6 years old, but someone else's range might've been 7-8 years old, and someone else might've had the crucial time during 4-5 years of age. And because the effects/onset of myopia is delayed by months/years, the studies have so far not been entirely conclusive

[@guill90]

@MenkoDany You also have people who inherit myopia genetically from their parents. I want to point out that there was a significant increase in myopia cases in a few countries like China, South Korea, and Taiwan. It was linked to the overly competitive education system and kids being in a cram school from dawn-to-dusk.

[@loebi488]

The sad reason behind the constantly failed ban in video games is mainly because the wide spread poverty disqualify children from any other "good" activities (free video game and time of a poor child are very cheap), and there is a general lack of those "good" activities. Also, ironically, lack of willingness to enforce labour protection law in China resulting in people, or more specificly, parents working extra hour with little or no additional pay, leaving no time for their children, is another major cause for the toxic gaming culture in China.

[@qchtohere8636]

Remove "in China" from this comment and it becomes even truer...

[@argus-r1j]

I have a college classmate who has lived in an internet cafe for almost four years, and I don't even remember how many days he went back to school for classes. His parents are middle school teachers, so do you mean his parents work overtime at school every day and don't have time to accompany him? Therefore, it can only be said to be one of the reasons, but not all reasons.

[@wai828]

@@argus-r1j Teachers actually do a lot of overtime. You know, tests cannot be graded during class for the most parts. Same with preparing courses.

[@argus-r1j]

BTW, My classmate only paid 1 year's tuition in 4 years of college, and applied for an interest-free student loan for the remaining 3 years It's not that he can't afford the tuition, but that he invested all the tuition money he brought from home into the game.

[@hanve]

​@@wai828how did you make that argus as link?

[@karliszemitis3356]

Completely with you on the final assessment - addiction itself is only a result of underlying issues. That was also the case with me as a kid. I skipped classes/school etc to just play games(CS and Runescape at the time), but when I got physically better and my mental health improved, I somehow, without even knowing, stopped playing completely.

[@ghosthunter0950]

You also don't have to stop playing to not be addicted. I almost entirely stop playing video games if I'm stressed for time like uni,. but when I'm on holiday opening Elden Ring and playing while calling with friends from abroad is always a fun experience. There are also a lot of fun multiplayer games to play. Also, I firmly believe video games are really important children's interests in engineering tech and loads of other valuable skills. China is making a big mistakes here. I personally learned to build a PC when I was 13. learning how to choose parts and computers is an invaluable skill to have in the modern day that most people don't have.

[@kubotite9168]

honestly i play games to chat with my friend..without them i wouldnt play as much

[@walhdamaskus2408]

I think the chinese had already analysising many options and chinese goverment do have many experts to help them to make a decision.

[@hailyrizzo5428]

That's' your personal experience and anecdotal evidence.

[@chocolateearrings]

Why do people think 10 yr Olds must have underlying issues. Introducing carefully designed crutches such as gaming and addictive technology is grounds for creating such underlying issue that builds upon each other. Same for minors, same for adults.

[@davezhu7651]

For those who play non-Chinese games, like on steam, they don't face any restrictions

[@Chris3s]

I actually agree with the monthly spending limit, but even better would be to clacify loot boxes as gambling and let it be 18+ (and then also include a spending limit)

[@prods5hni]

I mean 18+ is reasonable but a limit is dumb. Everybody should spend their money tas they want

[@Chris3s]

I understand that, but if we are allowing gambling and addiction, then we need to help people as most people don't know what they are doing. The limit would be per game, I don't think there is a problem with that unless you are a whale who spends 1k or more per month @@prods5hni

[@mariothrowsfireballsuntitl1841]

Gambling is a disease. That should be elimanated

[@furdiburd]

​@@prods5hniwell oh god... Some pepole just cant stop spending so i suport spending limit and age restiction but not playtime restiction

[@GaldenX]

@@furdiburd So do we limit everything that can be seen as addictive then? Gonna limit how many beers someone can buy in a day or how many times someone can have sex?

[@trs5127]

Thank you for addressing the issue that gaming is just a coping mechanism. Gaming, phone addictions, or really most kinds of addictions are just coping mechanisms trying to escape actual disorders. I was very addicted to my smartphone. My mom took away my phone. Didn't work. I just got worse and didn't get back to my academic best at all. Now I've my phone and I'm doing decently academically. And it's because I know my issues and have tried to actually work on them with the help of different institutions.

[@draggador]

Over the years, my screen time increased till it stabilized at a value. My productivity went up & down till it stabilized at a value. I don't feel that the two of them influenced each-other much. To me, screentime is an important method of stress-relief but before i had gadgets, i used to drown myself in books & magazines for stress-relief, so my lifestyle hasn't changed much over the years.

[@growtocycle6992]

Except it isn't... It's addictive. For some, yes it's an escape. For others, there is a trap effect (it's like cigarettes. You take a few puffs every so often.. suddenly, you start craving it)

[@abunja]

"Just a coping mechanism" is too weak of an argument. We are talking about a country with 1.4 billion population that's on a decline. Gaming addiction is a real societal problem, especially on developing youth. And you can't help but be concerned of the future of the society where the majority is not even part of a working class, because if that happen you know that the society is about to decline. The approach isn't a total ban, but a curfew in gaming for youth. Digitization is a huge part of China's modern society, so the ban of mobile devices is a no-no. Instead, they give them a mandate that they're only allowed to play for a certain number of hours. As a person who's been addicted to games a lot of times in the past, you know that "that itch" won't go away unless you keep on playing to the point that you don't know when to stop. I've been through that and it affected me negatively in my studies during college days, delaying my future career over 2 years. If their youth were to develop a good self control early on in their life, don't you think it's a huge win for the society? And I think this isn't a "me" problem, because the collective "me" the size of China's youth is a serious matter.

[@blackson932]

Pretty much this if you become addicted to something you have some underlying problem. The other question with addiction is always are they harmful, do they disturb a healthy life style. And the other thing a lot of people dont understand addicted means the person cant do without that practical activity. Somebody who read books 4 hours a day can be addicted to it but its not necessary harmful.

[@steinbauge4591]

That's the ideal move for a kid: to find competent help and guidance away from the parents.

[@tgamagedon]

As an autistic person, who get's quickly overwhelmed by too much stimulus, using the computer helps me regulate how much I'm exposed to certain things that stress me out. I have found a balance, where I do the amount of things I'm capable in the real world, I cook for myself, take regular walks and sometimes go out and meet people, but I also have a safe haven in my PC activity, where I watch youtube, play games and meet friends in discord in a much more controlled setting. While I do realize that the availability of the PC sometimes makes me less eager to branch out, I do think that I don't have a gaming or internet addiction, but rather that I've found a way to interact with the world in a way that I feel comfortable with, which very much wasn't the case, when I was in school and was forced to go out and socialize most of my day.

[@Sukharno2121]

Similar circumstances here. Just because someone is in front of a screen doesn't mean they are wasting time. If authorities put this much effort into making cities better places to live and people less miserable maybe they won't try to escape reality in their spare time.

[@maxarendorff6521]

I do agree with your opinion that gaming addiction is usually a symptom of an underlying problem. In my youth, there was a time when I spent most of my free time playing video games. It was an unhealthy way of dealing with my depression at the time and distracted me from other problems in my life. If you want to limit gaming time for minors, simply taking away the video game is not going to solve the problem.

[@ImTakingYouToFlavorTown]

For me I'd play a lot of games as a kid, but I also played outside a lot and I liked going on walks. It's only now that I'm physically disabled that I have days where I'll spend a majority of it playing games.

[@JLydecka]

No but its the first step. Uninstall the games, address the issue.

[@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart]

​@@JLydeckaThe first step is addressing the issue. If you push them into other coping mechanisms they could be worse.

[@bjorkzhukov3638]

Coping mechanisms don’t solve problems. To solve problems you need to be sober and have a healthy mind. Addiction is a problem in itself. Just because addicts have other life problems doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t start by curing their addiction. They don’t have to solve all their other life problems before tackling addiction. That would be a dangerous mistake because their addiction would hinder their ability to solve their underlying problems.

[@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart]

@@bjorkzhukov3638 You're assuming that the problems that lead people to becoming addicts are individual problems that have to be solved by the individuals, instead of social issues that can only be tackled on a societal level. And we're talking about minors here. Literal kids. They don't have the maturity of life experience necessary to "solve their own problems".

[@jingxiangtan4613]

there have been several cases online that kids actually wake their grandparents in the middle of the night to make them go throught the face verification just so they can continue to play the game. Imagine the guy monitoring seeing a 80 yo playing for 12 hours straight. 😂

[@cubicinfinity2]

People don't get individual 24hr monitoring. What does happen is the employees can skim through the data and look through those photos.

[@abdiganiaden]

@@cubicinfinity2 they can set up red flags like 80 year old with so much time clocked in

[@jalene150]

@@abdiganiadenthis is honestly really sad. This sounds like an institution or a prison. There’s being harsh and then there’s this.

[@peekaboopeekaboo1165]

​@@jalene150 Nothing "harsh" about protecting children from videos game adiction.

[@furiousdestroyah9999]

@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 The world may be going to ruin but at least there won't be any video game addiction. Problem solved I'd say

[@Cruxis_Angel]

The sad thing about china is that they missed out on what many would consider the golden age of gaming(90-2010). Now that gaming is taking off they missed out on creative complete experiences and instead are conditioned into playing mobile/ games that are hyper competitive with predatory GAAS models. Korea as well to a lesser extent. They’re the biggest market too so it’s having a negative effect on western markets as well

[@dontmindme8709]

From what I've heard, live streams are insanely popular in China too. I wouldn't be surprised if it has taken over a large part of the time and money that used to go towards games. Sure, if video games specifically are the enemy, then they've made progress. If you however look at whether the population are spending less time on general entertainment or getting caught in addictions, then the results are likely not all that impressive.

[@abunja]

Addiction to anything is actually a thing. So while it's true that there are more avenues now other than video games that can caught one's attention and be addicted to it, isn't it a good thing that during the time when the youth were playing under curfew helped them develop self restrain? I don't mind that the government think that video games are "evil", given that they have bad history with addiction. In fact, they're sidestepping on that and they allowed video games only with strict control, especially to youth.

[@shinobu-oe2hl]

To understand this policy, it is first necessary to understand China's cultural background. In the past, China was very poor and people could only engage in manual labor. However, with the reform and opening up, the economy began to develop. Many parents hoped that their children would not have to endure the hardships they had experienced, so they encouraged their children to study hard from a young age, so that they could stand out from the crowd in the future. But excessive learning has caused great pressure on children. Some children have become bored with learning and become addicted to electronic games, resulting in poor academic performance and inability to attend good schools. As adults, they can only go to sweatshops to engage in physical labor, repeating the hardships their parents have endured. But these parents who make their children tired of learning do not realize that their excessive expectations are causing their children to be tired of learning. They believe that their children's poor academic performance is due to their addiction to games, so they have been protesting to the government, demanding that all game companies be closed. Different from what most people imagine, the Chinese government will listen to the opinions of the people, so they have introduced game restrictions. However, this can only solve surface problems, because the most fundamental problem is that parents are busy with work and do not have time to accompany their children, parents lack communication with their children, their education is very rough, their children's grades are not good, they will insult their children, and often physically punish their children, and say to their children, "These are all for your own good. No wonder children escape reality and become addicted to games. The government cannot directly blame these parents because China's current rapid economic development cannot do without their overtime work, so the government can only use game bans to cope with the situation. After all, it's still because there are too many Chinese people. There is a famous saying in ancient China, "All things are inferior, only reading is high." This is a problem that Chinese society cannot avoid. Also, this ban is actually very lenient. As long as parents actively provide their children with their real name authentication, children can play for a long time because the system authentication shows that the parents themselves are playing the game. I have seen many parents dislike their children's noise, so they voluntarily throw their phones at their children and let them play the game on their own. Through these practical actions, you will find that game bans are only a temporary measure to address parents' complaints, and have no impact on adults and increasingly enlightened parents.

[@time2go465]

A genuinely informative and balanced, in-depth take at the history, development and current situation regarding the Chinese video games industry (in particular, mobile, online and subscription gaming) and legislation for it. Kudos.

[@wikwayer]

I don't really understand how China is able to prevent someone to play a pirated single player game in an Offline PC ?

[@PomuLeafEveryday]

They don't. The restrictions are only implemented in recent games or active games. They're all free always-online or subscription based games, so it's hard to pirate them. Like how all the kids these days play Fortnite, kids there want to play the new popular thing. So even if they have tons of options in pirated games and offline games, they want to play the shiny popular game.

[@cattysplat]

Kids are the majority of popular online games.

[@fractal_gate]

You are one of the most balanced reporters on China issues, and hearing that you lived there, this makes a lot of sense.

[@ambition112]

0:00: 🎮 China has a long history of regulating video games due to concerns about addiction and negative social impacts. 4:17: 🎮 China's attempts to regulate the gaming industry have been largely ineffective. 8:22: 🎮 China's government has implemented strict regulations on the gaming industry, resulting in decreased playing time for minors and increased enforcement measures. 12:24: 🎮 Excessive gaming regulation in China has received mixed opinions, with concerns about limited parental control, privacy issues, and the need to address underlying causes of gaming addiction. 16:18: 🎯 China's approach to tackling mental health and education pressures. Recap by Tammy AI

[@crowxar]

Who asked?

[@madharaboy]

​@@crowxar😂 I and well over 100 others! If it ain't for you, keep it moving!

[@Nezuchan07]

@@crowxar my country need to remove video games becase it made all of kids animal noise brain thots just like my school

[@The_Ballo]

-0:01 China hates Japan therefore vidya bad

[@pingmeup-kk5ns]

@@Nezuchan07 or why not resolve the underlying reasons why these kids become addicted to games? or perhaps youre upset because you cant play those games?

[@gamaltk]

Also, good take in your opinion piece. When I have alternatives to gaming and dont feel that stressed, I dont even open my computer, and when I do it's to talk with my friends and specfically play with them and not just open the computer just because

[@felonyx5123]

The problem is that the only types of games that can comply with these regulations are the online-only microtransaction gambling games. A game that runs entirely locally without an internet connection by definition can't sell you lootboxes, but it also can't report back the data these regulations demand so Genshin is the Chinese gamer's only option. The whole concept is self-defeating. In order to have the level of control they want, the government is clearing space in the market for the worst kind of predatory game design. Banning game consoles had the same issue. They saved the country from the scourge of Wii Sports right as microtransaction-based mobile games were beginning their rise.

[@ncs9753]

Offline games are not regulated lol. So why would they need to report? You see all those made in China games on Steam, those don't report to the government, completely unregulated. Actually all these "war against gaming" and regulation is very targeted and specifically "live service/multiplayer/online" games... because only those cause massive problems and not single player games.

[@Lying29]

Just to be clear, gaming is never banned if you are over 18 yrs old. And the rule is not simply ban children playing games, but limiting the time of playing within a scientific range that gaming is still beneficial for brain exercise but not enough to get addictions. A lot of students or children were exposed to additive games and ruined their future during the 1980s to 2000s. Currently the policy is only enforced on teenagers younger than 18, similar to alcohol policies all over the world. As for the reason for these strict import policy of games, it is mainly due to the prejudice that Western world saw China, which made up a lot of games story lines that degraded the reputation of China on purpose. Another reason is that some games are full of violence or dirty words and regulations play the role of game ranking or classification.

[@manfunny917]

Agree with you, remember how angry western media was when Diablo Immortal wasnt in China yet, they made up stories like it was banned there with so much dirty politics. Personally believe that game should be banned.

[@sunkeyavad6528]

As for addiction it would be interesting to see if the gaming addcited simply moved to other addictions instead. After all addiction is really a metaboilc problem within the person (dopamine dependence) that simply makes that person prone to ANY addiction. While people who don't have that are similarly resistant to all addictions.

[@Nihil847]

Not really a “dopamine dependance” but you’re right about the addiction being shifted to something else-mainly due to stressors and boredom.

[@PieMK6R]

Most definitely did for me lol...

[@Isweir]

other addictions is not as bad as useless games, this is like opium.

[@thegrandaviator8308]

Chinese kids are now addicted to tik tok etc as they don't have limits for now

[@Rocketcow-dx1jd]

@@thegrandaviator8308 Video games don't make good soldiers. And loyal soldiers and workers are what China wants.

[@lijiayi0921]

Myself as a Chinese has devided opinion on this. I do believe gaming addiction is a serious problem and it needs to be adressed. I am pleased that Beijing is determined to adress it, no matter the cost. However gaming is also an industry that needs room to breath and grow. It is kind of satifying to see Chinese games are getting a chunk of the world market share. But hardly can we find Chinese masterpiece titles out there, despite the richness of our culture. I hardly believe any kind of great games can be created by investors and designers who worry about censorship and constantly changing regulations.

[@manfunny917]

Agree with you, I dont mind and even hope Chinese can develop our own gaming industry and no need to aways look at the western and Japanese games. Same thing like our own film industry, use to be dominated by Hollywood. Nowdays, most Chinese can look at our own movies proudly. As long as gaming is restricted to adults and not children, I think this is fine.

[@ncs9753]

Multiplayer gaming, especially mmos, gachas, and whatever mtx thing is cancer, predatory, and should be eradicated. On the other hand, single player gaming industry in China and especially indies is healthy and should not be touched.

[@fireemblemaddict128]

I miss the days in the early 2000s when all the kids in the neighborhood would have GBAs and have massive link parties in the park. Beijing was a gaming paradise and it felt healthy. We'd be physically interacting and would play other games besides videogames like football, rollerskating, and biking.

[@illliiiiillliii6265]

When it comes to cultural exports china is severely lacking. Japan has Anime and Korea has massively popular kpop and i thought gaming would become very influenced by china and chinese games. Unfortunately because the goverment attacks the developers and industry itself by limiting game releases it harms the cultural exports more than the game addicts its supposed to punish.

[@ncs9753]

@@illliiiiillliii6265 So they're doing everyone a favor unlike Japan who export those games and animes to ensure that the weeb losers remain as such 😂

[@colinmunro3158]

As someone on the Autism spectrum, who in various points of my childhood had issues with excessive gaming, I can attest that at the very least there is a strong comorbidity between problem gaming and mental health/neurological conditions at large. My special interest as a child was turn based RPGs. Predominantly Pokemon, though nowadays I'm into other franchises. My friends and I mostly bond over video games or tabletop RPGs like D&D. About half of my friends are also on the spectrum and many of them also have video games as their special interest. I cannot say for certain whether or not video game addiction should be considered a condition unto itself. What I can say with confidence is that gambling addiction should 100% include addiction to loot-boxes in video games, loot-boxes should be regulated to the same extent as and in similar ways to other forms of gambling, and video games should at a bare minimum be regulated as another form of consumer media with special attention payed to its interactive nature.

[@techtutorvideos]

Speak for yourself. I personally disagree with that claim. I played video games growing up, but played less than all of my neurotypical friends. I was never addicted, and nowadays (in uni) I basically never play video games. I do however agree with you about regulating and adding disclaimers to lootboxes.

[@mayanksingh0044]

I worked in network company, we went to address some issue in a small time gaming company here in India. Their I realised that one of the advisors to CEO aka consultant was actually behaviourial neurosciene with an additional degree in Economics. I DONT THINK FEW RESTRICTIONS BY GOVT WOULD BE BAD THING ESPECIALLY IN PROTECTING KIDS AS THE FAMILY STRUCTUTE BREAKS DOWN

[@floydmayweather2043]

Exactly. I completely agree with you.

[@cunxu2697]

This might be one of the worst cases of the government listening to it's people (those people being out of touch parents)

[@EggEnjoyer]

Bro just say you hate democracy

[@cunxu2697]

@@EggEnjoyer in a democracy the government would be voted out and no one would have implemented any policy that people actually wanted

[@ImTakingYouToFlavorTown]

​@@EggEnjoyer a gang rape is a democratic act. Democracy is good, and I don't think there is really a better system, but it is flawed and can be manipulated by ignorance and propaganda.

[@artemplatov1982]

Says a 15 year old

[@kartikjaggi007]

Thank you for making a tech altar video in what feels like forever. Don't get me wrong, I also love, and watch the Friday checkout. However, tech altar's case study like videos are my favourite of the two.

[@loebi488]

lol ONLY 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in high school? That is for super privilege students in Shanghai, Beijing . Right now, as the birth rate peaked at 2013, the high school admission and high school schedule is even more strict. A typical high school would starts from 7 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. six days a week or even 13 days in two weeks. Some high school will push this even further. School admins try to compensate their lack of decent teachers with extra time at school, at least this is what I have concluded from my experience.

[@cooldownboi3890]

here in my country I go to school from 8:10 am to 3 pm from monday to friday, and I don't have to go to english lessons (I did the final english exam in my country and passed so I don't have to go) so now I have like 30 hrs of classes and maybe 10 hrs of homework every week

[@eldespenserojpynikkei9014]

My gaming enconter started from my mother idea that it would keep me away from the street since I was very social as a kid and always wondering around in the neighborhood. Her mission was accomplished and the silver lining is that I spend less money at home because I don't drink, party, go out, eat less, etc. The only thing that I have to spend my money is for the game and equipment and since I play in PC, a mouse and keyboard is enough

[@user-xp8nq5mf9y]

I find myself being suck by video games and play it for hours and going to bed late because the game just grabs you. But i also had the same feeling in watching some TV series or even reading some mangas. Sometimes some media content will make want to consume it until i feel exhausted. After doing it i never really feel like seeing it again.

[@iAmNothingness]

Oh for sure it’s everywhere. Even on youtube. Everything is designed like this because of greed.

[@alexeykulikov5661]

​@@iAmNothingness also because of enormous competition. If a company/business wants to survive, they often just MUST exploit some psychological weaknesses we humans have, to attract customers, and make them spend time in their games/consume whatever other kind of media they specialize in producing, and do their best to make people spend at least some money over that time. Free-to-play games, usually of competitive genre, with elements of grind, are the most addictive and destructive on average, as far as I can see. And most profitable. Actual engaging, relaxng, or somewhat educating interactive art, that games can easily be, are not any easier, and often harder to produce; they attract less funding since it's known that they are less profitable and investors (whoever they can be) would be better off investing in some more exploitative genres. They are harder to be kept "alive" for years or decades, like competitive games can be, - it takes more creativity, development resources and funds to keep delivering sequels of high quality that people will accept. While competitive or grindy service games don't even actually need any coherent and engaging plot, complex story, universe, whatever. It can be a nice bonus for fans but it's not required. Professional tugging on the consumers' psychological weaknesses is required, and maybe some decent, catchy, not off-putting visuals, and that's all. Oh, and also lots of clever advertisement, to stand out of hundreds, or now thousands of competitors who want to do the same. A huge part of why games are largely like that, is also the fact that people often don't have much time to thoroughly engage in some artistic game world, which is usually required to actually enjoy them. While competitive/addictive free-to-play games know this fact and cleverly alow you to play short matches, lasting from ~15 to ~60 minutes on average. Engagement is not really needed, you don't need to learn much at first, only the basic game mechanics, which are made as simple as possible for newbies, while usually having deeper layers that unfold as the player keeps exploring it, to keep them unsatisfied, feeling inferoior to other players, wanting to catch up, collect more things, be more universal and mighty, or whatever else. And also, free-to-play games are just... free. The way they are built, their business model, just allows that. That's basically cheating in a way. Why would one pay for something that they can't be sure they will like and accept the quality of, when there are so many free products to try "without" consequences of potentially wasting money on? That's a trick too, though, because free-to-play games generate much more income for developers on average, thanks for unfortunate souls that got hooked on it and keep spending money on, usually just to try to scratch the itch of standing out, being more powerful than other players, or whatever else they eventually pay and keep paying for. While others, who don't pay (there are lots of such people usually, the majority of players), have to experience slower progress compared to those who pay, see their characters in default, "boring" appearance, not standing out, and are just reminded constantly that they are inferior to those who pay, in little but persistent and sometimes mildly annoying ways. Still many do not pay, either due to total lack of money, due to not accepting to "pay for games", some principles, or whatever else, and I think it can hurt their self esteem and confidence in a way. For me it did for sure. I am generalizing and simplifying, of course. The problem is a huge and complicated one. To be honest, I think it all boils down to how the imperfections of how the human mind, society and capitalism, and maybe even this world, work; due to huge and growing competition, and due to games being made firstly as a business, and not as art. Although, art can be somewhat addictive too, any fiction can be. Especially to people who are having problems in life, feeling insecure or unfulfilled, and don't know how to change that.

[@alexeykulikov5661]

Oh, and I must add to my previous message. The gaming market, as well as movies and especially books I think, is very oversatieted. I mean, there are so many games to try, accumulated over the previous few decades (mostly the last ~15 years or so). The audience, its time and money, are dilluted over this enormous legacy. There are lots of older games that still have some or a lot of people online (or just playing them, in case of single player projects), who are not really willing to leave and switch to something new. Sure, most games of the past don't have as good graphics as the new ones. But gameplay-wise many of them are hard to surpass, with all the modern huge expectations. New developers come into the industry, either for passion or for money, and have to find ways to compete with all of this legacy, try to catch people's attention, pull them out of the comfortable games they got accustomed to and keep playing for years, and make them try their projects, somehow. Combine it with the falling fertility rates, less young players to become a potential audience, in countries where most gamers are, and the progress, "refreshment" becomes even harder, harder to compete with the legacy and create new and meaningful projects. I hope you get what I mean. Also add mods, which add lots of play hours for people to keep enjoying older games, taking their time, attention, but usually not giving the mod developers any money for their skills and work, hence not funding the usually passionate and artistic developers. Add piracy, which makes competition for game developers even harder if significantly widespread. Pressuring the prices of paid projects (not free-to-play, those actually are not affected by piracy at all in most cases, due to how they are meant to play) to lower even more, as people can literally get the product for free, and takes away the attention, play time and potential money with those people that pirated it. They spend time there, for free, not funding any further development, not trying other products they could have, it's basically lost to the economy. Again, I most likely expressed my thoughts a bit vaguely here, I just need to sleep now ;/ I think the world, the society works like that, in a way. Accumulating complexity, also mistakes and disagreements, slacking and lots of work spent inefficiently, until it all becomes too heavy to hold onto, unsolvable without drastic measures which usually are not taken even if understood, and slow or fast degradation begins, while the society is squeezed more and more dry (often voluntarily, due to the ongoing processes that people don't even think about or notice, not just due to some evil capitalists or government) to try and keep their level of life as it was, without doing the much needed changes, reforms, without slowing down and "taking a deep breath" to think about it all.

[@ahmadsaeid]

Also, the fact that they went after consumers to prevent addiction, rather than reigning in the addiction causing practices in video games itself, since they have such a big chunk of gaming market.

[@Ash-vv8zg]

It already mentioned going after practices such as the loot boxes. Also this is only restriction for minors, supported by parents. Their actual consumers - the adult gamers - are not affected at all!

[@cchen6522]

@@Ash-vv8zg Many people don't understand that the Chinese government's legislation to limit the gaming time of minors is essentially transferring the control over children's gaming time to their parents. If some parents are willing to allow their children to spend more time playing games, the children can easily do so using their parents' accounts.

[@techtutorvideos]

​@@Ash-vv8zg they have to give up their privacy, but I guess they didn't have that in the first place, China being China

[@korusho01]

The denial of media, in any form, from text to video games, is always a mistake. People turn to these things for leisure, and when other feasible leisure options are not available, productivity does not go up, it goes down, as the public becomes more desperate for escape.

[@emartinternationalinc692]

Gaming nowadays is nothing to worry about. Tik Tok is what should be concerned about

[@queenlip6152]

Don't worry! Once they ban TikTok. All the dangerous challenges will move to Twitch or KZbin.

[@Sspratz]

There was never anything to worry about with gaming, that’s the kicker.

[@chengyangooi4694]

Cultivating kids hobby like yoga, swimming, reading, listen relax music in cafe, sleeping, charity, exercise to cope with negative emotion is crucial. Without proper way of addressing the negative emotion, people tends to go for binge watching and gaming. Also, ability to come out personal goal and work on it is another important element to cultivate since young. Don’t be too/over bossy around and ask your kid to be follower on instructions. They should have develop their own goal that bring meaning and value to themselves and society. Then, this kind of addiction can be reduce. If the kids fully band from games. They can easy addict in others like watching KZbin or bilibili. they can just simply find other source of short temp pleasure.

[@spiele_maus]

I think this strict limitation to 1 hour each Fri,Sat,Sun could kinda increase the stress for children as they than want to use these times as much as possible. Like for example I personally don’t play that much so I sometimes do not play at all for a few weeks, but then in other weeks I might play 1 hour per day. All this depends on like wether or not I am busy, if I have other plans for my free time, Updates released etc. So here if It’s Saturday and I am like „I don’t really feel like playing the new update just now, maybe I’ll at least check it out next week“ while with the limitation I would be like „But if I don’t play now, I wasted one hour of this weeks playtime, so I better use it.“ Do you understand what I mean. (Sorry for my bad English, I’m not a native speaker)

[@MindCraftAcademy-my5fh]

What I see the difference comparing gaming in the 90s and today gaming industry is many gaming companies lure people with loot boxes, and gambling mechanism that causes addiction. I played games all the time during my childhood, but I'm only stuck to few limited games I could play. I wasn't tempted with those fancy cosmetics and weapons as today. There were no limited time reward system which force players to complete. Also the theme of the game today are getting more mature that targets mostly to adults.

[@violetye7518]

I am a Chinese student，in primary school I go out playing and fighting everyday and came home exhausted, and I felt happy and did very well academically.However in junior high, I got my first phone and became hugely addicted to mobile phones since.I don’t know how to control them,I used it to watch tv till 2am and go to school at 6 am,I was sleepy and torpid every single day, and it’s a vicious cycle. I think the regulations are aggressive but,fundamentally I wouldn’t say it’s bad,kids would always find a way to entertain,hopefully a healthier way without games. For people without self control and have a tendency to be addicted, the best solution is not be exposed to the things that would make you lose control.

[@ZETAPLUSA70]

The problem is why should the whole society pay for the small fraction of problematic individuals

[@jinyichen4786]

My high school roommate is just like you. He reads novels all night long.

[@violetye7518]

I think that’s not a fraction, and I think every regulation has two sides, even freedom has side effects, just like in America people are free to keep guns but mass shootings exist, people are free to use weed,but it’s harmful to health.I would say that’s just the style of Chinese government,they give you very few freedom, but I think it’s not as bad as you think(except when the control is too extreme sometimes,like the quarantine during the covid)

[@RayMak]

Games are super addictive

[@Khadar2]

Yeah but they can be used as a coping mechanism.

[@ps4games164]

Video games symbolizing dignity, honor and nobility. They stimulating brain activity. Gamers are smarter than the average person.

[@oopsiexist]

Both positively and negatively, for example some games may teach you good stuff while some other is literal Micro-transaction topia

[@eric3655]

If you work in tencent, you'll see bunch of 70+ yearsold people headshoting somebody on pubg at midnight; nobody can really control addicted gamers

[@Rollexm]

Throughout the whole video, I just thought “they put too much pressure on those kids to be perfect, no wonder they are turning to video games”

[@supytalp-unroc]

i grew up as a teen in china, I was there when they lifted the ban on foreign console with the generation ps4 xone. Yet chinese people were already playing games in internent cafés and never really switched to consoles. And the gaming culture was really different I used to be an intern for 2k games shanghai, they were developping games specific for the chinese market. because foreign games and the business model associated wasn't working at all. Chinese people would play on low end hardware if not browser, or mobile. the gaming scene in china is huge but it is completely different from the western one. But also because of that it made it really hard for the chines gvnmt to control what where and when people played especially the youth. My little brother went to chinese school, is in highschool now still chinese. to his mum demise and the ccp, he has absolutely no issues playing anything he wants for how long. It's like most bans in china, they will cutoff the data sources to prove a succes rather than cutting off the issue itself.

[@gouthamanush]

Aren't you under risk writing this comment?

[@TaySplatoon]

@@gouthamanushprobably not

[@supytalp-unroc]

@@gouthamanush how so?

[@racool911]

@@gouthamanushIt's China not North Korea lol

[@kiwikemist]

​@@gouthamanushlol people have a clown view of China by brainwashing of the MSM

[@l34han]

When I was in high school (around 10 years ago), I simply use my dad's ID number for game registration. And go to "illegal" internet cafe on weekends, where they have adults' temporary ids for teenagers. Those internet cafes did prohibit high-school students from entering, but I used my friends ids and claimed I was a technical-school student. But now the internet cafes are dying out because everyone has their PCs, and those are still running requires chip-ID plus facial recognition (connecting to police network), which basically banned all teenagers below 18. More teenagers are playing mobile games instead thanks to the development of smartphones. It is never about "video game addiction", parents are too busy or lazy to spend time with their children out of school, and they just want to find something to blame.

[@SilleAtalia]

One thing you missed in the video: despite these sources claim of success of limiting the gaming hours, they acknowledge that average time spent on short video socia media (e.g. TikTok) has skyrocketed, instead of, you know, having them participated in family activities. This entire crackdown is yet another blatant display of excessive bureaucratic interference that ultimately achieved nothing.

[@ridakesserwan8712]

they have the right idea, but their execution is extreme games these days turned into microtransaction addiction madness, even act as political messages, like the recent Call of Duty games. They deliver certain messages, they're meant to hook you up, they're meant to earn money from you they think of you as a customer, not a human.. unlike the games released on CD's back in the days where they earn per CD sale and that's it.

[@arttukettunen5757]

I play a game where I am in a majority chinese guild and they must use VPNs to play. After the regulations the guild still seems way more inactive, though there still are some people (that I know are chinese) who play outside the timeslot, though they might not be minors anymore. Seems like the regulations have pretty much worked. (and while VPNs are illegal, they don't crack down on them 100% bc an insignificant portion of the population uses them, and the government thinks the negative effect of VPNs to the country is insignificant)

[@arxaaron]

Solid reporting and evaluation. A very level evaluation from someone with experience in both China and gaming. Going to Nebula now to watch the piece about China's actions in addressing abuses in the private educational system and issues of excessive pressure in the State schools..

[@xcw4934]

What he said about education pressure is the real issue here. While education serves to add value by teaching skills and knowledge, conventional schooling also is a signaling mechanism that implies ability for future universities and employers. So parents want their children not just to learn but to beat their peers. So you end up with a system where parents need kids to perform ever better in standardised exams to get into more elite universities and continue getting stellar results so they can be attractive to the most desirable employers. As long as there will always be more desirable and exclusive professions/employers people will compete to get into the more exclusive/elite universities. As long as some university programs are more exclusive/elite/outright better than others, school children will compete to get better results on standardised testing. As long as you have some young people who either themselves are willing or their parents are willing to force them, everyone will be under intense pressure to study 12 hour days to get the best standardised test results. I don't want a US style admissions process where the best institutions mostly don't admit on merit any more (if they ever did). I still believe in meritocracy but China and east Asia as a whole shows the pitfalls of what can happen when meritocracy is taken to its logical conclusion.

[@yume6532]

Okay but he also mentioned that China has cracked down on excessive education so clearly they're aware of the problem and are actively working to fix it.

[@JS-ih7lu]

East Asia also has much more competent political leaders than the west because of their emphasis on education and meritocracy

[@cttommy73]

@@JS-ih7lu Education and merit only gets you so far. Your leaders also need to not want to only think of themselves above all else. Which is hard when a thing called "power corrupts is a thing".

[@kaloyan.doychinov]

Ah, yeah, let the government parent the children, surely nothing would go wrong

[@Moonstone-Redux]

I think the bigger issue is the perception by the government that the citizenry lack any sort of agency, and unfortunately the citizenry also accept that. I don't want to riff too much on the personal responsibility side because when taken to the extreme it allows for massive corporate abuse, but a balance must be made. People aren't chess pieces you can move or eliminate any time you like.

[@kaloyan.doychinov]

@@Moonstone-Reduxperfectly said

[@FrostKaiser]

It definitely went wrong in the US. Most of gen z are now woke id*ots, acts like npcs and can't even answer simple math or general knowledge questions.

[@Moonstone-Redux]

@@mao_tse_tung1921 For every complex problem in this world, there is a simple and succinct solution that is often wrong. Game companies are often one step ahead of your government officials when it comes to understanding why people want to play games and what pushed them over the edge to addiction. It is down to parents to understand their children and cultivate a healthy relationship with gaming in a way that fits their children better. We cannot attribute gaming addiction to some nebulous concept of the mysterious Chinese or Western (in itself a misnomer) soul and really understand this problem through proper observation and psychological studies. A healthy human mind doesn't wake up one day and go "today I will get addicted to something". People get addicted because there was some pleasure in their life that they could not get outside of the addictive substance. Hold corporations accountable, but understand that they may not be the whole problem.

[@keselekbakiak]

P2W, loot boxes, and gacha game mechanic has existed since 90's. but i think people started to notice it, when gacha game "puzzle dragon" manage to earn more than square enix in japanese market. few years later square enix joined gacha mobile games market

[@MasterQuestMaster]

At first I was like "another instance of hating on games for no reason", but since they actually had real addiction problems, I can understand that they want to sanction it harshly.

[@aelfycarcini3992]

I'm from Mexico. I grew up surrounded by video games and as an adult, I still play them. I find them more interesting than watching TV series and although I read a lot, I surely play more. But my little nephews are not like that. They play sports, board games, put together Legos or puzzles... and on weekends we play videogames as a family. They occasionally play Fortnite on weekdays. China would be very pleased with them... not so much with me.

[@nobody4y]

"Why spend time on games than you can spend same time working in factory" - China

[@maalikserebryakov]

Based and Labourpilled

[@Chronospherics]

They really didn't. The most recent academic research in this area suggests China's efforts actually haven't reduced their playtime at all. They certainly adversely affect their video game market, but they're definitely not stopping kids from gaming.

[@srksii]

Mobile games should be regulated everywhere. One thing is 10 hour single player game, and another is 10000 hour mobile game where you can waste 10000$!

[@jurgisvalancauskas4006]

Nah, trying to ban games is same like trying to ban alcohol. It will just increase the problem and not solve it

[@johnl.7754]

When the virtual world is better than the real world

[@PapaDragonTV]

The virtual world is "better", because it's designed to be that way. To make it so pleasurable to the senses, that you keep coming back to it until you're addicted.

[@Butter_Warrior99]

The but that digital world is just based off of the real world. There’s beauties and horrors in the real and digital worlds.

[@sbermbob]

I mean you don't game just to suffer

[@kevingame3198]

But too much is not good bc electricity bills could Skyrocket

[@Iswimandrun]

The state is trying to parent for the parents.

[@AChristianGamer19]

All those chinese kids are screwed. Literally got less time per week than they currently get for my entire childhood, which left me cripplingly addicted once I moved out/as a kid went anywhere where I wasn't being crushed under my parent's iron fist. As to how I got better? I finally came to terms with why I was so F*ing Depressed. Unsurprisingly it had SOMETHING to do with my parents. I'm pretty sure those Chinese kids have a very similar reason rn.

[@gcntech9071]

The one child policy that was for many years the rule in China was one of the reasons that this addiction happened so widely too. Many kids still grow up without a sibling, many with their grandparents since both of their parents working and with no outdoor activities with friends because except the school time they don't socialize a lot after they come back home. So, gaming is starting as way to not feel alone. Even if they have strict rules on gaming, consoles like Switch, Ps5 and x-Box are sold freely in every mall and in Switch for example cannot be controled because of the offline games. Also, other media platforms like TikTok, Douyin here, gained more popularity from minors after this ban. That means that the addiction problem still exists, just changed platform and way.

[@takingbacktheplanet]

i also as an avid gamer (though

[@sureshkrjsl]

Gaming for me has definitely was a way to escape sadness and depression and did used to play a lot. Most people would tell me I am addicted. But, I was not. When I needed to quit gaming like studying for exams and doing chores I could easily do it. So, to other it looked like addiction but I never was. It was just a way for me to escape from my negative thoughts. China is the worst place to be as a kid. Gosh! I would rebel. But, I were born chinese, I would think that is the norm where you goto school 6am to 9am.. So, not knowing what freedom you dont have, maybe its hard to rebel.

[@JohnMushitu]

Have they tried encouraging more in-person socialization?

[@Moonstone-Redux]

They will need to fix the 996 work culture first. Let parents be parents and not just workers who happen to have offspring. But now China is in a siege mentality what with the trade war that is going on and its international standing being (not being completely undeserved) under attack. It's anyone's guess if they are willing to look to other countries for solutions or if they are willing to loosen up to realise better long term outcomes. Already a cult of personality is forming around Xi Jinping (if the term Xi Jinping thought doesn't send chills down your spine, I honestly don't know what will) they might already be driving off a cliff with all the social, demographic, and economic problems looming.

[@MayumiC-chan9377]

even though i am Japanese and female i played videogames when i was much older and me and my husband use it to blow off steam! I’m a pediatrician and my husband is a veteran and co-owner of a private security company and we are off on the weekends we play when our children go to bed and we don’t play it for too long. We limit our childrens game play but we start to notice now our children love camping and being in nature. My husband is what you call a survivalist and loves to fish,hunt and camp with us all. During covid-19 me and my husband worked but my husband got home before i did and was teaching our children how to cook and try out new things. My father-in-law loves hanging out with his grandchildren so they learned a few things from him! Video games are addictive and i can understand what China did but it does go too far.

[@TRoker5]

It's also funny how huge Tencent is and how big China's esports acene is

[@JR-kx3jr]

It’s funny, because I’m a gamer who has depression and anxiety, and I find myself having trouble getting into games these days, which sucks since I have a huge backlog I’d really like to work through.

[@privateagent]

me too. I've found other hobbies from gaming but even those don't fulfill me anymore. I guess it's life

[@staciefreshener4032]

@@privateagent Music is also nice if you like to try . Infact I have depression and can't play games. so you must be lucky atleast you can play games . I hop into music but because of my busy work and study , I have to do them so music only cope. But hope you recover soon ! make some friends and so on. I won't say " stay happy " cause we all know depression don't work that way. It's okay to feel sad or think negative stuff, just don't make wrong moves in life , our life is valuable . ! :))

[@lelandgrubson2736]

Chinese government: WE MUST CURB VIDEO GAME ADDICTION! some guy in a basement: Congrats ya'll just played yourselves

[@cattysplat]

$100 billion wiped off the chinese stock market.

[@AmRealThatGuy]

I wonder if it possible to educate kids through gaming and movies? We learn through texts and numbers at school, to me this is outdated when we have powerful gadgets around which can stimulate students through images, voices, and physic simulation.

[@marlmyster]

Reason #1 Children in China have MONEY! The Gaming Industry is aware of this and created the "Pay to Play" model. Everything else can be branched off from here!

[@Marvin-tf9wc]

In western countries teenagers have a access to various healthy and beneficial activities for recreation, gaming being one of them. But teenagers in China don't, that's how gaming become the only viable and economical option to unwind themselves. I'm glad a lot of folks have realised gaming is not the cause to blame but the result of a series of deeper problems. In addition to reasons mentioned in the video, raising popularity of short videos in China also leads to the decline in gaming time, many kids already addicted to it as if they were to gaming, in a few years we'll more than likely to see authority calling short videos "digital cocaine" "destroying new generation" and similar anti-addiction laws enforced to short video platforms

[@manfunny917]

It's the same in China. Dont know why every time video about life in China from non Chinese view, its always how Chinese life is so hard and everything is better in the west lol. Actually there are many activities that are healthy and beneficial here, but I dont believe gaming is healthy for children. Ever.

[@1000xtati]

I think in China the young and elders have more things to do and places to go than in those so called developed countries. Have you seen their cities? Their cities are planned for people, lots of parks, lots of beauty, things to see and places to go. In such a beautiful place like China there's no reason to be looking at a screen all the time

[@RangerBloxs]

It’s not just the gaming industry it’s the internet as a whole and social media

[@alpitu21]

It's crazy to think that China has actually been doing this for the sake of attempting to save its own people. They knew from the beginning what would happen, tried everything to stop it, and failed almost immediately. China has an extremely huge population while also having a massive country to spare, they had to take care of people one way or another.

[@I.____.....__...__]

It's NOT doing it for the "sake of attempting to save its own people". NOTHING the CCP does is for the good of the people, it's all propaganda, all polemics, all just authoritarian control.

[@FAQUERETERMAX]

Because how can business keep exploiting workers for super cheap labor when people keep having so much fun in their free time. Thanks China

[@labbit35]

They also literally flooded a ton of people when it rained very hard and fuck up Hong Kong, so I’m. 101% sure they’re not doing that for the sake of the people

[@sherryma8439]

There is very little room for “individual choice” for anything in China. The government acts like your typical, traditional parental figure who thinks they know what’s best for you and are looking out for you. Your job is to listen and obey. If you don’t agree, it’s your problem. Well, but then the reality is that the government is never actually your parent, and you should never treat your citizens as some dependent kids…

[@brianh9358]

I really don't think they have been as successful as they think. I would guess that a lot more gaming has gone offline to avoid monitoring. There are SO many small gaming devices made in China for retro gaming and emulation.

[@JackWaParker]

I’m currently teaching at a private primary school in China. I don’t think the laws are working too well because all my male students talk about are the video games they are going to play on the weekend. I have several students write stories about playing their Nintendo Switch, so I think the government’s report is tainted for sure.

[@hinatalove.r6532]

Apart from gaming companies trying to make their games addictive , I wonder if the human tendency for eating the forbidden fruit has any role in this.

[@cattysplat]

Gambling has been banned in China since communists took over. My boomer dad who lived in Singapore in the 50s saw there was a shanghai or mah-jong table down every back alley, law enforcement didn't care as long as it wasn't out in the open. Also huge boats would sail off the shore and the moment they weight anchor, the cards came out and everyone was gambling, since no law enforcement. People will only put up with oppressive laws when there is visible risk, else they will naturally look for entertainment or pleasure.

[@Truebro79]

they should relax the strictness of the rules, for example, allow them to play at whatever time they want and increase the gaming limit to like 4 or 5 hours per day, and they also need to address the root issues that you mentioned.

[@banjoowo4001]

@@ΘΕΟΔΩΡΑΧΙΩΤΗ an average Chinese kid is still smarter than the smartest adult in your country tho, why waste there potential in playing video games, I'm sure those kids will appreciate the rules when they grow up and become productive in actual skills not video game

[@chavezchavo]

If the Chinese government really wanted to completely ban videogames, they could have done it with their current technology and policies. The CCP is clear that it looks down on videogames but they cannot openly admit that the gaming industry can greatly benefit the country's economy. Good observation about the psychology behind videogame addiction. There's a high likelihood that videogames serves more of an escape.

[@banjoowo4001]

they cannot just outright ban something, although video games has demerits but only when consumed excessively, they only wanted to reduce the addictiveness of it

[@ncs9753]

Outright ban makes no sense when those CCP politicians have kids and grandkids who like to play games... they gonna be outraged too. It's same like smoking, CCP also hate smoking and tries to reduce smokers but when many of their friends and family members are addicted to it you can't really ban because it will cause social unrest...

[@andreyandrey9837]

Chinese kids are now playing either pirated games or play offline games 🤷‍♂️

[@seeker_of_knowlage3568]

Problem solved lol

[@lapprentice]

There will be unintended consequences to this. Youngs need things to satisfy their curiosity. You can't ban gaming and do not replace it with any creative, healthier activities. Eventually, something will come in and fill in the role of gaming

[@Ash-vv8zg]

Yeah, and that consequence is playing outside or picking up a hobby 😂

[@ImmersiveYT]

Drugs

[@Foxhood]

I used to game excessively. Household was a bit unstable and i didn't exactly have peers to interact meaningfully me. (i was the weird kid that was into microcontrollers while the rest were talking about cars). But as i dealt with the underlying problems bit by bit and started gain the ability to behave more freely in life. Gaming has dropped to something i do a few hours tops per day max. Instead i work on creative pursuits, keep up with engineering trends, work on my own concepts. Point is that like any addiction, they are symptoms, not causes. So this whack-a-mole "banning" is mostly just a waste of Renminbi as they WILL find something else and good luck figuring out if said else is an improvement... People are people after all. Not Robota.

[@seeker_of_knowlage3568]

True, problem is not games, peoblem is gaming companies targeting weak people. Just crack down on companies and it should be good.

[@daddydallas4789]

I think gaming in moderation is fine and the parents themselves should be able to regulate their kids playing games. However I think microtransactions, in-game sales, gambling or similar stuff, should completely be outlawed.

[@Snowman_44]

If so much pressure and responsibilities fall on students, naturally they will try to get their peace in something. Video games is the perfect manifestation of that peace. Games give you a new world where you can forget your real identity and have lots of freedom in-game. For the moment, you can forget all your study pressures. Ig the more anxious a gamer's real life is, the more he is attracted to games. Since china is very restrictive and competitive, it makes sense why gaming addiction became such a big thing there. Where else would they find their peace?

[@anmolbansal465]

China when children game: 😡😡 China when children work in factories: 🙈🙈

[@EggEnjoyer]

All industrializing nations have child labor at some point. The west did the same. We just got done with it sooner. That’s the cost of moving from an agricultural, to an industrial society

[@Moonuuu]

Kids will learn something in life rather than gaming waste of time

[@zsydeepsky2]

love the fact that child labor is illegal in China but actually legal in some US states.

[@vrealzhou]

A friend was addicted to games told me the video games are the cheapest way to entertain, also doesn’t need to bother others time. So it is kids don’t have enough time to organise other activities to relax.

[@Abd121]

I wonder if time limits on how much you can game will lead to better games as developers start condensing experiences instead of making them intentionally too watered down to be time sinks!

[@aronseptianto8142]

i think that in some way, locking spending limit, while very presciptive is also something that i can agree with. The rest however feels like it'll just backfire. I know that it'll backfire if it's done towards me for sure. but i feel like if you lock the spending and in turn put a cap on the income of most game company, the incentive for game companies to be predatory on both your time and your money will be lessen because no matter how hard they try, there's a hard cap for it

[@ololh4xx]

there is no "gaming addiction" - like you mentioned in the video. Excessive gaming is a direct result of being isolated or shielded too much. If you restrict childrens' actions and experiences all too much they will seek out compensation for multiple urges which cannot get satisfied - like the need for human interaction, friendship, physical movement / exercise and also education in a child-friendly setting. If you're taking away some of their freedom aspects you'll only limit their minds, restrict mental development *or* even cause developmental damage. Children need to be incentivized to go outside, play with friends, have fun, discover things, learn and *experience the world* - then and only then they will disregard computer games to some extent and *CHOOSE* to re-enter a healthy lifestyle.

[@Suursteruim]

From my experience my students (Chinese) don't play games for two reasons too busy with studies and their parents just outright don't allow them too. None of my students has mentioned anything about having facial recognition or any other systems that allow them to only play for a short time. One of my students actually plays a lot more than the 60 minutes a day. Regarding the crackdown on private education, it's made it much worse for students in China. Before my primary school students would usually be back home at 5pm-6pm from school, now they are usually only home from school around 8pm-9pm (Some are worse than others). That is going to school at 7am or 8am. One of my high school students goes to school from 6am-9pm Monday to Saturday. Honestly I think this change is what caused the drop in gaming, though my nephew and niece keeps gaming/watching videos as much as they want.

[@cchen6522]

Many people don't understand that the Chinese government's legislation to limit the gaming time of minors is essentially transferring the control over children's gaming time to their parents. If some parents are willing to allow their children to spend more time playing games, the children can easily do so using their parents' accounts.

[@Suursteruim]

@@cchen6522 I agree with you. At the end of the day, the children that end up playing video games instead of studying will find out the error of their ways when they are sweeping a street for a living.

[@ValiantKojiroKurosawa]

All in all, for every last one of the things that people blame video games there is an actual and real cause for those negative traits we keep noticing and it is the cultural and intellectual vacuum we give to children. The fact that we don't spend any time with them and that we don't get them to play fun stuff in the physical world or fu#$ing talk to them with stories, jokes, or stuff that provokes a smile on their faces. The problem is the missing pieces of childhood we aren't providing, not the video games.

[@SunbeanCat]

I don't know how it's possible to cure people of gaming. The virtual world is far more interesting than real life, and it takes less energy from humans to participate. All the hobbies that one may have will require great energy input from the person and will stop providing enough rewards very quickly.

[@EggEnjoyer]

Are you some like of dopamine burnout? The real world offers long form hobbies which actually release serotonin and satiate you in a way that dopamine can’t.

[@SunbeanCat]

@@EggEnjoyer Real world also comes with cortisol that burns through all the serotonin before it could even make any impact. I don't remember the last time I actually enjoyed doing any activities.

[@BettMagnett]

The one 'analog' activity that comes really close (or at least for me) is reading fiction story books and Disney Comics books! I for example often find the world of DuckBurg far more interesting than real life nad wish it didn't just exist as drawings or animations!

[@SunbeanCat]

@pascal9924 That was me pretty much all my life. I grew up on fairy tales and science fiction. If I wasn't reading them, I was making them up. Always thought that real life was extremely limited.

[@موسى_7]

When I stopped gaming, I filled my boredom by becoming interested in electric cars, climate change, auto industry, business, and zoology.

[@alexjgilpin]

China on kids who play 1000 hours of video games: "It's an addiction" China on kids who play 1000 hours of Go: "A future master of the game" - The bias toward what Grandpa considers wholesome entertainment is plain to see.

[@TheNitrean]

Limiting spending amounts for minors might not be a bad idea if lootboxes aren't made illegal for minors.

[@JinFX]

Kids can play games. The problem is people who think micro transactions, free to play gambling simulators, and asset flips are actually games. This includes parents who are paying for this trash that no one should be touching. China has only ever blocked Steam community but not their store, because their store does not sell as much scams in China as Chinese companies do. There were thousands of scam games in China and now new AAA games everywhere are nothing but scams. Anyone who even reads about games know that they want you to pay for them months in advance, are unplayable for a year after release, and never deliver on their promises. And the have loot boxes that hide the costs of things, all the while bait and switching you with useless crap. Kids and adults alike keep dropping more than their monthly salary on shit with no real gameplay. Also Nintendo games are expensive everywhere, so the import tariffs means nothing to kids playing games.

[@morganjonasson2947]

Gaming can become detrimental to a kids growth if spiraled out of control, but honestly, gaming isn't the worst thing that your kids can be exposed to. Many of the games teaches mental capacities to the children; the ability to pay attention to multiple things at once, the ability to think strategically. Most importantly, it teaches how to grow and maintain a passion. Even if it's a passion that accomplishes absolutely nothing else in life, it's more valuable than you think. Many people as they grow older will look back at those times when they did multiplayer with their friends and had a good time. Sure, alot of people became addicted to gaming and got their life ruined, but many gamers also formed successfull careers later on, related to gaming or not. Social media though, especially facebook and tiktok, are the two things you should keep your kids away from at all costs. I think I can honestly say that there are no real benefits of getting obsessed with social media. At the very best case, you may use the knowledge from social media to grow your own legacy and become an influencer, or you get paid to do social media marketing. Even if you achieve that dream, your life will become mostly miserable, because you base your whole identity on what people think of you. It's also very unlikely you will succeed, because there is a paradox of sorts; the more you are into social media, the more social media ruins your brain and the less likelihood you are gonna have the mental capacity to do what is required of you to actually build and maintain a channel. Those who managed to form a career out of social media likely have formed some kind of balance between social media and real life. I know this from experience because as a teenager in highschool I was mostly scrolling on facebook and binge-watching youtube, and looking back to it 10 years later, I quickly realized that I missed many opportunities to form real friendships and build an actual good network with people that cared about me. My most productive times has been when I didn't watch youtube and didn't have time to check facebook all the time. KZbin is probably the best social media you can ever use and one of the few that may actually benefit you, but even then there is a possibility of entering a trap where you just watch utter crap most of the day without having accomplished anything. If it is that dangerous to spend too much time on KZbin, can you imagine the brain damage that would be caused to you if you spent the same time on facebook, or even worse, tiktok?

[@ncs9753]

Social media is worse than gaming. But mmos are close in terms of danger. Predatory mtx multiplayer games are bigger threat to social media and should be completely eradicated. Single player games is completely fine, it's about as dangerous as reading novels or comics.

[@Brodzik-kz8nt]

Lootbox-games should be illegal globally and classified as organized crime.

[@mx338]

The implementation isn't great, but I totally agree with the spirit, too much social media and video games, are definitely causing large issues on an individual and societal scale, for both children and adults. Unfortunately here in the west no government is taking any real action to reduce these problems.

[@Shookey]

that's because we have FREEDOM!

[@AB-wf8ek]

Yea, when I was younger Ralph Nader was a well known public safety advocate that is credited for returning a lot of automobile regulations. These days consumer protection is considered Communist. Nobody even uses their phones anymore because of robocallers. Forget about social media.

[@GoodwillWright]

I think one way to regulate video game addiction is just to stop simply providing safety nets or funds for it. How do these kids afford these smartphones or the money they spend on the games? Most likely the parents. However, if someone is earning their own money, that means they must be contributing to society and the economy. If they are doing that, then I see no problem if they spend THEIR free time gaming. It's a way (albeit, over-simplified) to regulate gaming while also promoting getting a job or working through a career. Earlier you can retire, you can spend the rest of your years gaming.

[@Telesto_Timelost]

They banned everything lmao

[@willianditaquera]

and this is how you start a social phenomenon called LET IT ROT.

[@davelinkin]

I grew up in the late 90s , I loved my games but I guess I was lucky to have been from a very small town with a vibrant community and playgrounds all around with crazy af friends 😅. Thus my point would be Gaming isn’t an issue but availability to a good environment, community & infrastructure is.

[@privateagent]

best comment so far. you hit the nail my friend