David Min
// A Threat to Personal Liberties and Freedom //
Video games: to ban or not to ban? In late August, the Chinese government announced that minors will be restricted to playing video games three times a week—an hour on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each. During the school week, video games will be strictly banned. This new policy, which went into effect on September 1st, was a product of China’s National Press and Public Administration. According to the state media Xinhua, the goal of the law is to protect the well-being and prosperity of their children; they announced that “teenagers are the future of [their] motherland.” While their motivation to combat the country’s problem with video addiction among children may be justifiable, the new law is unnecessary and draconian. National governments should proceed with caution when passing laws that involve the personal lives of their people; this new level of restriction on video games in China sets a precedent of government overreach into their citizen’s personal affairs. Video games may be the subject now, but in the future, it is possible that the Chinese government may attempt to control other aspects of private life.
Under this new law, companies are restricted to providing their services during certain time frames and must verify the identity of their players to ensure obedience to the law. In turn, minors are required to use their real names when registering. Gaming companies such as Tencent claim they will comply and cooperate with these restrictions. Tencent is also developing new technology to ensure the health of the country’s minors. With their cooperation, this new law will significantly impact the private lives of China’s people, where over 110 million minors are active on video games.
Despite the companies’ compliance, this abuse of power has also harmed the prosperity of the Chinese private sector. Investors for tech companies like Tencent and NetEase have become worried since the video game restriction will damage the stock value of these companies. Shares of NetEase in the US have dropped 6% after the policy was announced. Similarly, shares of Prosus, a Dutch stockholder of Tencent, dropped 1.45%. This is just the latest struggle between the government and the Chinese private sector, where shares for Chinese companies Tencent have decreased by 8.48% in Hong Kong, following anti-monopoly and data protection regulations, and shows how difficult it is for private companies to grow and prosper within the country.
Instead of forced bans and regulations by the government, China should offer guidelines for gaming while outlining the negative effects and the addiction that may follow. Regarding addiction, a complete ban is not the most effective solution. Rather, the Chinese government ought to explore alternatives such as developing and building rehabilitation centers for addiction, which they have in the past. In lieu of unnecessary and draconian restrictions into private life, it is important for China to consider education as a tool for their goals of combating addiction among their youth. Otherwise, the Chinese government risks damaging the growth of their economy and setting a negative precedent of government overreach into the private lives of their citizens—one that surely will lead to corruption and public uproar.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/31/tech/china-ban-video-games-minor-intl-hnk/index.html
Chinese gamers playing before the start of the China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference at Shanghai New International Expo Center in 2019.