Angelo Ledda ’24
In recent times, Chinese officials have decided to make a new rule for minors who play videogames. The new law is that minors (people under the age of 18) can only play video games from 8-9 P.M. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and on public holidays. These new rules had been applied by Beijing in order to gain strength over its community and vital parts of its economy. This piece of info was provided by the article, “Three Hours a Week: Play Time’s Over for China’s Young Video Gamers” when it states, “The new rules, published on Monday, are part of a major shift by Beijing to strengthen control over its society and key sectors of its economy, including tech, education and property, after years of runaway growth.” Beijing is making minors in China only play for 3 hours a week in order to control its society better and important parts of its economy.
This new rule will not only affect the people who play video games, but the video game market itself. This is because the new rule is also telling that video game companies can only promote their content during the same hours minors are allowed to play video games. This detail is revealed by the same article when it reveals that, “Gaming companies will be barred from providing services to minors in any form outside the stipulated hours.” This change will end up making the Chinese video game market potentially plummet due to not being able to promote content on any day. On top of this, some game presentations will have to change their times since a few video game presentations last about an hour or more. Overall, China’s new rule will affect its economy, the minors who play video games, and the Chinese game market itself.
The Salesian Spectator 