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China, the land of established players. This morning, the kids and teens in that area woke up to bad news: They won’t be able to play until late at night. It’s not because all parents in that faraway country agree to be stricter with their children, but this new and controversial system of facial recognition aims to prevent youngsters from playing video games after dark.
This system was developed by Tencent and uses face verification in games to monitor users who have spent most of the day playing online.
What if I don’t want to verify my identity?
According to the company, anyone who refuses or fails to verify a face will be treated as a minor, and as dictated by the Health System Addiction censorship, they will be kicked out of the game.
In 2019, the Chinese government issued anti-addiction regulations for minors, to combat gaming addiction, restrict playing time, impose curfews, and limit in-game purchases.
How many can they play?
The law prohibits minors from playing video games between 10:00 pm and 8:00 am, and limits them to playing only 1.5 hours on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends and public holidays.
Tencent released this new system for more than 60 games, including the popular one honor of kingsBut according to the company, it plans to add more titles in the future. You will almost certainly find it on the list League of Legends From Riot Games. That’s 3 games a day at most!
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This strict regulation may force minors to play on another platform or use VPNs to avoid facial recognition and switch to unregulated servers in Hong Kong or Taiwan while they reach adulthood.
What do you think about a country’s government limiting youth playing to fewer hours? Let us know in the comments.
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