The Chinese company Tencent wants to ensure that children and teenagers in China play fewer video games with facial recognition. The rules are strict: Playing is completely prohibited after 10 PM. There are also strong restrictions otherwise.
This is what Tencent wants to enforce: Since November 2019, strict rules in China affect children and teenagers under 18 years old:
- They are only allowed to play for 1.5 hours a day on weekdays.
- On weekends and public holidays, their playing time is limited to 3 hours.
- Playing between 10 PM and 8 AM is generally prohibited.
With these rules, the Chinese government aims to address the risk of gaming addiction. The government is concerned about the declining performance of the youth.
There are also concerns that excessive gaming negatively affects children’s health. Many children and teenagers in China apparently suffer from eye problems.
Mandatory facial recognition after 10 PM
This is how Tencent really wants to enforce the law: The huge tech corporation Tencent has a market capitalization of 687 billion US dollars. This places the company worldwide in 7th place, ahead of Tesla and just one place behind Facebook (via companiesmarketcap).
Tencent has launched a new program in China: It is called “Midnight Patrol”.
The program requires “facial recognition” from verified accounts who want to play for a certain period after 10 PM.
Those who refuse to participate in this facial recognition or fail to identify themselves will be classified as “underage”. They will be kicked out of the system and will not be allowed to play after 10 PM.
The program is aimed at identifying children and teenagers who want to avoid the playing rules applicable to their age, it is said.
The “Midnight Patrol” is active in 60 games, including the popular mobile game Honor of Kings. The program is expected to be expanded to other games: likely also to League of Legends, which belongs to Tencent.
Observers believe the system could lead Chinese youth to use VPN services to bypass facial recognition and switch to unregulated servers in Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Tencent is also keen to enforce the government’s laws because they fear an even stricter regulation of the gaming market otherwise. For a while, no new games were allowed in China:
