Strict restrictions from the Middle Kingdom!

Times up!

At this point you may have cottoned onto the fact that I, lover of games that I am, do not see myself as the most outspoken fan of the Chinese Government and their need to assert themselves around the globe. In fact, I don't like the idea of any government body inserting their ideals into matters of art and entertainment as it's a relationship which, historically, had never ended well for any party involved. (Least of all the consumer.) So colour me concerned when I hear about a sweeping restriction shackled onto the act of gaming by a government that is renowned for it's oppressive tendencies, even if the apparent intention is for a somewhat admirable cause.

That is the mindset with which I approach the news that the Chinese Government is imposing a curfew on gaming time for minors in an effort to fight against the effects of Video game addiction. It is a policy that sounds dubious on announcement and somewhat unenforceable with our current knowledge about how video games are distributed and played, but seeing as how this is China we're talking about, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't just announce the policy and let fear do the work in managing the populace. Although it must be noted, this policy only goes into effect for those under the age of 18 with presumably no restrictions imposed upon those that are considered adults. (Beyond having to play heavily censored China-only versions of international releases.)

This curfew isn't anything to be sniffed at either, specifically when it comes to it's specifications. Firstly, minors are forbidden from playing between the hours of 22:00 and 8:00, and they are limited to 90 minutes of gaming on weekdays with 3 hours on weekends and holidays. (No word if that restriction is by day or cumulative.) Ostensibly this is meant to curb Video game addiction, which officials claim is 'damaging to children's health', but these are likely the same officials that claimed the same about 'Peppa Pig', so I'd put serious doubt into the expertise and wisdom of these individuals. Also, a little fun thing to note: Despite claiming that Video games harm children, the government has not put a blanket ban down on children playing games because they know how much money they stand to lose from cutting off the most lucrative revenue source in their populace: dumb children. (Really doing it for the kids, huh China?)

To their credit, a phrase I would never thought I would use directed at the Chinese Government, this is a legitimate issue that they seem to have taken a stand against. The most prevalent and extreme cases of video game addiction, (You know, the one's involving people who neglect food and sleep in favour of gaming) tend to come from the Eastern world of gaming with us hearing a lot about these cases coming out of Japan. Now, of course Japan is almost night-and-day in social structure when it comes to China, but there are some fundamental cultural ques that run similar. Namely, the overbearing work ethic that stretches out individuals and wrings them dry through back breaking labour from working age till death. (Not to sound critical of such a practise. For one in my current situation, perpetual labour almost sounds like a paradise.)

One could throw on the 'amateur pyschologist' hat on all day and make assumptions as to what births and nurtures such an addiction, but I would guess that the shape of that society likely plays a significant role. There is certainly a degree of ostracizing that happens to those that aren't laser focused on their studies and those that fall behind are rarely caught back up as no systems really exist to accommodate for that. In this way it can be easy for those who struggle in their studies to fall into bad habits in which they never pull out from. Those who spend all of their time playing video games instead of interacting with the world are shunned, causing them to recede further into their seclusion and exile and eventually become outcasts. (A process I am more than familiar with.)In Japan, that is just one of the many reasons why organizations such as the Yakuza are never short of recruits. They have the opportunity to pick up any and all who fall to the wayside and give them a place to belong and a purpose to work toward. I couldn't claim that the Chinese Triad (or whichever name the organization goes by today) do the same, as I am not as familiar with the way they operate, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a mirror in that process to some degree.

The Chinese Government are ostensibly throwing this ban into action with the intention of stopping the gaming habit from forming early and becoming a problem that they don't have the tools to fix. Some could argue that it is a solution, but from where I'm sitting this looks like a classic case of battling the symptoms and ignoring the sickness. Although, I can't say that I'm quite surprised of that approach coming from the Chinese Government; afterall, they are the ones who concocted the One-child policy (Now a two-child policy) in order to combat a hypothetical overpopulation issue. A sweeping and extreme social policy which has resulted in a wholly new impending crisis wherein a third of their workforce is rapidly approaching retirement age simultaneously, a situation that has the potential to cripple many of China's industries.

I doubt that this gaming curfew will have such a drastic effect on Chinese society, however I do foresee a potential negative striking the modern gaming market. (Although you could see this as a positive depending on your point of view.) You see, I've spoken before about how the modern video game model (games as a service) turns your spare time into a currency and tries to gobble up as much of it as possible with recurrency incentives out the wazoo. In the long term this model is unsustainable for many reasons, but chief among them being that there are only so many hours in the day, this means that live-services are already competing with each other on such a high-bar that any game which isn't an instant hit will become dead wood for the company in matter of months if not weeks. This new policy from China accelerates that process tenfold.

Children who only have 90 minutes to play a game for that entire week no longer have the free time to throw around on whatever game comes their way, (Or rather, whatever game they can bug their parents into buying) which means that they would have to pick and choose to the extreme. Seeing as how China currently makes up the largest pool of gamers in the world, (Somewhere near 800 million individuals as I recall. No, I'm not sure how many of them are Children) this could result in a huge blow to Video game companies who were just starting to draw up plans for launching themselves at the Chinese market with the lifting of the console ban. And that isn't even taking into account the effect this will have on long-form games like MMOs and RPGs. Who knows, maybe a generation who grow up without the time to invest themselves in these grand sprawling adventures will find themselves easily bored with games that don't offer instant gratification once they grow of age. This could shatter the RPG market in China and really hurt those franchises which do well in the East like Dragon Quest. Of course, that would theoretically have a knock on effect for the western markets, due to the prevalence of the Chinese player base, resulting in a crash for the RPG market. (Of course, all that is hypothetical but certainly within the realms of reason.)

If your curious about how this new policy will go down with the public, (I.e. will it incite public backlash) the answer may already be in the wild. You see, this may be the first time that such a stipulation has made it into law but the Chinese have dabbled in overbearing restrictions before. Just look at Tencent, the government scrooge that J. Allen Brack claimed was entirely autonomous of political influence. When the gaming regulator was first announced and the Chinese government started putting heavy restrictions on gaming (The Government uses 'gaming' as a whipping horse whenever they need to fool people into believing they're working on public safety) Tencent were some of the first to capitulate by limiting playtime for under 18's to 2 hours a day. (Clearly that wasn't enough in China's eyes.)

Just like with every dumb decision the Chinese 'public servants' make, this is sure to have a rough effect on the wider gaming industry. International gaming companies have been bending over backwards to try and fit into the narrow margins of 'safe gaming' that the Government keeps shifting, but right now they may have just shrunk those lines a tad too much. If things keep going in this direction and China ends up banning all non-native video games, we may have an actual exodus on our hands as money-hungry executives scramble over themselves to relocate to the middle kingdom, taking the majority of the gaming industry with them. Is this the likely future of the industry? Maybe not, afterall that example is worst-case; however, if there is one thing that I'm beginning to understand lately, it's that one should never underestimate the capacity for situations to worsen.