Young Chinese gamers lash out at new, limiting rules
Al Jazeera
Beijing says the new rules were necessary to stop growing addiction to what it once described as ‘spiritual opium’.
China’s new rules forbidding children under 18 from playing video games for more than three hours a week knocked shares in Tencent Holdings Ltd and other gaming companies, while young players took to social media to express their outrage. Beijing said the new rules were necessary to stop growing addiction to what it once described as “spiritual opium”. The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said in an article on Monday after the rules were announced that the government had to be “ruthless”. The new rules will only allow gaming platforms to offer services to minors from 8pm to 9pm on Fridays, weekends and public holidays, according to state news agency Xinhua, which cited a release by the National Press and Publication Administration. China had previously restricted gaming hours for teens to 1.5 hours per day in 2019.More Related News