Scrutiny for Online Games

People’s Daily February 23

Recently, a growing number of children have been spending a sizeable part of their Spring Festival vacation playing online games. Some of them are even buying game paraphernalia with their lucky money.

Most online games have a poor antiaddiction design, which is likely resulting in serious game addiction among youngsters. Also, the high volume of vulgar, salacious and violent content is impacting both adolescents’ physical and psychological health. Some games also distort history and culture without any care, misleading the young. In some extreme cases, the urge to buy game paraphernalia is even leading young people to crime.

China’s online game revenue hit 203.6 billion yuan ($32.27 billion) in 2017, up 23 percent over the previous year. China is now home to 160 million Internet users under the age of 19, many of whom are gamers. Due to this, to correct the online game market is not only an economic issue but also a social one.

China can learn from other countries in preventing game addiction. In South Korea, adolescents must have their parents’ consent before registering for online games. The United States applies a rating system to online games. Governments, businesses and society should all do their bit to ensure a mature and standardized online game market. It’s urgent to make a comprehensive assessment of the risks and negative impacts that online games can have on the young and indeed on the entire society. China’s online game market is not a lawless domain. Rules, regulations and norms have to be implemented to rectify the sector.