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| Tencent introduces limit to combat online gaming addiction | Tencent introduces limit to combat online gaming addiction |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Chinese internet giant Tencent has limited the hours that children can play several of its most popular games. | Chinese internet giant Tencent has limited the hours that children can play several of its most popular games. |
| It said the measures, restricting gaming depending on the player's age, were "to dispel parents' worries". | It said the measures, restricting gaming depending on the player's age, were "to dispel parents' worries". |
| According to state media, there has been rising concern over Chinese children's excessive gaming habits. | According to state media, there has been rising concern over Chinese children's excessive gaming habits. |
| Parents reportedly worry in particular about both the time and money spent playing Tencent's popular King of Glory mobile game. | |
| From Monday, players aged under 12 will be allowed to log in for only one hour a day, and not after 2100. Older children will be allowed to play for two hours. | |
| Tencent claims the measures are the most strict in the country's booming online gaming industry. | Tencent claims the measures are the most strict in the country's booming online gaming industry. |
| Age verification | Age verification |
| Chinese state media quoted a company spokesperson saying that "even though as of now, China has not yet passed clear regulations dealing with gaming addiction, we have decided to take the lead". | Chinese state media quoted a company spokesperson saying that "even though as of now, China has not yet passed clear regulations dealing with gaming addiction, we have decided to take the lead". |
| The firm said it was also working on better implementation of its identity verification, so that those who had not yet completed the verification would not be able to play. | |
| King of Glory is thought to have about 50 million daily active users, and there are numerous reports of parents and teachers expressing concern and frustration about children's gaming habits. | King of Glory is thought to have about 50 million daily active users, and there are numerous reports of parents and teachers expressing concern and frustration about children's gaming habits. |
| Reports range from a 17-year old gamer in Guangzhou diagnosed with cerebral infarction after playing for 40 hours straight, to children using their parent's credit cards to spend thousands of dollars on the game. | Reports range from a 17-year old gamer in Guangzhou diagnosed with cerebral infarction after playing for 40 hours straight, to children using their parent's credit cards to spend thousands of dollars on the game. |
| Excessive online gaming has been recognised as a problem in several countries, with authorities introducing different measures to tackle the challenge. | |
| South Korea in 2011 launched a law to ban access for children under 16 from playing online games between midnight and 0600. In Japan, players get alerted by pop-up windows when they spend more than a certain threshold amount in a month. | |
| Enforcement and reliable age verification remain the main obstacles to successfully addressing the problem, however. |