China curbs online gaming for minors, described games as 'spiritual opium'

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The new measures bar under 18's from playing video games for more than three hours a week. Beijing says the new rules are necessary to stop growing addiction to what it describes as "spiritual opium." 

People under age 18 are now allowed just three hours of gaming a week.  Under the new rules, online game providers can only offer one-hour services to minors from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on public holidays.  They must not provide any form of gaming service to users who fail to register and log in using their real identifications. 

The new rules come amid surging concerns about excessive online gaming hurting young people's physical and mental health and hinders their ability to study. 

On Tuesday, the Economic Information Daily reported that addiction to online games has a double negative impact on teenagers' physiology and psychology. 

It pointed out that more than half of the country's children and teenagers suffered from nearsightedness in 2020, while there is a trend that addiction to online games impacts their academic performance and leading to the development of personality disorders.

Parents and experts on education are happy and have hailed China's new rules targeting online gaming addiction among minors.  

On China's microblogging platform Weibo, a hashtag on the tightened rules against online gaming addiction had generated more than 500 million views and over 60,000 posts, as of Tuesday afternoon. 

"Great! Minors have poor self-control and need guidance," commented a user. 

The new regulation imposes controls on gaming providers and won't punish kids who exceed their weekly allowance. 

China's online gaming giant Tencent said that the company has developed and adopted several new technologies and functions for the protection of minors in recent years, and it will resolutely support, abide by, and proactively implement the new regulations.