Study: Age time limits on Video games in China are ineffective
In recent years, China has been actively fighting children’s addiction to video games. However, the measures taken by the authorities have not yet brought the desired result, — researchers from York University and a number of other scientific organizations came to this conclusion.
Recall that in 2019, Chinese gamers under the age of 18 were banned from playing for more than three hours on public holidays, and for more than an hour and a half on other days. Two years later, the restriction was tightened: they were allowed to play only on Fridays and weekends from 20:00 to 21:00.
The researchers “did not find convincing evidence” that after the introduction of restrictions in China, they began to play video games significantly less. Moreover, they noticed that every time the activity of gamers increased slightly.
In 2019, 11 weeks before the restrictions were introduced, the average time a Chinese resident spent on video games was 1.64 hours per week. 11 weeks after the restrictions were introduced, it was already 1.76 hours per week. In 2021, there was a similar situation. Then the average time increased from 1.29 hours to 1.51 hours per week.
The authors of the study, in collaboration with Unity, studied more than 1 billion game IDs and 7 billion hours spent by Chinese gamers playing video games between August 2019 and January 2020. It is noted that not only children, but also adult gamers could get into the sample.
