Against the background of stricter laws regarding video games, more than 200 companies in China have pledged to independently regulate this area and cooperate with the authorities. They will take a number of measures to combat gambling addiction among teenagers — including using a facial recognition system.According to Reuters, the statement of the Chinese gaming association CGIGC was signed by a total of 213 companies.
Among them are Tencent and NetEase.
According to the GameLook portal, there are six main points in the signed agreement:
- companies should clearly formulate a plan and rules that they will follow to combat gambling addiction;implement authentication systems using real name, face recognition systems and other methods to accurately determine the identity and age of users and limit game time;
- fight harmful, violent, nihilistic, pornographic and other illegal and misleading content;
- advertising platforms should not promote illegal content.
- Also, teenagers cannot be provided with game accounts for rent to access online games;it is necessary to comply with market laws and not allow the distribution of the game without a license;
- companies are obliged to cooperate with the state, promptly report violations and independently regulate their activities in accordance with the laws.
- At the end of August, Chinese teenagers were officially banned from playing online games for more than three hours a week.
Earlier, a number of state media criticized video games, calling them “electronic drugs”. This has shaken the shares of giants like Tencent and NetEase. Against the background of increased attention to the gaming industry from the authorities in China, the process of obtaining gaming licenses was also temporarily slowed down.