The Balance Between The Development Of Online Games And The Protection Of Minors

Game addiction prevention is an issue of common concern to the whole society, and it is also a key link in the protection of minors.

On July 29, Yang Fang, deputy director of the Publishing Bureau of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, said at the China International Digital Entertainment Industry Conference (CDEC), we should do our best to prevent addiction, implement all management regulations to the letter, and resolutely protect the healthy growth of young people. She said that the national level anti addiction real name authentication platform has been completed, with more than 5000 enterprises and more than 10000 games, initially reaching the basic goal of anti addiction work. In the next step, the Publishing Bureau of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee will always take the prevention of addiction as the top priority.

The relevant responsible person of the game Working Committee of the China Association of audio and digital technology gave an exclusive response to the reporter of the 21st century economic report. Recently, the game working committee has convened some key game enterprises and organized a closed door Seminar on online game addiction prevention. Once again, the meeting clearly required that all game enterprises should cover the standard to all products according to the planning schedule and the requirements of quality and quantity.

The influence of online games on minors should not be ignored

On August 3, the economic reference daily published an article "online games have grown into hundreds of billions of industries", pointing out that the current phenomenon of minors' Internet addiction is widespread, and the impact of online games on the healthy growth of minors cannot be underestimated.

In late July, the Research Institute of compliance science and technology of Nanfang finance and economics group, which has long been concerned about the rights and interests of young people in the Internet field, released the evaluation of the protection mechanism for minors in 20 mobile games (2021). The results showed that the average score of each mobile game was 62.65, and the highest score was fire shadow Ninja with 85 points, while sword and expedition only got 25 points.

In the evaluation process, the researcher of Nancai compliance Technology Research Institute used the real identity of a 4-year-old child to test and score the mobile game app frequently used by minors on the market in terms of pre consent, anti addiction system application, game recharge and refund, and post rescue by simulating the use situation of minors' mobile games. The results show that the content differentiation of the 20 mobile games in the anti addiction mode is still insufficient, the refund channels for minors are still not perfect, the feedback processing efficiency of minors' relevant opinions needs to be improved, the relevance of minors' account guardians is relatively low, and there is a lack of channels for prior knowledge and participation.

Gao Yandong, a researcher at Zhejiang Institute of public policy, said in an interview with the 21st century economic report that the reason why games have great appeal to minors is mainly due to the illusory sense of achievement. For example, once you "kill" the other party in the mobile game, you can get voice broadcast and performance display, "strong feedback, strong feedback, and so on Virtual sense of achievement can make minors easily find a sense of value and self-identity in the game

Huang Yimeng, CEO of Xinxin network, responded that the phenomenon of neglecting study and work caused by being addicted to games also exists and needs to be addressed. The media are welcome to participate in the supervision and provide help.

In this regard, some voices on the market point out that the game consumption of minors accounts for a very low proportion of game income, but it has attracted the biggest query from the society. It's better to ban juvenile Games directly, which will not affect income, but also avoid a lot of trouble.

Huang Yimeng believes that game platforms and developers should actively interact with parents and provide various management tools to help parents reasonably control the length of their children's games.

How to find the balance?

On August 3, the market gave a fierce reaction, and the shares of related companies fell sharply. Hang Seng technology index fell by more than 3% in the morning, while the software and service sector of Hong Kong stocks fell by more than 7%. However, after the market closed in the afternoon, the decline of game stocks in Hong Kong stocks gradually narrowed.

Zhang Yi, founder and CEO of AI media consulting, told the 21st century economic reporter that there are still many concerns about the implementation of the social responsibility of game enterprises, especially the protection of minors. This worry is related to the wide spread of products of head game enterprises among minors, especially primary and secondary school students.

Zhang Yi believes that game products themselves contain a high degree of diversity, and when the product base is large enough, there are enough opportunities for win-win coexistence. Huang Yimeng admits that in the barbaric development stage of the game industry, some game manufacturers who only pay attention to short-term interests and make rough products only pay attention to money appear. But he believes that the market has the ability to correct itself, and the taste and cognition of players and parents will continue to grow.

On August 3, Tencent games issued a statement, saying that in order to further strengthen the protection of minors, it will gradually introduce "double reduction, double play, three advocates" protection measures for all games from the pilot of "glory of the king". At the same time, Tencent also proposed to discuss the feasibility of banning primary school students under the age of 12 from the game.

Netease also announced on August 3 that it would launch the 2021 "summer vacation special rectification of minors' online environment". We should resolutely crack down on the Internet problems that endanger the physical and mental health of minors and create a healthy and green network environment for teenagers. In addition to the real name authentication of game accounts, we should also reasonably limit the game time and consumption of minors. The existing anti addiction system of Netease will also be upgraded through the special summer action. Netease games will add more technical identification means such as behavior identification in the identification of minors' Evasion of anti addiction certification, so as to improve the accuracy of identification and realize more strict control.

In response, Shengqu said that in view of the in-game consumption of minors, which is highly concerned by the society, Shengqu game has decisively strengthened consumption control, strictly screened suspected parental accounts before consumption, and conducted key monitoring; On the basis of strictly following the amount of single consumption and cumulative monthly consumption of minors, strengthen the management of smart account authentication, and effectively identify the group of minors on the basis of protecting the privacy of users; After consumption, we will open a customer service line for minors' rights protection to receive complaints about game consumption raised by minors' parents, and set the highest processing authority to ensure efficient and rapid handling of complaints.

Upgrading of regulatory measures

Summer vacation is the peak period for minors to use mobile games. Helping minors "buckle the first button in life" is a topic of great concern to the whole society.

On July 21, the central cyber information office announced the launch of the "Qinglang · summer vacation youth network environment remediation" special action. During the special action period, we will further strengthen the punishment for illegal behaviors, maintain a "zero tolerance" attitude towards the infringement of minors' legitimate rights and interests, adhere to the principle of "striking at the front line" and be strict and severe, and vigorously rectify the disorder that endangers the physical and mental health of minors on the Internet.

A month ago, the newly revised "law of the people's Republic of China on the protection of minors" was formally implemented, in which a special chapter on "network protection" was added, which put forward higher requirements for preventing minors from indulging in the Internet, protecting their personal information on the Internet, and regulating their behavior of using the Internet.

Regulatory authorities are also continuing to pay attention to and support the protection of minors' games. In November 2019, the State Press and Publication Administration issued the notice on preventing minors from indulging in online games, which was called the "strictest" youth protection policy in history. Among them, online game enterprises provide game services to minors for a total of no more than 3 hours a day on legal holidays, and no more than 1.5 hours in other days.

Online games have also been mentioned in the "double reduction policy" released in the field of education. The general office of the CPC Central Committee and the general office of the State Council issued the opinions on further reducing the burden of students' homework and off campus training in the stage of compulsory education, which requires guiding students to use electronic products reasonably, controlling the duration of use, protecting their eyesight and health, and preventing Internet addiction. Parents should actively communicate with their children, pay attention to their children's psychological emotions, and help them develop good learning and living habits.

In December 2020, under the guidance of the Publishing Bureau of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and initiated by the group Standardization Technical Committee of China audio visual and Digital Publishing Association, the standard of "age appropriate tips for online games" was released. It is pointed out that the game should be based on three different ages (8, 12 and 16), corresponding to different scenarios.

On August 3, the relevant person in charge of the game working committee exclusively disclosed to the reporter of the 21st century economic report that recently, the game working committee invited some key units participating in the standard formulation and organized a closed door meeting to implement the anti addiction work of games. Next, the game working committee plans to let more game enterprises participate in the work of juvenile protection, and once again made clear the requirements at the meeting that all game enterprises should cover all products with quality and quantity according to the planning schedule.

"In addition, we plan to launch age tips on the whole platform." According to the person in charge, the existing age tips are mainly designed for client-side games and mobile games. Next, it is planned to launch age warning standards on the host platform to realize all-round protection of minors.

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