fantadomat
Arcane
Shares slide after China brands online games 'electronic drugs'
Shares in two of China's biggest online gaming firms have slipped after a state media outlet called them "electronic drugs".
Tencent and NetEase shares fell more than 10% in early Hong Kong trade before regaining some of those losses.
Investors are increasingly concerned about Beijing cracking down on firms.
In recent months authorities have announced a series of measures to tighten their grip on technology and private education companies.
An article published by the state-run Economic Information Daily said many teenagers had become addicted to online gaming and it was having a negative impact on them. The news outlet is affiliated with the official Xinhua news agency.
The article cited Tencent's hugely popular game Honor of Kings, saying students were playing it for up to eight hours a day, and asked for more curbs on the industry.
"No industry, no sport, can be allowed to develop in a way that will destroy a generation," it said before going on to liken online games to "spiritual opium".
Tencent has said it would introduce measures to reduce children's access to and time spent on its Honor of Kings game. The company also said it plans to eventually roll out the policy to all of its games.`
The recovery in share prices came as Economic Information Daily deleted the article from its account on the Wechat social media platform.
Tencent also saw its shares fall last week after being ordered to end exclusive music licensing deals with record labels around the world.
The move was aimed at tackling the technology giant's dominance of online music streaming in the country - it currently controls more than 80% of China's exclusive music streaming rights after an acquisition in 2016.
Tencent is only one of a number of Chinese companies listed in the US, Hong Kong and mainland China to see shares fall sharply this year as Beijing clamps down on the country's technology and education industries.
Last week saw shares in Chinese online tutoring firms slump after they were stripped of the ability to make a profit from teaching core subjects in China.
The new guidelines also restricted foreign investment in the industry.
The major shift in policy came as authorities try to ease the financial pressures of raising children.
Officials have been worried after China's latest census showed that the birth rate had fallen to the lowest in seven decades.
It is one of the biggest ever overhauls of the country's $120bn (£87bn) private tutoring sector.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58066659
Fuck those chinks are based and actually work on the problems they face,unlike the west. I am very impressed by this.
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China Limits Children’s Video Game Playing to 3 Hours a Week
China has put in place a new policy that limits online video game playing for young people to three hours a week.
The new rules restrict online gaming for those under age 18 to one hour in the evening on Fridays, weekends and public holidays.
The restrictions took effect on Wednesday. They were announced by China’s National Press and Publication Administration, NPPA. That agency is responsible for regulating video games.
The new rules place the responsibility for carrying out the policy on the gaming industry. The limits do not include punishments for individual gamers.
China is the world’s largest video gaming market. The Chinese government has worried for years about young people becoming addicted to games. Treatment centers have been set up in the country for people thought to have developed “gaming disorders.”
A man plays online game on a computer at an internet cafe in Beijing, China August 31, 2021. (REUTERS/Florence Lo)
In 2018, Chinese officials also expressed concerns that gaming might be causing rising rates of eyesight problems among young people.
The NPPA said the new limits were issued to deal with a growing concern that online gaming was affecting the physical and mental health of children.
Chinese state media reported that about 63 percent of Chinese minors play online games often. And about 13 percent of underage mobile game users are believed to play them for more than two hours a day on weekdays.
Chinese technology company Tencent Holdings took the first step to restrict online gaming for young people in 2017. It limited playing time for some young users of its popular game Honor of Kings. The move came after concerns from parents and teachers that children were becoming addicted to the game.
The first government restrictions followed in 2019. Those rules limited minors to one hour and a half of gaming time a day and three hours on weekends. The policy also limited the amount of money minors could spend on virtual items in gaming each month. The limit ranged from $28 to $57, depending on the age of the gamer.
In this file image, people are seen playing online games on computers at an internet cafe in Beijing, China August 31, 2021. (REUTERS/Florence Lo)
Current rules require minors to use their real names and national identification numbers when signing in to play. Gaming companies created systems to identify minors. But many young gamers found ways to avoid the requirement, such as signing in under the names of adult family members.
The NPPA said online gaming companies will now have to prove they have effective identification systems in place. The number and intensity of inspections will also be increased to make sure they follow the new limits. The agency said it will also increase measures to punish gaming companies that violate the rules.
Many young Chinese gamers criticized the new rules on social media.
One gamer questioned whether officials understood the importance of gaming for young Chinese. "This group of grandfathers and uncles who make these rules and regulations, have you ever played games?” the user asked on the Chinese messaging service Weibo. “Do you understand that the best age for e-sports players is in their teens?"
A child plays with a toy gun during a promotion for online games in Beijing on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Another gamer noted that the sexual consent age in China is 14, and that young people can start working at age 16. “But you have to be 18 to play games. This is really a joke.”
The social media comments were reported by Reuters. Some parents, however, told the news agency they support the new limits.
Hotel manager Li Tong said he thinks the new policy will be a good thing for his 14-year-old daughter.
"My daughter is glued to her phone after dinner every day for one to two hours and it's difficult for me or her mother to stop her," Li said. "We told her it's bad for her eyes and it's a waste of her time, but she won't listen," he added.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the edito
https://learningenglish.voanews.com...o-game-playing-to-3-hours-a-week/6080716.html
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