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China's
military faces a computer game threat, top brass fear
|
Chinese army officers
have a new enemy in their sights -- a mobile phone battle game believed so
addictive to young soldiers that it may slow them down in real-life combat.
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Tencent
Games announced a pilot program for its King of Glory online game that would
log out players younger than 12 after one hour of daily gameplay
|
Smartphone
smash-hit "King of Glory" is so popular in China that its maker and
internet giant Tencent last month began limiting daily playing times to
"ensure children's healthy development".
Now
the Chinese army is taking aim at the multiplayer online battle game.
"There
is certainly a security risk that can't be overlooked," the People's
Liberation Army Daily newspaper warned gravely.
"The
game requires constant attention but a soldier's job is full of uncertainty.
Once a soldier is cut off from the game for an urgent mission, he could be
absent-minded during the operation if his mind remains on the game."
The
newspaper said officers had become worried after noticing that almost all the
soldiers in one dormitory were playing the game over a weekend.
The
state newspaper did concede that up to a point the game offered respite during
leisure time and there are no immediate plans to ban it from barracks.
Nevertheless,
the rank and file should be given "scientific guidance", it added.
The
game boasts up to 80 million daily users but the Chinese government is
increasingly worried about the impact it is having on children and teenagers,
who lock themselves away for hours for marathon sessions.
A
17-year-old gamer in the southern province of Guangdong suffered a type of
stroke after spending 40 consecutive hours playing "King of Glory",
state media said in April.
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| Smash-hit "King of Glory" is so popular in China that Tencent (its maker and internet giant) began limiting daily playing times for Under-12 children to "ensure children's healthy development" in July 2017. |
‘King Of Glory’
Moves To Fight Addiction, Limits U-12 Players To One Hour
Tencent
Games announced a pilot program for its King of Glory online game
that would log out players younger than 12 after one hour of daily gameplay,
the company said on July 2.
In
the most strict anti-addiction measure ever taken in Chinese gaming, King
of Glory will count cumulative play time throughout the day, issuing
reminders to players and eventually forcing them to log out.
Minors
12 years old or younger are allowed to play only 1 hour per day and cannot sign
in after 9 pm. Minors older than 12 are allowed to play for 2 hours per day.
Players who exceed the time limit will be forced to log out.
Tencent’s
latest update to King of Glory was released on July 4 after a month
of debugging and internal testing. The release added three measures to control
addiction: it restricts the login duration for minors, upgrades the platform
for minors’ growth and strengthens the identity verification system.
In
addition to limiting the game time, King of Glory will gradually
increase “consumption quotas” to curb the irrational use by minors.
King
of Glory quickly became a hit online after its initial release, gaining
many users. “But we are also concerned. If adolescents lack sufficient self-control,
they might spent too much time in the game and disrupt their studies and life,”
the head of development for King of Glory said, “The game itself
brings happiness, but excessive gaming will not bring happiness to ourselves or
parents. We wanted to adopt more stringent controls.”
In
February 2017, Tencent launched its guardian platform to assist parents in
monitoring their children’s game accounts.
Tencent’s
head of gaming said the upgraded protections would dramatically reduce the
operating threshold, and that parents only need to take a few steps to bing
their accounts to monitor their children’s play time and payments. The platform
adds a hardware device binding function to prevent minors from logging in and
playing on multiple accounts. It also enables parents to blacklist their
child’s designated device with a key operation.
Since
April, King of Glory has been prompting users to register with their
real identity using the official website and client. Tencent’s upcoming
anti-addiction measures further strengthen this identity authentication system.
“The
health of minors is a long-term concern and a focus of our engineering at
Tencent. We will continue to explore, and to create a healthy network
environment for young people with other social sectors,” the Tencent spokesman
said, “We also urge parents to spend more time with their children so that they
can experience warmth and love as they grow.”
This story originally
appeared in Nanfang Metropolis Daily and was translated by Pandaily.
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