How can anyone here endorse something like this in any way? I get that video game addiction is a real problem, but constant surveillance is not a healthy alternative. Some people are cool with this because "kids need to be studying or playing outside, not playing video games!". But this is just an instance where your interests happen to shallowly align with the government's.
By the time we get to an issue you take offense with, there's already going to be a precedent of censorship and restricted activity and you'll be screwed. To be clear, I can't stand microtransaction-packed cash grabs and I don't game at all, but I also don't believe it's the government's place to say how we should be spending out free time.
How can people endorse? Pretty easy - cognitive dissonance, projection, vicarious tithing, etc. People are really complacent about other people suffering things they themselves would hate. We're asshole in that way.
I can’t help not being offended, and “this slope is so slippery only being offended by trifles can save us” isn’t the compelling position you seem to think it is. The fact is that the slope is rarely slippery, there are often May chances to reinforce or overturn such trends in a relatively free society (which of course China isn’t). No amount of pearl-clutching is going to change that, sorry.
Isn't this argument far too strong? What distinguishes your slippery slope from the normal process of law? Can't you call every law "a precedent of restricted activity"?
It seems to me like the problem in China isn't that they have laws, it's that they're unilaterally applied by a dictatorship. But this idea seems fine. There's no censorship or restricted activity. Nobody's preventing anyone from playing Fortnite, they're just toning back some of its more addictive qualities after a set time period. It's not a fundamental human right to earn XP in Fortnite.
The problem is not really the inventive way of implementing the game penalization (instead of cutting off access hobble the game experience). It is quite a clever and soft way to wane off the game.
The problem is that it is imposed on players without them having a recourse or the possibility to adapt the mechanism to their own benefit (like parents trying to curtail children's playing time, or if you want to limit your own playing time tonight because tomorrow you have to get up early).
I agree with you competely. The chinese government should not be forcing this.
The reason parents jump on such meassures is that parenting is very hard. Everytime you make or enforce a rule you put some distance between you and your child. And while that's necessary it can be very unpleasant. Personally, we are not permissive at all but we are always glad for when some external circumstances forces what we think is best.
So there is a real danger that parents are tempted to delegate their parenting to the government because it's much easier and also because it absolves them of responsibility. Of course, that is a spectacularly bad idea.
I think a lot more of their efforts are positive than we think--but don't make the news. It's just what's good for the Chinese government is of higher priority than what's good for the Chinese people. For something like this where they aren't in conflict they do good.
I believe this started from World of Warcraft. I remember I was 16 when I started to play World of Warcraft, all kinds of regulation started to appear in this game, for example: needs to register with an adult ID card, adding flesh to skeletons, no longer gaining experience when you play too long for a day etc.
For China itself, I think it's just a typical culture resist, just like pop music in the 70s (It's actually a big deal if you try to listen to Taiwan pop music, but young people just love it).
But like other posts mentioned in this thread, it's far more a problem about how people think, just like Europe could probably do this as well. Parent themselves think kids playing video games is a guilt, much more than the government. It's pretty sarcastic that in China, typically parents spend more time on their smartphone. However back in the day, parents don't have time to play with video games because they have less time to be addicted like kids. So they tried to forcibly control their kid about playing video games without any consideration. There even quite some parents who send their kids to do electroconvulsive therapy, just like the movie "A Clockwork Orange".
I personally think the video game is not a problem. Most adults won't play video games all day long because they have their work to do, but kids in school just have to deal with senseless homework, without seeing any points of doing it. When I look back, I always think I should fight more with parents and school, and spend more time on things I like, homework is not cost effective anyway.
I strongly believe the society should fix all other things instead of fixing kids. The problem is, fixing kids just seems too easy than those hard ways.
It's hard to think about a government's place being to limit things like gaming or viewing of entertainment. Though the intent is probably positive in this instance, it's the place of the parents to be instituting and upholding rules, not the government. It's an incredibly slippery slope.
The difference with WoW is that it frames it as a temporary bonus for time logged out, rather than a penalty for time logged in, with the "normal" progression being the lower rate.
The article uses the term "government" but the citation refers to Tencent doing this voluntarily, as a form of preemptive self-regulation. The distinction is blurred but this does not appear to be a law or public policy at the moment.
Don't bother. All sense and logic gets thrown out of the window when "chinese government" is mentioned in an article. You can literally make stuff out of thin air and the crowd will gobble it with no questions asked.
Just because a removal of freedom seems to be beneficial doesn’t make this any less of a human rights abuse. The right to free expression is inherent in all people, and it is unconscionable that the Chinese government censors expression in this way.
All governments restrict certain behaviors: alcohol (dui, public intoication, etc.), drugs(prohibition, prescription only), gambling.
Now, it’s fair to say that doing those, and doing them as much or as long as you like, is an inalienable right-like “expression”-is absolutely a position you can take. But all countries seem to agree that we shouldn’t do certain things, at least not to excess.
There is a world where we find that certain game mechanics trigger the same reactions in our brains as gambling, in which case limiting/regulating game time is not a bad thing.
[+] [-] huehehue|7 years ago|reply
By the time we get to an issue you take offense with, there's already going to be a precedent of censorship and restricted activity and you'll be screwed. To be clear, I can't stand microtransaction-packed cash grabs and I don't game at all, but I also don't believe it's the government's place to say how we should be spending out free time.
[+] [-] thatoneuser|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gotocake|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LorenPechtel|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dTal|7 years ago|reply
It seems to me like the problem in China isn't that they have laws, it's that they're unilaterally applied by a dictatorship. But this idea seems fine. There's no censorship or restricted activity. Nobody's preventing anyone from playing Fortnite, they're just toning back some of its more addictive qualities after a set time period. It's not a fundamental human right to earn XP in Fortnite.
[+] [-] _nalply|7 years ago|reply
The problem is that it is imposed on players without them having a recourse or the possibility to adapt the mechanism to their own benefit (like parents trying to curtail children's playing time, or if you want to limit your own playing time tonight because tomorrow you have to get up early).
[+] [-] Tepix|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sisu2019|7 years ago|reply
The reason parents jump on such meassures is that parenting is very hard. Everytime you make or enforce a rule you put some distance between you and your child. And while that's necessary it can be very unpleasant. Personally, we are not permissive at all but we are always glad for when some external circumstances forces what we think is best.
So there is a real danger that parents are tempted to delegate their parenting to the government because it's much easier and also because it absolves them of responsibility. Of course, that is a spectacularly bad idea.
[+] [-] yorwba|7 years ago|reply
On the other hand, I expect minors to get creative at circumventing the blocks. "Borrowing" a parent's ID, for example.
[+] [-] LorenPechtel|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] acct1771|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] namelosw|7 years ago|reply
I believe this started from World of Warcraft. I remember I was 16 when I started to play World of Warcraft, all kinds of regulation started to appear in this game, for example: needs to register with an adult ID card, adding flesh to skeletons, no longer gaining experience when you play too long for a day etc.
For China itself, I think it's just a typical culture resist, just like pop music in the 70s (It's actually a big deal if you try to listen to Taiwan pop music, but young people just love it).
But like other posts mentioned in this thread, it's far more a problem about how people think, just like Europe could probably do this as well. Parent themselves think kids playing video games is a guilt, much more than the government. It's pretty sarcastic that in China, typically parents spend more time on their smartphone. However back in the day, parents don't have time to play with video games because they have less time to be addicted like kids. So they tried to forcibly control their kid about playing video games without any consideration. There even quite some parents who send their kids to do electroconvulsive therapy, just like the movie "A Clockwork Orange".
I personally think the video game is not a problem. Most adults won't play video games all day long because they have their work to do, but kids in school just have to deal with senseless homework, without seeing any points of doing it. When I look back, I always think I should fight more with parents and school, and spend more time on things I like, homework is not cost effective anyway.
I strongly believe the society should fix all other things instead of fixing kids. The problem is, fixing kids just seems too easy than those hard ways.
[1] About electroconvulsive therapy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Yongxin [2] A good movie about typical Chinese parenting: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3401962/
[+] [-] idiomech|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sitzkrieg|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crooked-v|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aboutruby|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sorryforthethro|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ssnistfajen|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] make3|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thatoneuser|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] echevil|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrcoder111|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sneak|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nsillik|7 years ago|reply
All governments restrict certain behaviors: alcohol (dui, public intoication, etc.), drugs(prohibition, prescription only), gambling.
Now, it’s fair to say that doing those, and doing them as much or as long as you like, is an inalienable right-like “expression”-is absolutely a position you can take. But all countries seem to agree that we shouldn’t do certain things, at least not to excess.
[+] [-] troquerre|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ssnistfajen|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saagarjha|7 years ago|reply