Notice on Preventing Minors from Addiction to Online Games

Document Release

On October 25, 2019, the National Press and Publication Administration issued the “Notice on Preventing Minors from Addiction to Online Games” to standardize online game services, guide online game enterprises to prioritize social benefits, and effectively curb behaviors such as minors being addicted to online games and excessive consumption.

Document Requirements

The “Notice” puts forward six aspects of work items and specific arrangements for preventing minors from addiction to online games: implementing a real-name registration system for online game user accounts; strictly controlling the time and duration of minors using online games; regulating the provision of paid services to minors; strengthening industry supervision; exploring the implementation of age-appropriate reminders; and actively guiding parents, schools, and other social forces to fulfill their responsibilities to protect minors and help them establish correct concepts and habits of online game consumption.

Specific Contents

To: Provincial, Autonomous Region, and Municipal News and Publication Bureaus; All online game enterprises; Relevant industry organizations:

In recent years, the online game industry has met the leisure and entertainment needs of the masses and enriched the cultural life of the people. However, there have been some issues worth paying high attention to, especially the phenomenon of minors being addicted to online games and excessive consumption. This has had a detrimental impact on the physical and mental health as well as normal learning and life of minors, which has been strongly reflected in society. Standardizing online game services, guiding online game enterprises to prioritize social benefits, effectively curbing behaviors such as minors being addicted to online games and excessive consumption, and protecting the physical and mental health and growth of minors is an effective measure to implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding youth work and promote the prosperous, healthy, and orderly development of online games. Herein, the relevant work items are notified as follows.

1. Implement a real-name registration system for online game user accounts.

All online game users must use valid identity information to register game accounts. From the date of implementation of this notice, online game enterprises should establish and implement a user real-name registration system. They shall not provide game services to new users who have not registered with their real names in any form. Within two months from the date of implementation of this notice, online game enterprises shall require all existing users to complete real-name registration and shall cease to provide game services to users who have not completed real-name registration. Online game enterprises must strictly preserve and protect the real-name registration information provided by users in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and must not use it for other purposes.

Online game enterprises may set up a visitor experience mode for their game services for up to 1 hour. In the visitor experience mode, users are not required to register with their real names and cannot recharge or make paid transactions. For users using the same hardware device, online game enterprises shall not repeatedly provide visitor experience mode within 15 days.

2. Strictly control the time and duration of minors using online games.

From 22:00 to 8:00 the next day, online game enterprises shall not provide game services to minors in any form. The duration of game services provided by online game enterprises to minors shall not exceed 3 hours per day on statutory holidays and shall not exceed 1.5 hours per day at other times.

3. Regulate the provision of paid services to minors.

Online game enterprises must take effective measures to restrict minors from using paid services that are not in line with their legal capacity for civil conduct. Online game enterprises shall not provide game paid services to users under the age of 8. For users aged 8 and above but under 16, the single recharge amount shall not exceed 50 RMB, and the cumulative recharge amount per month shall not exceed 200 RMB. For users aged 16 and above but under 18, the single recharge amount shall not exceed 100 RMB, and the cumulative recharge amount per month shall not exceed 400 RMB.

4. Strengthen industry supervision.

All the requirements mentioned in this notice are necessary conditions for the operation of online game publishing and operation. Local publishing authorities shall effectively fulfill their territorial supervision responsibilities and strictly supervise and manage local online game enterprises and their online game services in accordance with the requirements of this notice. For online game enterprises that have not implemented the requirements of this notice, the local publishing authorities shall order them to make corrections within a time limit. In cases of serious violations, they shall be dealt with in accordance with the law and regulations, up to revocation of relevant licenses. Local publishing authorities shall coordinate with relevant law enforcement agencies to carry out supervisory and law enforcement work.

5. Explore the implementation of an age-appropriate reminder system.

Online game enterprises should comprehensively measure online games available for publishing and operation from multiple dimensions, including the psychological acceptance level of game content and functionality, the intensity of competitive elements, the potential for causing cognitive confusion, the potential for dangerous imitation, and the level of payment consumption. They should explore providing age-appropriate reminders for online games suitable for users of different age groups, and prominently display them in locations such as user downloads, registrations, and login pages. Relevant industry organizations should explore and implement specific standard guidelines for age-appropriate reminders and urge online game enterprises to implement the age-appropriate reminder system. Online game enterprises should analyze the causes of minors’ addiction and promptly modify game content, functionality, or rules that contribute to addiction.

6. Actively guide parents, schools, and various sectors of society to fulfill their responsibilities to protect and guard minors, strengthen the guidance on the healthy and reasonable use of online games by minors, and help minors establish correct concepts and habits of online game consumption.

7. In this notice, minors refer to citizens under the age of 18, and online game enterprises refer to platforms that provide online game services.

The 21YunBox Advantage

The original document was released by China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA, 国家新闻出版署), though the link is broken. We’ve cited information from the Baidu Baike and translated it into English for your convenience. Please note that this translation is for quick comprehension and should be used at your discretion and risk.

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