Gaming: Tencent has some ‘bad’ news for kids in China – morningtidings

Late-night gaming has slowly but steadily grown ever since online gaming became a big thing with plenty of options that allow it, the most convenient one being the smartphone. It is easy to log in and jump into some virtual fun solo or alone, whenever you want it as all you need is an internet connection. It is a trend now and like those guilty pleasures, usually frowned upon in society, especially if the perpetrators turn out to be kids. Tencent, one of the biggest investors in the gaming sector, has decided to take note of this and implement some restrictions for the kids in China. Which part of the globe did you think a sanction like this was most likely to be imposed?
The company announced that it would not allow any person under the age of 18 to play mobile video games under its own banner after 10 pm and before 8 am the next day. And how will it check whether the person logging in is underage? Via face recognition. Anyone who tries to log in between 10 pm and 8 am will be asked for a face recognition check through the smartphone camera. You might call it the sleep enforcement rule in a country that wants to discipline the kids into inculcating good bedtime habits. Note that Tencent has plenty of mobile titles proliferating the lists, more than 50 or 60, and the move, even if strict, could work in a country that has a big gamer base, be it on mobile or PC.
Tencent wouldn’t want to lose its player base and how much time it spends on its games, would it? The move to curb late-night gaming seems to be have been taken under pressure from the Chinese government, which could have its own motives for using face recognition technology to check whether the person trying to log into the game is an underage person or not, more than the simple one of doing it to put a stop to gaming addiction.