The anti-addiction system is about to be used, with varied attitudes from manufacturers
Eight departments jointly issued a document, and the online game anti-addiction system will be officially put into use starting from July 16. For online game manufacturers, perhaps the moral pressure of "affecting the normal growth of minors" that has been on their shoulders can finally be somewhat relieved, but what about economic interests?
According to the Notice on Protecting the Physical and Mental Health of Minors and Implementing the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") jointly issued by eight departments including the General Administration of Press and Publication, the Central Office of Civilized Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Communist Youth League of China, the Ministry of Information Industry, the Ministry of Public Security, the All-China Women's Federation, and the Chinese Committee for the Care of the Next Generation, from April 15, 2007 to June 15, domestic online game companies need to develop an anti-addiction system in existing online games according to the Development Standard of the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games. From June 15 to July 15 is the system testing period, and starting from July 16, the anti-addiction system will be officially put into use.
Deputy Director Kou Xiaowei of the Audio-Visual, Electronic and Network Publishing Management Department of the General Administration of Press and Publication introduced that the online game anti-addiction system will target all online games operated in China, "not only large-scale online games, but also casual games."
Not a panacea, just to correct trends
For a long time, the "anti-addiction system" has been regarded as an important method to standardize and govern the entire online game market and has been highly valued. South Korea has already implemented a real-name authentication system similar to China's "anti-addiction system," but the results are not satisfactory. "Many players use their parents' ID information to register," said Ms. Jin Hua, digital content advisor at the Beijing office of the Korea Software Promotion Agency.
"It is indeed possible for some players to use others' IDs to register, but if their virtual equipment or accounts are lost, operators must confirm their identity before providing corresponding compensation. Due to the inconsistency between registration information and the actual person, these people's interests cannot be protected," said Kou Xiaowei. "We will make every effort to work with all sectors of society to promote and implement the anti-addiction system, with the aim of correcting the atmosphere of the game market to a certain extent within the existing framework and helping minors overcome internet addiction."
The notice requires that online games publicly launched on July 16 must first complete development in accordance with the Development Standard of the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games and the accompanying Real-Name Authentication Scheme for the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games and implement them simultaneously; otherwise, they will not be approved or registered and cannot be publicly launched. The core content of the Development Standard of the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games is: accumulated game time of up to 3 hours for minors is considered "healthy" game time; the next 2 hours after exceeding 3 hours is "fatigue" time, during which all game gains are halved; accumulated game time exceeding 5 hours is "unhealthy" game time, and after 5 hours, there are no gains.
"The basis for setting healthy game time to 3 hours exists. Through our analysis of the physical and mental development status of teenagers, the basic characteristics of online games, and surveys of minors, we found that cumulative online game time of up to 3 hours does not harm the physical and mental health of minors, while still allowing them to enjoy the fun of games appropriately. A game of Go usually takes two to three hours as well," Kou Xiaowei explained.
Since one of the main reasons teenagers become addicted to online games is their inability to resist the experience point growth and virtual item reward functions in games, the anti-addiction system mainly restricts these two aspects. After accumulating 5 hours of online play, players will no longer receive any experience points or virtual items. Kou Xiaowei believes: "The anti-addiction system is not a universal solution. Game time is bound to each game. If someone plays for 3 hours in one game and then switches to another, the anti-addiction system will restart timing, allowing continued play. However, our investigations show that most people addicted to online games are addicted to a single game, so the effect should be good."
To more effectively implement the anti-addiction system for online games, the eight departments formulated the Real-Name Authentication Scheme for the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games. Players need to register their real identity information when playing online games, and operators initially determine whether users should be included in the anti-addiction system for online games through inquiries to public security department databases.
"Identity information is networked nationwide. Regardless of where in the country players play games, operators can verify their identity information," said Kou Xiaowei.
Controllable investment, easy technical implementation
Since 2004, the General Administration of Press and Publication has been studying the use of technical means to solve addiction problems. In June 2005, the General Administration of Press and Publication organized the research and formulation of the Development Standard of the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games. In August 2005, the General Administration of Press and Publication organized seven online game operating companies—Shanda, NetEase, 9 You, Guangtong, Kingsoft, Sina, and Sohu—to conduct experimental work on the anti-addiction system for online games.
"At that time, under the leadership of the General Administration of Press and Publication, we participated in the research and formulation of the Development Standard of the Anti-Addiction System for Online Games. The content includes two parts: one is to provide a reference technical standard, and the other part is pilot work. We installed the anti-addiction system on some servers of the games 'Legend' and 'World of Legend,' accumulated some experience, and fed back the results to the General Administration. Some game manufacturers also participated in this work," Shanda's spokesperson Zhu Geliang told reporters.
After a period of coordination and unification, the current development standard of the anti-addiction system for online games has become relatively mature. Although the standard has been issued, future investments by various game manufacturers cannot be ignored, and everyone needs to develop systems suitable for their own games according to the standard. "Regarding the development of the anti-addiction system, our company's operations department and senior management are currently discussing internally, and the operation requires certain steps and time," said Zhou Min, vice director of the product marketing center of Jiuyou Network.
According to Zhu Geliang, although the content of various companies' online games is different, the investment in the development of the anti-addiction system can be expected and controlled. "In fact, whether from a technical perspective or a financial perspective, our investment is not very large. This does not belong to strategic investment, but rather an investment in social responsibility, a cost that online game manufacturers must bear in terms of social responsibility."
In addition, the technical implementation of the anti-addiction system is not difficult. "There will be some binding between user accounts and the server side, and we will make some adjustments in the database and set some parameters based on the game settings. When a certain account is identified as being used by a minor, the system backend will have a program automatically track it," revealed a senior market manager of a game company.
Different attitudes, expecting long-term returns
Once the anti-addiction system is fully implemented, it will inevitably lead to changes in the entire game market ecosystem, and the companies most affected may be those whose main business is the transaction of virtual items, virtual currencies, and virtual equipment.
High-level virtual equipment in online games has a very high "price," and some equipment requires players to spend several months gathering game coins. Players with little spare time often willingly spend real money to purchase these high-level pieces of equipment. Therefore, virtual trading companies that "first acquire virtual items from players and some game studios, then resell them to players" have emerged. After minors' gaming time is restricted, the transaction volume of the entire virtual market should be somewhat affected.
Chen Nian, president of "I Have Network," which specializes in virtual transactions, told reporters: "I don't feel qualified to comment on the question of 'the impact of the anti-addiction system on us.' If I have to say, of course, there will be an impact."
The promotion and implementation of the anti-addiction system will cause a certain degree of impact on the immediate economic interests of game operators. However, Zhu Geliang told reporters: "This issue needs to be considered from a long-term perspective. Protecting minors is the responsibility of all online game enterprises, and putting social benefits first will ultimately produce returns on our economic benefits in the long run, because companies willing to take on social responsibilities have greater potential for sustainable development. The anti-addiction system merely hopes that players control their gaming time; players won't stop playing games because of this, instead, they can achieve sustainable development. Only when players can sustainably develop can enterprises sustainably develop. On this point, our fundamental interests are aligned."
