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Difficult to fight gaming addiction

After Thursday's presentation on gaming addiction, I read an article about how the Chinese company Tencent is instituting measures to fight gaming addiction (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/11/05/chinese-web-giant-tencent-rolls-out-toughest-gaming-restrictions-amid-crackdown-industry/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b877f584e378).


For those younger than 18, Tencent will be instituting regulations on the numbers of hours and time of day that one can play its games. In addition, Chinese government regulations further restrict the ability of young people to use electronics. Nonetheless, these measures have led to two issues.


First, is that since January, Tencent's market value has fallen by $250 billion due to these regulations, according to the article. Thus, companies like Tencent face a tradeoff between trying to support the well-being of its players, and making a profit. What are your thoughts on how these companies should deal with this tradeoff?


The other problem is that these regulations do not affect adults struggling with gaming addition. I understand the importance of protecting the youth from gaming addiction; however, this is clearly an issue that adults face as well. Nonetheless, if regulations are created to limit adult gaming, there may be complaints of limiting one's freedoms and rights. Therefore, how should a government both protect the rights of its citizens as well as keep them from struggling with gaming addiction?


Clearly, fighting gaming addiction is not as simple as it seems.

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Stephen Berkowitz
Stephen Berkowitz
Nov 19, 2018

Very interesting article - I definitely think it will be the role of the government that needs to intervene to combat gaming addiction, rather than the actual game companies themselves. This is as it will simply create an unequal balance between competitors and at the end of the day, as Tencent has found, it will only hurt the game companies that are trying to act, consequently costing them revenue and potential earnings. Similar to the clamp down on smoking (whilst gaming addiction is not nearly as extreme), perhaps the larger consoles are what must be controlled by internet if deemed necessary by the government, with restriction controls placed on the mediums, rather than the developers of the game. That way,…

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Michelle McMillan
Michelle McMillan
Nov 19, 2018

While I can commend Tencent for attempting to solve the problem, I think getting a handle on gaming addiction is going to take more than a few restrictions. For one, like you mentioned, this really doesn't help adults dealing with the addiction even though they are probably affected by it more. Also, who is to say that once these children that have been restricted for years, they won't go crazy with their gaming habits once they get the freedom to make up for all the lost years. The best idea to me was the one mentioned in class that diminished rewards after playing for a certain amount of time; though, I am unsure because I never put too much thought…

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rmeleus
Nov 19, 2018

Fighting game addiction, much like any other addiction, is not a simple problem. It is part of the reason why gaming addiction, despite the arguments and controversy, is classified as a disorder, since doing so allows rehabilitative services under health care to cover costs for those trying to overcome addiction. But at what point is the government and companies responsible for the well-being of their customers? There have been recent changes that games have done, like the lootbox controversy and microtransactions adjustments, but to solely rely on companies and the government is, as you mentioned, limiting their rights. I feel like, at the moment, the best they can do is have them aware of the risks, such as how we…

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Ethan Della Rocca
Ethan Della Rocca
Nov 19, 2018

Looking through the article I'm not sure how I feel about Tencent's decision of limiting game time to 1 hour a day for people under 12 and 2 hours a day for people under 18. While I think that certain limits would probably be a good thing, this seems somewhat drastic to me. Personally, playing games was a integral part of my ability to make friends at those young ages. Video games helped me make friendships and grow close to people -- something which I had always struggled with. My situation was of course not universal, and video game addiction is certainly a serious issue, but I have to wonder if measures like this are simply removing a way for…

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rrangwani
Nov 18, 2018

With what Tencent is doing, it seems to be a really tough trade-off, because of the fact that with limiting game time for certain groups of players, they are directly hurting their business. But props to them for taking some initiative.

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