The gulag? Are gamers getting sent to prison? While the answer is no, the potential deprivation of individual rights may give many the same bitter taste in their mouths. In the latest step in China’s long battle for gaming censoring, China seems to be pushing for new regulations restricting underage gamers from playing video games extensively with the use of a face recognition system. Tencent, a major corporation in China, is responsible for a majority of the revenue that China makes in the videogame industry yearly. However, Tencent is also well known as the spearhead influencer that Chinese lawmakers target in order to control the gaming market. By heavily investing in the company, the Chinese government is able to manipulate Tencent and thereby ensure that new regulations and expectations are conveyed swiftly. This is a tactic which many critics point out as the Chinese government's invisible hand in ensuring an authoritarian rule by using proxies to enact the will of the ruling party. While Tencent has successfully helped many requirements such as the implementation of a personal identification number verifier into gaming registration, the backlash from this new regulation seems to have been more than Tencent and the Chinese government had prepared for.
Many may be familiar with games such as Genshin Impact or PUBG mobile. The gaming industry in China can massively influence the gaming industry of other countries as well considering that "China's domestic video gaming revenue in 2020 rose to 278.7 billion yuan (around 41.82 billion USD) with almost half of the county now playing video games" This was around the same amount of money that was used to manufacture covid-19 vaccines globally this year and it appears that the gaming industry has only been growing in size.
China's gaming industry isn't something to brush off the table. With such a big influence on the gaming market, China's gaming regulations could likely influence the gaming regulations of other countries including the United States. However, why would the Chinese government want to hinder the development of such a promising market? A possible explanation may be that from a traditional Chinese view, video games and leisure lead to laziness and failure. By preventing the younger generation from integrating gaming into their schedules, they are also controlling the generation's unconscious mind by hinting at the idea that video games are bad. This way, when the generation grows up, they will use less time for relaxation and more time for production. Even so, with China's development, an increasing number of the Chinese population are slowly changing their more strict and traditional Chinese views towards a more accepting western view when it comes to privacy and individual rights as they slowly realize the ghost hand in play and are trying to stop it.
Mandatory face recognition is different than the kind of face recognition that we use on our mobile devices' home screens. The function is mandatory whereas we always have the option of unlocking our phone with a password or another method. Additionally, Tencent is notorious for being known as a company which supposedly sells information from its clients. Therefore, the collection of facial scans is something that a lot of the people in China- gamers and non gamers alike- are speaking up against.
China has 12 fundamental values for three different aspects: a national level, a social level, and an individual level. On a national level, China values prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony. The social values include freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law. Finally, the individual values mention patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendship. Surprisingly, many of these values sound similar to American ideals but perhaps the most unexpected of them all is the mentioning of freedom in an authoritarian state. The idea of freedom is similar to the Western idea of freedom in that freedom means the ability for individuals to pursue their goals within the boundaries of the law. However, when it comes to China, law restrictions prevent Chinese citizens in far more ways than many countries and many of our generation are starting to realize this situation and appear to be trying to make a change. By pushing back against these regulations, there are signs that the Chinese population may be slowly straying away from following an authoritarian rule.
If this movement against the mandatory face scan succeeds, it may be the largest victory in Chinese history for individual rights in gaming history which may also be a signal of how China's views have been changing over the years. The ability for bottom-up change to occur in the face of strict regulations is something that is quite rare in authoritarian states. This may force the leaders of the gaming industry and even the Chinese government to reconsider the guidelines they will implement in the future for individual rights and freedom. Overall, the decision of when and how to relax is a choice that should be given to underage gamers to help them realize the responsibilities that come with their decisions. While the eruption of the call for individual rights and more individual freedom seems to be causing waves on China's traditional views and methods, it remains to be seen if or to what extent this movement may influence future policy making for the Chinese market.
Sources:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/9/22567029/tencent-china-facial-recognition-honor-of-kings-game-for-peace
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3146437/chinas-video-game-industry-stormy-waters-country-grapples-its-love
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/31/tech/china-ban-video-games-minor-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-08-chinas-games-market-expected-to-reach-usd42-billion-by-2022
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