Abstract
Introduction
The General Administration of Press and Publication of the People's Republic of China published the Notice on the Prevention of Online Gaming Addiction in Juveniles 1 (the “Notice”) on October 25, 2019. The Notice imposes new legal obligations on online gaming service providers in order to ensure the protection of juveniles from “online gaming addiction.” Juveniles are defined by Section 7 of the Notice as citizens of the People's Republic of China under the age of 18. The Notice has been effective since November 1, 2019.
The legal burdens imposed can be summarized as follows: (1) an obligation to verify the identity of all users using their unique national identity number (only this obligation is uniquely imposed in relation to adult users, as the verification process is necessary to determine whether the user is an adult or a juvenile for the purposes of the other obligations imposed); (2) a shutdown law imposed as an obligation to stop providing online gaming services to juveniles between 22:00 and 8:00 the next morning; (3) maximum gameplay time limits imposed as an obligation to stop providing online gaming services to juveniles after 3 hours on public holidays (including weekends) and 1.5 hours on other days; (4) maximum in-game spending limits imposed as an obligation not to provide paid services beyond a certain monetary limit (or not at all) depending on the age range of the juvenile user in question.
Obligation to Verify User Identity
Section 1 of the Notice establishes the legal obligation of online video game providers to verify the identity of all users before being allowed to provide the users with video gaming services:
After the effective date of the Notice, services must not be provided to any new user whose identity has not been verified. Within two months of the effective date, i.e., before January 1, 2020, the identity of all existing users must be verified. If any existing users remain unverified after January 1, 2020, services must not be provided. Any user verification data must be stored and preserved using appropriate measures, and must not be used for any other purposes. A demo version of the game services lasting less than an hour in length is allowed to be provided to users without verifying their identity. However, the users cannot be allowed to spend money in the demo version. In addition, game companies are only allowed to provide one demo every 15 days to users of each hardware system.
Commentary on the obligation to verify user identity
The verification of user identity is possible in the People's Republic of China because of the State's national identity card system which provides each person with a unique identity number. 2 This preliminary legal obligation ensures that further legal requirements imposed by the Notice in relation to the 22:00–8:00 shutdown law, maximum gameplay time limits, and maximum spending limits on in-game monetization can be effectively enforced. Nonetheless, it must be noted that juvenile users can bypass the verification process, for example, by using the unique identity number of an adult, either with or without the adult's permission.
Service Shutdown Law Between 22:00 – 8:00
Section 2 of the Notice sets out the blanket ban that gaming services cannot be provided to juveniles between 22:00 and 8:00 the next morning.
Commentary on mandatory service shutdown
The shutdown period in the People's Republic of China is designed to last between 22:00 and 8:00 the next morning in order to ensure that juveniles would sleep rather than play online games. The intervention could have gone a step further and also imposed the mandatory shutdown between regular school hours, for example, between 8:00 and 17:00 on weekdays, to ensure that juveniles would attend school diligently.
Comparatively, since 2011, a mandatory service shutdown law has been imposed between 0:00 and 6:00 in South Korea on juveniles under the age of 16 by Article 26(1) of the Juvenile Protection Act. 3 This legal intervention has been argued to infringe fundamental human rights and has caused economic harm to the local video game industry. 4 Notably, psychology research has concluded that the shutdown policy was ineffective because it did not reduce adolescent Internet usage and did not positively impact adolescent sleeping hours. 5
Maximum Gameplay Time Limits
Section 2 of the Notice further dictates that online gaming service providers are allowed to provide juvenile users with a maximum of 3 hours of gameplay on public holidays (including weekends) and a maximum of only 1.5 hours of gameplay on other days.
Maximum In-Game Spending Limits
Section 3 of the Notice differentiates between, and establishes varying legal obligations in relation to: juvenile users under the age of 8; those between 8 and 16; and those between 16 and 18:
For juvenile users age 8 and under, online gaming service providers are not allowed to provide any paid services. For juvenile users between the ages of 8 and 16, each individual transaction for in-game monetization must not exceed ¥50 Renminbi (US$7.11; £5.5), whilst total monthly spending must not exceed ¥200 Renminbi (US$28.43; £22.02). For juvenile users between the ages of 16 and 18, each individual transaction for in-game monetization must not exceed ¥100 Renminbi (US$14.21; £11.01), whilst total monthly spending must not exceed ¥400 Renminbi (US$56.85; £44.03).
Commentary on maximum in-game spending limits
The literature has called for the imposition of maximum in-game spending limits to combat predatory monetization in loot boxes and to protect player-consumers. 6 The new legal obligations imposed in the People's Republic of China are welcomed.
Regretfully, the maximum spending limits imposed in the People's Republic of China cover and protect only juveniles, but not adults. Paternalistic measures which seek to protect children are easier to justify; however, adult player-consumers remain at risk of abuse. A maximum spending limit should also be imposed on adults to ensure their consumer protection.
Drummond, Sauer, and Hall had proposed a limit of US$50 per month on adults; 7 this limit is very close to the limit that the People's Republic of China has decided to impose on juveniles nearing adulthood (those between the ages of 16 and 18). A future extension of the highest maximum spending limit to include adults would also ensure their protection and is well-advised.
Comparatively, however, it is noted that the maximum in-game spending limits previously imposed on both juveniles and adults in South Korea have since been repealed citing unfair economic discrimination against the video game industry as compared to other creative industries. 8
Conclusion
All legal burdens imposed by the Notice are on the online gaming service providers. The users themselves do not have any compliance obligations. Therefore, the regulatory position of the Notice must be lauded because it correctly recognizes the imbalance of bargaining powers between online gaming service providers and their users. All online gaming service providers operating in the People's Republic of China should take heed of these new legal obligations.
Recommended Reading
Daniel L. King & Paul H. Delfabbro, Video Game Monetization (e.g., ‘Loot Boxes’): a Blueprint for Practical Social Responsibility Measures, 17 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION 166–179 (2019).
Footnotes
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank his colleague and friend Laura L. Henderson for her editorial assistance.
1
2
Other countries, such as the UK, which do not have a universal personal identification system would face more practical difficulties when attempting to impose similar legal obligations, see Leon Y. Xiao, A Critique of the Current UK Regulatory Position on Loot Boxes: Towards the Imposition of an Equitable Maximum Spending Limit and Incentivised Ethical Game Design, 
(last visited Oct. 13, 2019).
3
Juvenile Protection Act (enacted by Law No. 5297 of 7 March 1997, amended by Law No. 10659 of 19 May 2011, amended by Law No. 15353 of 16 January 2018) (South Korea).
4
Kim Byung-gwan, Implications of Forced Shutdown in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (in Korean), 33 (last accessed Dec. 23, 2019).
5
Jiyun Choi et al., Effect of the Online Game Shutdown Policy on Internet Use, Internet Addiction, and Sleeping Hours in Korean Adolescents, 62
6
For example, see Xiao, supra note 2, at 15–17; and Aaron Drummond, James D. Sauer, and Lauren C. Hall, Loot Box Limit-Setting: A Potential Policy to Protect Video Game Users with Gambling Problems?, 114(5)
7
Drummond et al., supra note 6, at 935.