New curbs safeguard minors playing online games

Virtual exit

Wang Wenda, a psychology teacher at Ningxia University, said online games are designed to offer instant feedback and satisfaction, which makes them addictive.

In real life, students often do not benefit immediately from studying hard and are sometimes criticized by teachers and parents if they perform poorly, he said.

Students lack the ability to see the long-term benefits of working diligently at their studies. Enrolling at a good university and finding a high-paid job seem too distant for them, Wang said.

Online games can offer an escape for students where there is also social interaction and a hierarchical system, Wang said. Unlike the real world, where students can become weighed down for different reasons, they may excel and find solace in the virtual world, he said.

However, as they became addicted to such a world, students gradually lose interest in forming personal relationships, and their ability to learn and develop interpersonal skills suffers as a result, he said.

With implementation of the new regulations, parents and teachers should be less critical of students who become addicted to games. They also need to make more efforts to understand students' needs and help them form new relationships in the real world, he added.

Wide approval

Parents and teachers welcomed the new regulations.

Wang Jiaqi, mother of a fifth-grade student in Chaoyang district, Beijing, told Xinhua News Agency an addiction to online games hindered her son taking up other hobbies. It also affected his studies and damaged his health, especially his eyesight.

She said he stopped hockey training, seldom took part in outdoor sports or talked to his parents, and just stayed at home playing online games.

Mao Jingkun, father of a fifth-grade student in Beijing, also hailed the new restrictions.

"Preventing my daughter spending too much time online is like when my parents tried to stop me watching too much television," he said. "The only difference is that it was easy then, but really difficult now, as digital devices are much smaller and easier to hide than TV sets."

He said his daughter does not spend that much time on video games, but he often cannot stop her watching short videos, adding that a broader restriction should be introduced to cover the time young children can spend online.

Lan, the teacher from Shuozhou, said a stricter real-name and verification system should be adopted by games companies to prevent students using their parents' identities to log on.

Parents should offer more companionship to their children, so that they do not feel the need to find this in the virtual world, he added.

Moreover, schools, teachers and parents need to work together to help young students find hobbies they are passionate about, and conduct various after-school activities to ensure that students adopt healthier interests, Lan added.