author丨Buer
edit丨Nuguo
For more than a year, what are the effectiveness of the anti-addiction policy of gaming that has lasted for more than a year? A recent report gave a preliminary answer.
On November 22, the Game Working Committee of the China Audio and Digital Association, the China Game Industry Research Institute, and the Gamma Data jointly released the "2022 China Game Industry Minor Protection Progress Report". According to the research of the report, in the year after the implementation of the new game prevention regulations for , data such as the total game duration and consumption flow for minors have been significantly reduced. The problem of minors being addicted to games is basically solved.
report stated that although technical loopholes such as account rental, agency training, and international servers still appear from time to time, overall, the new anti-addiction regulations have still achieved the expected results. In addition to profound changes to minors, many game distribution companies are also actively responding to the requirements of the new regulations and adapting to the market environment in the new era through business transformation and product overseas.
However, the problem of game addiction is basically not the end. Short videos seem to have become a new favorite for minors. According to the report, 65% of minors switch to short video platforms after games are restricted.
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new regulations have achieved remarkable results in more than one year
On August 30, 2021, the National Press and Publication Administration issued the "Notice on Further Strict Management and Effective Prevention of Minors from Addicting to Online Games". This notice is also widely known by the outside world as the "strictest game anti-addiction policy in history".
For example, Tencent , a leader in the domestic game field, has set up a number of regulations in its popular mobile game " Honor of Kings ", including "including 22:00 a minor user banning play from 8:00 a day to 8:00 a day; national statutory holidays are limited to two hours a day, and other times are limited to one hour a day; users under the age of 12 cannot recharge the game."
In the face of such decisive measures, it is only a matter of time before minors stay away from being addicted to games. The "2022 China Game Industry Minor Protection Progress Report" recently released by
shows that according to parents' feedback, from the current distribution of game duration for minors, the weekly game time for minors has been further reduced compared with 2021. The The 2021 game duration for minors within 3 hours was 67.76%, which has risen to 75.49% this year.
However, in addition to the basic solution to the problem of game addiction, some new problems have also begun to emerge. When minors stay away from the game world, they will spend more time on where they need further attention from parents and regulators.
Currently, the number of netizens under the age of 19 in my country has reached 186 million, and the mobile phone holding rate of minors aged 9 and above has reached 97.6%. After not playing mobile games, many minors have not actually shifted their attention from their mobile phones.
The report also pointed out that after the game is restricted by minors who still have game habits, 65.54% of minors in will spend the extra time on short videos, which is a certain increase compared with last year.
Some of the current short video platforms, although the content is all-encompassing, many are not suitable for minors to watch, and some are even full of soft pornography and vulgar content.
For this reason, many media have revealed that some short video platforms including video accounts frequently appear "soft pornography" and "edge ball"-style content, especially some live broadcast rooms of dance talent are even more severely affected.
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"Sight-Dou Fast" How to prevent addiction
With the maturity of 5G network speed and the rapid popularization of mobile communication devices, the era of short video has long arrived, and short videos have even become an indispensable part of many people's daily work and entertainment life.
From the perspective of user scale, short videos have a wider coverage than games, and due to different product attributes, they can more invade users' fragmented time. According to the "2022 China Mobile Internet Semi-annual Report" released by the third-party organization Quest Mobile, among the top short video platforms, the monthly active users of WeChat video accounts, which ranked first in , have exceeded 800 million, Douyin , 680 million, and Kuaishou has 390 million.
However, from a regulatory perspective, major short video APPs have also been required to launch the youth model very early to reduce the possible negative impact on minors. As early as March 2019, Cyberspace Affairs Office began to pilot the " Youth Anti-Addiction System " on Douyin, Kuaishou and Volcano Short Video . was then promoted to 4 online video platforms such as Tencent Video , iQiyi, Youku, and PP Video , and 14 short video platforms such as Xigua Video, Haokan Video, Quanmin Video, and Bilibili .
According to regulatory requirements, after minors enter the teenager mode, their use period, service functions, and online duration are all limited, which is similar to game supervision.
In addition, minors can only access the exclusive content pool. For example, short video platforms are required to focus on providing popular science content that is educational and entertaining, such as course teaching, calligraphy and painting, parent-child education, humanities and history, traditional culture, handmade production, and natural science popularization.
From the specific measures, users who turn on the Douyin teenager mode can only watch short videos for no more than 40 minutes a day, and cannot be used between 10 pm and 6 pm the next day.
and Kuaishou has also iterated many times on the youth mode in the App. The existing functions include: recharge and reward isolation, live broadcast permissions are turned off, urban pages are turned on, privacy switch is turned on, time lock function, password protection is turned on, usage time limit (disabled from 22:00-6:00), high-quality content pool, etc.
In addition, iQiyi, Bilibili and other platforms have also set up youth modes for minors, and most of the content is focused on restricting usage functions and usage time.
However, it is worth noting that the video account with monthly active users exceeding 800 million, and there are still shortcomings in the prevention of addiction among young people. Previously, the People's Data Research Institute evaluated the youth model of various short video platforms and found that the youth model of WeChat video account lacks content classification and age grading, and has no obvious distinction between the content of the adult model, there is a lot of food marketing, sports competitions, etc., and there is less knowledge of subjects and skills.
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short video new army still needs to make up for an important lesson
As one of Tencent's few strategic-level products that have grown rapidly in the past two years, the rapid rise of WeChat Video Account is obvious to all. Three years ago, the user data of WeChat Video Account was still ranked outside the top ten of the short video platforms, but now it has surpassed Douyin and Kuaishou and become the "leader" in the short video field.
However, in contrast to its rapidly increasing market position, the "teenager model" in the video account and even the WeChat ecosystem have always been controversial.
On May 27, 2021, the " Economic Reference News " published a survey article saying that the video number teenager model is useless. th day, WeChat made adjustments and began to pop up the window "Youth Mode" to users according to national requirements.
In August 2021, the Haidian District Procuratorate of Beijing announced that in its performance of its duties, the court found that the "Youth Model" of Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co., Ltd.'s WeChat product "Youth Model" does not comply with the relevant provisions of the " Law on the Protection of Minors of the People's Republic of China ", infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of minors and involves public interests.
Then Tencent responded that will carefully check the functions of WeChat youth mode, and humbly accept user suggestions and sincerely respond to civil public interest litigation.
As a banner for domestic Internet companies, Tencent actually has sufficient experience in preventing addiction to teenagers. Previously, the successful transformation of "Honor of Kings" has driven many changes in the mobile game field. Even within the WeChat ecosystem, Tencent has also carried out effective "teenage model" transformation to many game mini programs.
According to Tencent’s latest financial report data, as of July 2022, its minor game duration has dropped by 92% year-on-year compared with , accounting for only 0.7% of the total game duration in the local market. is based on such successful experience. If Tencent wants to truly solve the problem of minors being addicted to short videos, it can be copied and applied quickly.
For the issue of preventing addiction to teenagers, whether it is games, short videos, or even live broadcasts, mobile social products, they are based on supervision, the joint efforts of parents and platforms. This is a systematic project and a project that must be done.
As the operator, whether it is based on market seizing or reluctance to give up short-term business interests, it cannot override the basis of compliance. This is not only about the integrity of the industry, but also about the growth and future of young people.
