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Online Games Addicts Rate Drops Down in ChinaWhile Canada, New Zealand, England and the rest of the world are looking for creative ways to monitor the young generation's access to online games, China's way to reduce online gaming addiction among minors has proved to be working. According to China press, the number of underage online gamers has dropped to 183 millions (from 150 million in 2007) due to the operation of the new system, which requires players to fill in their real name and ID numbers in order to play and giving negative reinforcements to minors who play over three consecutive hours.
Online gaming addiction is a big problem in China. In 2007, 22% of the youth were reported playing online games excessively, and in July 2007, China's new anti-internet addiction system came into effect. In order to play online games in the 1.3 milliard nation, one must provide his full name and ID number to verify his real age. If a minor play for over 3 hours, the operation will be shut down automatically (if played in a public game room) and would lose half of the tokens earned in the game, or all of them if passes the 5 hours barrier. This system was already adjusted on 103 of 107 gaming websites.
Online games hazards, from addiction to exposure to violence is an international problem that has been worrying parents and educators worldwide. According to a survey made by the China Youth Social Service Center, everyone is happy with the results of the anti gaming addiction system. The survey shows that it not only succeed in reducing the percentage of underage internet gamers from 22% to 15%, but 60% of the survey answerers have expressed satisfaction with the restrictions enforced on them by the system, which was highly criticized for its flagrant breach of citizens' privacy
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