How old is a violent romance online game suitable for children? Experts called for a grading system

□ reporter Han Dandong

□ Intern Wang Yitian

Gunshots with headshots, daggers stabbed, flesh and blood... A few days ago, Mr. Wang, a citizen of Beijing, glanced at his son, who was shouting and playing a popular online game, and found that the game was full of gunfights and knife fights, and the picture was very realistic. Thinking that his son, who was in the second year of junior high school, was beating and killing in his mouth, Mr. Wang felt that he had found the crux of the matter, and firmly asked his son to delete the game.

"It's too violent, such a game is not suitable for minors at all, and the game should be rated." Mr. Wang said. In fact, during the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, many NPC deputies proposed the establishment and improvement of a game grading management system.

Under the current situation of rapid development of online games, is it necessary to formulate a rating system? How to establish a grading system suitable for our country? In this regard, the reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" conducted an interview.

The content of the game is not suitable for children

But sought after by minors

Mr. Li, from Guangzhou, Guangdong, has also recently had a headache over his son's online games – not only does the child play too long and addicted to it, but some games are too violent and bloody.

Things have to start with the New Year this year. During the Chinese New Year, his son Xiao Li, who is in junior high school, locked himself in his room all day, mainly for eating and going to the toilet, unwilling to go to relatives and go out to play, and the time was used to play games.

Once, Mr. Li pushed the door and found that on the computer screen, the male protagonist played by his son was holding a machine gun and shooting wildly at a group of "zombies", and there was blood everywhere he went.

Such a violent and bloody scene made him feel very uncomfortable, and he immediately stopped, "Is this a game that middle school students should play?" Don't play anymore! ”

Although his son explained that this was all fake, Mr. Li still believes that children should not be exposed to such games - which affect children's behavior, and "children's childhood should be full of laughter, not violence". Xiao Li, on the other hand, believes that his father is fussy and backward in thinking, and playing such games can relieve his academic pressure, and he has the ability to discriminate, and it is impossible to play a game and become violent.

A number of parents also reported to reporters that in addition to violence, some characters in online games, with more revealing clothing, scratching their heads, and sexually suggestive language, belong to online games that are not suitable for children.

Xiao Tang, a junior high school student from Tianjin, is a loyal player of online multiplayer online games that he loves and often buys skins for his characters. Don said that the skills of the female characters in the game are very cool, and the skin launched is also very good-looking, "although the clothes are indeed a little revealing, but the drawings are so good-looking, I can't help but buy them."

The reporter noticed that some games will be marked with age-appropriate prompts on the download and login interfaces, such as 16 years old, 12 years old, and 8 years old. The age-appropriate reminder for the multiplayer online competitive online game played by Don reads "Suitable for users aged 16 and above, it is recommended that minors use game products under parental supervision".

The reporter tried another role-playing management game with age-appropriate tips for 16 years old+, the core of the gameplay is love, dating system, the heroine played by the player can have sweet dating and mobile phone interaction when interacting with the characters in the game, and at the same time equipped with SMS, call, friend circle and public account functions, restoring real dating.

The gamer "Tiantian" told reporters that many of the friends who play this game together are primary and secondary school students, and the love link in the game is easy to be brought into reality; Some players will also fall in love in real life according to the standard of the "boyfriend" in the game, falling in early love and not having the intention to learn.

Age appropriate prompts are not mandatory

Call for a grading system

In December 2020, the China Association of Audio-Visual and Digital Publishing (CADPA) issued the "Age-appropriate Tips for Online Games" in response to the compliant publication and fair use of online games, providing more diverse protection methods for young users.

The prompt has three parts: the age-appropriate prompt symbol is stipulated, represented by green, blue and yellow, representing the three age groups of 8+, 12+, and 16+; The requirements for the use of identifiers are refined, and standards such as download channels, display duration, size ratio, and update frequency are clarified; The clarity of the identifier application scenario, that is, the age-appropriate prompt sign must be placed in the interface position with visibility and visibility.

This standard is also widely used by major domestic game manufacturers. However, age-appropriate prompts do not equal game ratings, nor are they mandatory.

Xie Lianjie, director of the Internet legal affairs department of Beijing Yingke (Shanghai) Law Firm, said that there is no clear online game rating system in China at this stage, and when CADPA conducts online game review and grading work, only age is reviewed, and the game content is released and reviewed through the "Game Review Scoring Rules" before the game leaves the factory, these are only a minimum threshold, and there is no specific rating of game content.

"Minors' psychological and cognitive abilities are in the stage of growth, and their values and cognitive ways are very different from adults, and online games should be managed at different levels." Xie Lianjie said.

Ma Lihong, a lawyer at Beijing DHH Law Firm, said that the foreign game industry generally adopts a grading system, covering children, teenagers and adults, especially adding detailed content descriptions for adult age groups, and there are restricted games marked "18+" with pornography, violence, crime and other content. The "age-appropriate reminder" is a supplement and improvement to China's strict and standardized content review system. All games should fully consider the possible impact of minors' exposure and must stand the test of parents and all walks of life.

Yao Jinju, a professor at Beijing Foreign Chinese University and executive director of the Beijing Education Rule of Law Research Base, believes that China's youth are a generation that has grown up in the digital world and is also the main user group of online games. In today's economic globalization, whether it is the optimization and governance of the online game industry, or the evaluation and dissemination of online game products, the state needs to establish a game rating system. This system can not only escort minors' gaming behavior on the legal side, but also help to dispel the phenomenon of stigmatization of online games at the social level, and provide a clear production standard for the online game industry, thereby enhancing the self-inspection, self-discipline and sense of social responsibility of the online game industry.

Xie Lianjie also agreed. He said that with the rapid development and popularization of the game industry, the proliferation of violence, pornography and other undesirable content in games is also becoming more and more serious. Due to the lack of psychological maturity and judgment, minors are prone to indulge in these undesirable content, which has a negative impact on physical and mental health. Some information shows that there are many violent crimes among juvenile crimes, and the crimes caused by addiction to violent games urgently need to attract sufficient attention. Therefore, adopting hierarchical management and appropriate review and filtering of game content can protect the legitimate rights and interests of minors and prevent them from being exposed to bad content.

"Game rating management allows children to be protected, so that the thinking of developers or creators is not constrained, and perfect game rating management is very necessary." Ma Lihong said that on the one hand, a hierarchical management system that is more in line with the actual mental situation of minors is needed, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to realize that there may be large mental differences between minors of the same age, and it is impossible to hope that graded management can solve the problem once and for all.

Detailed standards facilitate enforcement

Match mental development

How should China's game rating system be established?

Yao Jinju suggested that under the premise of fully investigating the current situation of the domestic game industry, we should appropriately refer to mature foreign experience, adjust the game content that can be accessed at different ages, and try our best to match the current level of mental development of minors.

"Specific to system design, we must first clarify the relationship between the powers and responsibilities of government departments and clarify the main functional departments." Yao Jinju said that next, when dealing with the regulatory issues of the game industry combined with the actual situation in China, it is not appropriate to directly intervene and adopt strong legal control, but should adopt a standard-guided supervision method, introduce clear standards and specifications to classify game content, avoid "one-size-fits-all" supervision, retain the vitality and space for enterprises to innovate and develop new products, and guide the industry to self-discipline.

In Ma Lihong's view, although the "Online Game Age Appropriate Tips" has made it clear that "age appropriate tips" are included in the game version number declaration requirements, there are still many problems to be determined, which is also the future improvement direction of game rating management. If so, who will carry out the relevant application approval work? How can the games that are already in operation improve the "age-appropriate tips"? To what extent is the enforcement of age-appropriate reminders mandatory?

Xie Lianjie believes that in order to better protect minors, the grading system needs to be established and constantly improved and updated. From the perspective of game producers, the appearance of bad content should be prohibited in terms of conceptual orientation; In terms of production quality, undesirable sounds such as horror are prohibited; In terms of game interactivity, abuse and malicious personal attacks are prohibited.

"From a regulatory point of view, we can refer to relevant foreign grading systems, generally follow industry self-discipline, establish a game rating system suitable for China, and promote the grading development and management of online games in China." Platforms that provide game downloads must strictly implement national regulations and promptly and effectively supervise online games. Users and their guardians should also strengthen self-monitoring. Xie Lianjie said.

Linjie called for improving the accuracy and objectivity of game ratings. China's existing player classification is similar to foreign classification, both are classified by age, but the classification of gamers according to age is not necessarily the most accurate. The classification of gamers should not be distinguished by age alone, the criteria should focus on individuality, although it is aimed at the general group. When classifying players, it is necessary not only to pay attention to age, but also to understand the cognitive basis, content acceptance and psychological endurance of players in all aspects, so as to formulate stricter game rating standards, adopt more objective and fair evaluation methods, and ensure that the rating results are more accurate and in line with the actual situation.

In Ma Lihong's view, in addition to establishing systems such as online game grading management and real-name authentication, how to form a social joint force and correct some minors' erroneous views on games is also a necessary move to solve problems and achieve the healthy growth of children. (Source: Rule of Law Daily)