Tencent Has A Solution So That Children Are Not Addicted To Playing Games

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JAKARTA - Tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. is currently working to reduce video game addiction in children in China, by launching a facial recognition system.

This system will later be able to recognize the faces of minors so they don't play games at night. Tencent's move will prevent teens under 18 from playing games between 10pm and 8am.

Dubbed Midnight Patrol, the system has been installed in more than 60 Tencent games. The company says that this system also exists in popular games like Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite.

With this facial recognition system, Tencent is able to prevent tricks that children do when circumventing the age limit rules that exist in the game today. Usually, children trick them by using their parents' identities or devices.

"So, regardless of the device and identity used, there will still be direct verification of facial recognition regarding the age of the person who will be playing the game," Tencent said in a statement as quoted by Bloomberg, Friday, July 9.

Interestingly, if there are users who fail to be verified by the system, they will be categorized as minors. Then, they will be put on the watch list of the gaming health system for anti-addiction.

In addition, those who cannot be verified will be removed from the game. The rules of the system built by the company are in line with regulations the Chinese government enacted in 2019 to reduce addiction to video games.

The existence of rules to reduce video game addiction does look progressive. But on the other hand, the facial recognition system embedded in the game is a form of concern for data privacy conditions in China.

Earlier in 2017, the government announced a controversial policy requiring internet and service providers to force users to register with their real names.

A lot of criticism then came after the policy came out. It is claimed, the move will increase the risk of possible security breaches and increase the government's ability to monitor citizens' activities.

Meanwhile, the use of facial recognition technology in China is nothing new. The country has implemented similar technology at airports, subways and in the Muslim-majority western region of Xinjiang.