Vantage | Why Xi Jinping is after video games now

Xi Jinping has found a new adversary, not a world leader, a political rival, or a neighbouring country. The Chinese president’s new enemy is video games. He doesn’t like them, and he wants the people of China to not like them either. So he did what he does best; he decided to crack down on them. Beijing has made new rules, and these rules are bleeding China’s gaming companies. The stock market saw a bloodbath on Friday as the top gaming companies in China suffered big losses. Losses to the tune of 80 billion dollars in one day, and this could be just the beginning. The Chinese government is behaving like a nanny state because the president is paranoid. Why does he fear video games? He thinks they pose an ideological challenge to the communist party and that, at this rate, they will lose control over their youth, hence the crackdown. On Friday, a new set of regulations was announced. Any game that connects to the internet, China is now dictating how it should work. All games are different, but they all have one thing in common: They offer incentives.

When you log in for the first time, you get a reward. When you open the game the next day, you get more rewards. When you level up, the rewards get bigger. And so it continues. The higher you go, the bigger your reward. That’s how most games work. These incentives are designed to get you hooked. So when you get stuck, when you can’t level up, or when you need more powerful upgrades, you are compelled to spend some money. So that you can buy those upgrades. If you use your phone to play you must’ve seen these. They pop-up in the form of in-app purchases. That’s how the game makers make money. That’s how they get you addicted. Now China’s new rules target these incentives, and what do the rules say? Daily login rewards are banned. Online auctions for upgrades are banned too, and there will be spending limits. Meaning, gamers cannot buy unlimited upgrades. As of now, these regulations are quite vague. The wording lacks clarity. The rules are sweeping in nature. And China hasn’t bothered to clarify. So investors are assuming the worst. They believe Beijing is coming after gaming companies, and their profits. So, their stocks tanked Friday. Tencent was among the worst hit. It is the biggest gaming company in the world. It lost 16 percent of its value on Friday. That’s more than the loss of 50 billion dollars in a day. Then we have Netease, whose stock plunged by a record 28 percent. Bili-Bili, another Chinese gaming company, lost 14 percent. Put together these companies lost 80 billion dollars. There was a mass sell-off. It shows investors are spooked. Gaming was a lucrative business in China. Over 300 million Chinese citizens play online games, and gaming companies earn big money from them. This year their revenue is expected to cross 80 billion dollars. But the new rules will hurt these numbers. Although China has been at it for some time, it has been targeting the gaming industry. Two years ago, some restrictions were imposed. They limited the time that children can spend on games. Young people could play games just on Fridays, weekends and holidays, and the government even fixed a time, 8 to 9 PM. Before this law came into force China had limited game time on week days too, kids were allowed just 90 minutes for games. So the message from Beijing was clear — play less, study more. This came straight from the top. Xi Jinping himself has publicly complained about gaming. He says it is hurting the eyes of Chinese children, and their state media, took it many steps further calling these games — “spiritual opium”. Now, any addiction is harmful. Including gaming, so reasonable regulation should be fine. But China tends to operate at the extreme. If you are addicted to video games in China, you could end up in a gaming addiction camp. Officials from the Chinese military run it. It is basically a boot camp where kids are admitted. They dress in military fatigue and stay inside in what looks like a prison cell. The doctors who used to treat heroin addicts are known to have been treating them. This is China for you, where gamers are treated like drug addicts because Xi Jinping has decided that gaming is evil. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.