Playing games late into the night in China is set to get even more difficult for minors following an announcement the world's largest video game vendor Tencent is introducing facial recognition.
As Gizmodo reports, the new system has been called "Midnight Patrol" and it requires gamers to have their face scanned while sat at a computer if they intend to play games. Their face is then matched to a registered profile which includes their real name and age, a system Tencent introduced in 2018. If the person is a minor, then a hard limit is set on how long they can play and when.
Although this sounds like an extreme move by Tencent, it seems necessary to comply with the very strict rules around gaming the Chinese government introduced back in 2019 (it was also limited in 2018 to save children's eyesight). As Digitaltrends reports, minors can only play games for 90 minutes per week day, and 180 minutes on weekend days or holidays. The other hard limit is no gaming being allowed between the hours of 10pm and 8am each day.
By using facial recognition, Tencent can force minors to abide by the rules simply through closing games automatically when limits are reached. Around 60 of Tencent's games will use the facial recognition system, and in the process stop the company from getting into trouble with state administrators. If it works, it seems likely the system will only expand to include all games Tencent releases.
Of course, children will try and think of ways to bypass the system, but Tencent has thought of that. If facial recognition isn't used, it defaults to marking the gamer as a minor. I'm sure a few people will attempt to use a mask or photo of an adult to try and fool the system, but whether that works depends on how good Tencent's tech is.