How will children in China be prevented from playing mobile games at night?

Chinese company Tencent, known for its online games, is now introducing a new facial recognition feature that will prevent children from playing any game from 10pm to 8am.

The company says that with the help of this technology called 'Midnight Patrol', every trick to evade the government curfew will be caught. The government introduced the curfew in 2019, setting a limit on the amount of money that young gamers can transfer to the game.

Under these restrictions, gamers have to register themselves in the game through their real identity. This information is already in the national database.

But to avoid this, children are reportedly playing games day and night using adult identities instead.

Now, after these steps, gamers will have to prove for a long time that they are adults by recognizing their faces.

Tencent began testing the system in 2018, but the technology will be available in more than 60 games from the world's largest gaming company.

He announced the move on China's messaging app QQ, calling the feature 'Zero Hour Cruising'. Chinese news website SixtyTone translated it as 'Midnight Patrol'.

Most of Tencent's popular games, such as Honor of Kings or Game for Peace, are designed for mobile phones. Mobile gaming is more popular in China than in the West.

Unlike a computer or gaming console, face recognition is considered easier with a mobile camera.

Camera verification is already being proposed for online shopping and adult products.

The World Health Organization declared gaming an addiction in 2018.

The following year, the British Department of Health NHS introduced treatment plans that would try to get some gamers out of their addiction.

But in China, it has been claimed that video games have a negative effect on young people. An example of this is poor eyesight in children.

Therefore, some steps have been taken in China to address this issue, such as the title of the game being approved by a watchdog. In 2018, it froze some games and reduced their number.