If your kids play video games, then the chances are they spend a significant amount of time playing Fortnite. The game, in which 100 players battle to be the last survivor in a landscape where they can construct their own fortifications, has become a global phenomenon, attracting over 125 million users since its release last year, and is particularly popular with younger gamers. However, a document circulating on the Internet suggests that Fortnite is about to be banned in China.

Following concerns about the impact of gaming on children, China established an Online Games Ethics Committee to review and censor content. The committee has examined 20 games, with 9 facing a total ban and 11 requiring revision to be approved. No official announcement has been made as to which games they are, but a spreadsheet which has been widely shared online purports to be the committee’s leaked judgment and shows Fortnite as one of the games to be prohibited, for “blood and gore, and vulgar content”.

An English translation of the document, shared at https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/a4w3ux/chinas_ethics_board_reviews_20_popular_online/

Chinese netizens have expressed some skepticism as the authenticity of the document, pointing out that it’s a simple spreadsheet which could easily have been produced by anybody. The document also lists Player Unknown: Battlegrounds, another game popular with Western players, as scheduled for prohibition. Other games such as Overwatch and League of Legends face censorship for “overly revealing female characters” and “inharmonious chatrooms”. The latter comment appears to criticize games companies for inadequate supervision of conversations between players.

While it’s impossible to say whether the spreadsheet is genuine, there are some intriguing implications. “Distorted concepts of history and culture” are targeted in games with a Chinese wuxia setting, while two games are lambasted for “rewards given based on rank”.

Irrespective of the authenticity of this document, it’s clear that the government wants to keep a much tighter grip on games companies, amid increasing alarm about the amount of time children spend on screens.

Photos: Bagogames via Flickr, www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/a4w3ux/

We’ve written before about the potential negative impacts on children’s health of both excessive homework and excessive screen time. Now the Chinese government has taken action, to tackle an alarming increase in myopia (near-sightedness) in children.

Over a third of Chinese fourth-graders, and nearly two-thirds of eighth-graders have poor vision, believed to be the highest rates in the world. Among other problems arising from this is the concern that in future China might have labor shortages in jobs requiring 20:20 vision, such as in aerospace and the military. Students in Chinese schools have for decades massaged the area around their eyes on a daily basis, but though this is believed to help with eye strain and headaches, there is no evidence that it prevents myopia.

Instead, recent research suggests that the true cause of nearsightedness, and the reason for the rising global incidence of the problem, is lack of natural sunlight. Scientists at the Australian National University in Canberra suggest that children should spend around three hours per day outdoors to protect their vision, although just 45 minutes a day can reduce progression of myopia by 25 percent. Their findings are supported by a remarkable study at a school in Taiwan, where children were made to go outside during their recess instead of having the choice of staying inside. At the end of the year, the myopia rate was 8 percent, compared to 18 percent at a comparable nearby school.

The Chinese government is in no doubt where the blame lies. Their new measures include a crackdown on online games, including tighter regulation, content ratings and a limit to how long children can play for – although it’s not entirely clear how the latter is to be implemented.

The other enemy is excessive homework. Schools have been ordered not to give written assignments to first- and second-grade children – although, as we’ve seen before, in this area even the otherwise omnipotent Chinese government is struggling to make progress against deeply ingrained ideas about education.

Whether the measures will be successful remains to be seen, but it’s further evidence of the toll being taken on our children by an unhealthy and unnatural lifestyle. We at beijingkids say: let the children play in the sunshine!

Photo: discovermagazine.com