Chinese game publisher NetEase Games has introduced a new ‘Minor Mode' across its products to create a more secure space for younger users across its entire portfolio of games.
This comes after The Red Dragon introduced draft regulations outlining new guidelines for the gaming industry in moves to curb excessive spending on video games and given that the new mode is rolling out across all its titles, would indicate that they expect the rapid and random Chinese legislation changes to continue.
Certainly having a 'Minor Mode' across all its titles give the company a rapid way to reign in unfavourable features via liveops rather than have them fall foul of changing restrictions and be withdrawn from the market.
Across-the-board protection
The new mode is designed to restrict usage for younger players with access to the games, serving as a valuable tool for managing player addiction. In addition, there are other diverse protective features in the Minor Mode such as a user-friendly one-click content filtering option and access to the NetEase Parental Care Platform. Additionally Minor Mode comes with various parental options, including chat blocking.
The underage protective features not only provide comprehensive support for the filtering option but also enable supervision and control of game content to protect minors from inappropriate material and potential cyberbullying.
Users have various options to choose from such as blocking private chat, comments, or even all gaming channels.
Rapid roll-out
Presently, the feature is available in 34 pilot products that have since demonstrated successful implementation. In a broader context, this feature is constructed on existing anti-addiction systems and signifies a big step toward guaranteeing the safety of younger players in China.
Despite China being one of the world's largest markets for video game players, housing major gaming and tech companies such as Tencent and NetEase, the country is also renowned for its stringent laws and regulations to protect young audiences. The move from NetEase could also inspire the likes of Tencent and ByteDance to follow suit.
