5 ms·

Any kind of amusing content for kids is time restricted in china. If a western game company wants to get into the market, they need to implement time limits & a

Any kind of amusing content for kids is time restricted in china. If a western game company wants to get into the market, they need to implement time limits & age checks.

lozenge 4y ago
Are they linked at all? Otherwise if you add up all the time limits they must exceed a day...
- jojo259 4y ago
  Yes, they're linked by some form of government ID. Of course, it's probably very easy to get around that in some manner by just playing offline games or using a parent's ID.
  - mcculley 4y ago
    The question is asking about multiple apps coordinating. Wouldn’t this require a central database and an API for querying/updating time spent in an app per ID? Where is that API?
    - jojo259 4y ago
      Yes that's what I meant, the apps coordinate by being linked to some government ID. At least that's what I've heard.
      - mcculley 4y ago
        I am quite skeptical of this. There would have to be an API. There would have to be documentation for that. There would likely be keys assigned to individual apps.
        veqq 4y ago
        They do this. Basically everything runs straight through wechat, as if the facebook appstore hadn't lost relevance. Wechat is the api in most cases. You can even go to court on it.
        mcculley 4y ago
        Every app is using WeChat? TikTok coordinates with WeChat? Or uses the same API? Is this documented somewhere?
        veqq 4y ago
        I've dug into this more out of curiosity: They're called "mini programs" (小程序): You can see the dev pages etc. here: https://developers.weixin.qq.com/miniprogram/en/introduction/ https://developers.weixin.qq.com/miniprogram/en/introduction... These days, the vast majority of mobile development happens on this platform. They can have 100 million daily users in some cases. Otherwise, you have to get an approval license from the government, per game. This had been blocked for a long time until recently: https://www.thegamer.com/china-approving-game-licenses-again-stocks-soar/ https://www.thegamer.com/china-approving-game-licenses-again... These government pages discuss the process (but only in Chinese): https://www.nppa.gov.cn/nppa/channels/301.shtml https://www.nppa.gov.cn/nppa/channels/301.shtml or http://web.archive.org/web/20200605135934/www.sapprft.gov.cn/sapprft/contents/6588/407807.shtml http://web.archive.org/web/20200605135934/www.sapprft.gov.cn... Note, only Chinese companies can go through the process. Apparently the process includes interfacing with the API, which isn't public. But some guys I pmed on reddit said they can interact with government ID servers or wechat auth. The 2nd api is public: https://developers.weixin.qq.com/doc/oplatform/en/Mobile_App/WeChat_Login/Development_Guide.html https://developers.weixin.qq.com/doc/oplatform/en/Mobile_App...
        mcculley 4y ago
        I appreciate you digging this up. It is still unclear to me how a Weixin ID corresponds to a government issued ID and how an app would know that a user is a minor. The Chinese mandate you linked to describes the same rules as elsewhere, but there is no indication of how they would be implemented. Does a "real name" policy mean that an login is tied to a government ID? Or does it just mean what Facebook does to make users more valuable to advertisers? I'm astounded that there is so much gossip about this and so little evidence.

Any kind of amusing content for kids is time restricted in china. If a western game company wants to get into the market, they need to implement time limits & age checks.

lozenge 4y ago

Are they linked at all? Otherwise if you add up all the time limits they must exceed a day...

jojo259 4y ago
Yes, they're linked by some form of government ID. Of course, it's probably very easy to get around that in some manner by just playing offline games or using a parent's ID.
- mcculley 4y ago
  The question is asking about multiple apps coordinating. Wouldn’t this require a central database and an API for querying/updating time spent in an app per ID? Where is that API?
  - jojo259 4y ago
    Yes that's what I meant, the apps coordinate by being linked to some government ID. At least that's what I've heard.
    - mcculley 4y ago
      I am quite skeptical of this. There would have to be an API. There would have to be documentation for that. There would likely be keys assigned to individual apps.
      - veqq 4y ago
        They do this. Basically everything runs straight through wechat, as if the facebook appstore hadn't lost relevance. Wechat is the api in most cases. You can even go to court on it.
        mcculley 4y ago
        Every app is using WeChat? TikTok coordinates with WeChat? Or uses the same API? Is this documented somewhere?
        veqq 4y ago
        I've dug into this more out of curiosity: They're called "mini programs" (小程序): You can see the dev pages etc. here: https://developers.weixin.qq.com/miniprogram/en/introduction/ https://developers.weixin.qq.com/miniprogram/en/introduction... These days, the vast majority of mobile development happens on this platform. They can have 100 million daily users in some cases. Otherwise, you have to get an approval license from the government, per game. This had been blocked for a long time until recently: https://www.thegamer.com/china-approving-game-licenses-again-stocks-soar/ https://www.thegamer.com/china-approving-game-licenses-again... These government pages discuss the process (but only in Chinese): https://www.nppa.gov.cn/nppa/channels/301.shtml https://www.nppa.gov.cn/nppa/channels/301.shtml or http://web.archive.org/web/20200605135934/www.sapprft.gov.cn/sapprft/contents/6588/407807.shtml http://web.archive.org/web/20200605135934/www.sapprft.gov.cn... Note, only Chinese companies can go through the process. Apparently the process includes interfacing with the API, which isn't public. But some guys I pmed on reddit said they can interact with government ID servers or wechat auth. The 2nd api is public: https://developers.weixin.qq.com/doc/oplatform/en/Mobile_App/WeChat_Login/Development_Guide.html https://developers.weixin.qq.com/doc/oplatform/en/Mobile_App...
        mcculley 4y ago
        I appreciate you digging this up. It is still unclear to me how a Weixin ID corresponds to a government issued ID and how an app would know that a user is a minor. The Chinese mandate you linked to describes the same rules as elsewhere, but there is no indication of how they would be implemented. Does a "real name" policy mean that an login is tied to a government ID? Or does it just mean what Facebook does to make users more valuable to advertisers? I'm astounded that there is so much gossip about this and so little evidence.