Gaming Mandates

Below is a more in-depth look at the playtime mandate study discussed in Project 3: Gaming Mandates expanding on what we know about how regulations on playtime may affect player behaviors.

This project was completed with data from . Please note that analyses are based on data collected between August 6, 2019 and January 16, 2020.

Globally, video games are a huge business, with player numbers and hours played both in the billions. Because of their popularity, though, some concerns have been raised about playing too much. Many of the concerns around young people playing video games for too long are centered on discussions of disordered behaviors, despite debates around the exact form or presence of technology-based addictive behaviors. Defining “heavy” gaming has also been difficult, ranging from at least 2 hours per day to 30 hours per week. While details are difficult to clearly define, governments have increasingly turned their attention to disordered play, attempting to stem potential negative impacts of too much playtime.

One such approach has been implemented in mainland China, with playtime limits of 1.5 hours per day or 3 hours per day on holidays for players under the age of 18. Because of the lack of behavioral data, however, it has been difficult to gauge the effectiveness of these measures. This project investigates the impact of this playtime mandate in terms of influencing player behaviors.

The analysis was based on 1 million game IDs and 2.4 billion player profiles. Although these games were limited to data collected by Unity, this set provides important insights into player responses to government regulations on play. Overall, there was a slight increase in the average number of players – from 0.77% to 0.88% of players – after the playtime mandate was enacted. Rather than a reduction in playtime, there was an increase in “heavy” playtime in the weeks following implementation.

It is important to note that there is little information about the ages of players in this study, which may mean that much of the increase in playtime was among adult players, rather than the under 18 players the mandate was aimed at. Additionally, this is a starting point to understand how regulations might influence behaviors because of this study’s focus on data collected through games produced using Unity.

In all, however, game-related regulations appear to potentially have similar impacts when compared to other technologically focused legislation, with a great deal of behavioral escape and users working around or ignoring these attempts to limit or modify users’ behavior.

To keep up with trends in behaviors, refer to other projects currently underway!