The Evaluation Results Of The Protection Mechanism Of 20 Mobile Games For Minors: The Average Score Is 62.65, Naruto Has The Highest Score, And The Sword And Expedition Has Only 25 Points

      With the summer vacation coming, the number of minors accessing the Internet, especially the use of mobile games app, has greatly increased the supervision difficulty of guardians. How to help minors "buckle the first button of life" has become a topic of concern to the whole society.

On July 21, the central cyber information office announced the launch of the "Qinglang · summer vacation youth network environment remediation" special action. During the special action period, we will further strengthen the punishment for illegal behaviors, maintain a "zero tolerance" attitude towards the infringement of minors' legitimate rights and interests, adhere to the principle of "striking at the front line" and be strict and severe, and vigorously rectify the disorder that endangers the physical and mental health of minors on the Internet.

A month ago, the newly revised "law of the people's Republic of China on the protection of minors" was formally implemented, in which a special chapter on "network protection" was added, which put forward higher requirements for preventing minors from indulging in the Internet, protecting their personal information on the Internet, and regulating their behavior of using the Internet.

In fact, in recent years, regulatory authorities have frequently issued relevant policy documents to regulate the pain points of juvenile protection in the field of games. According to the requirements of laws and regulations, online game platforms are constantly improving the anti addiction system of games, such as real name authentication, face recognition, limiting online duration and recharge amount.

Recently, the Research Institute of compliance science and technology of Nanfang finance and economics all media group, which has long been concerned about the rights and interests of teenagers in the Internet field, released the evaluation of 20 types of mobile game minors protection mechanism (2021). The results showed that the average score of each family was 62.65. The highest score was Naruto (85 points), while sword and expedition only got 25 points.

Overall situation: the average score of 20 mobile games is 62.65, and the difference between the highest score and the lowest score is 60 points

This report takes the game app in China's mobile terminal market as the evaluation object, combined with the ranking of app stores, game types, R & D companies and other factors, Using the method of judgment sampling, the paper selects the glory of the king, the peace elite, Naruto, Yin Yang division, my world, cat and mouse, Moore Manor, ball fight, mini world, original God, sword and expedition, little flower fairy, shining warm, love and producer, tomorrow's ark, Douluo continent: Awakening of the martial spirit and the strongest snail "Three Kingdoms fantasy mainland", "youth Three Kingdoms: Zero" and "Jiangnan hundred sceneries" a total of 20 hand tours. The evaluation equipment is two Android mobile phones that have been rebooted.

This study takes the protection of minors as the starting point, and tests and scores the mobile game app which is frequently used by minors in the market from the aspects of pre consent, anti addiction system application, game recharge and refund, and post remedy by simulating the use situation of minors' mobile games.

The evaluation results show that the average result of 20 mobile games is 62.65, which reaches the moderate protection level of minors. Among them, only Naruto scored 85 points, reaching a high level of protection《 The 13 types of mobile games, including cat and mouse, Douluo land: the awakening of the soul, the history of the Three Kingdoms of the youth: zero, glory of the king, peace elite and Yin Yang master, are in the medium protection range of 60-80 points.

There are six types of hand games in the low-level range, namely "fantasy land of the Three Kingdoms", "the strongest snail", "shining warmth", "love and producer", "ball fight" and "sword and expedition". Among them, "sword and expedition" scored only 25 points, and its juvenile protection mechanism ranked the lowest among the 20 games evaluated.

It should be noted that the collection time of 20 samples in this evaluation is from June 28 to July 7, 2021, and the changes caused by version update outside the time of evidence collection will not be included in the evaluation results.

Firewall in advance: 15 mobile games have age, parental consent restrictions and school age tips, only 3 require information related to guardians

Before entering the game, most users will be required by the system to read and agree to the user registration agreement and privacy agreement before starting the game. Therefore, the two agreements are the first "firewall" for minors before they start playing games.

The results showed that among the 20 mobile games tested, 15 included age restriction, parental consent restriction and age indication, accounting for 75%.

It is worth affirming that the age limit and parental consent limit are mentioned in the user registration agreement of 20 mobile games. Among them, there are five types of mobile games that have no age indication, namely "ball and ball battle", "Little Flower Fairy", "Douluo continent: the awakening of the soul", "shining warmth" and "love and producer".

At present, there are relevant documents in China to standardize the standard of age indication. On December 16, 2020, under the guidance of the Publishing Bureau of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and initiated by the group Standardization Technical Committee of China audio visual and Digital Publishing Association, the implementation draft of the group standard of online game age tips was released in Guangzhou. The age indicator is based on three different ages, namely green 8 +, Blue 12 +, and yellow 16 +.

In the "privacy policy" link, only sword and expedition, the placement card game's privacy policy, does not set up an independent chapter of "instructions for children / teenagers". There are six games that do not mention how to protect minors' faces, fingerprints and other biological information, including "Moore Manor", "ball fight", "Mini World", "cat and mouse", "shining warm" and "love and producer".

Real name authentication is a link that cannot be bypassed before the user starts the game, and it is also the core reference basis for the game system to determine whether to include the game account into the anti addiction mode.

In this evaluation, 19 mobile games will jump out of the real name authentication pop-up window when they enter the game for the first time, requiring users to input their real name and ID card number. To be sure, there are 11 games with strict "access control". If users do not fill in the identity information before the game starts, they will be blocked by the game system. However, after entering sword and expedition as a tourist and playing for 60 minutes, the game did not require real name authentication information, or even forced users to offline.

It is worth mentioning that when evaluating the game "ark of tomorrow", the researcher tried to input the information of a 4-year-old child, but the system showed that the identity information was wrong and could not complete the real name authentication. After contacting the customer service of "ark of tomorrow", it said that in such cases, the guardian should provide the guardian with the ID card photo, the guardian page of the household registration book, the minor page of the household registration book, the identity card or birth certificate of the minor and other documents containing the identity information, which will be fed back to the specialist by the customer service department for verification and processing.

Guardians play an important role in the process of protecting minors from being harmed by bad information on the Internet《 Article 71 of Chapter V network protection of the law of the people's Republic of China on the protection of minors points out that parents or other guardians of minors should improve their internet literacy, regulate their own use of the Internet, and strengthen guidance and supervision of minors' Internet use.

After testing, after the real name authentication identity information shows that the user is a minor, only three mobile games require the follow-up Guardian Information. The three mobile games are "glory of the king", "elite of peace" and "Naruto".

However, the researchers noted that although the above three games require minors to fill in their guardian's name, mobile phone number and other related information, but did not require the guardian to provide their ID card information, it is still possible for minors to take their parents' mobile phones for verification without authorization.

Anti addiction mode: 17 games strictly limit the playing time of minors, and there is no obvious difference between the game content under the anti addiction mode and the general mode

Time limit is the core function of anti addiction system of online games《 Article 2 of the notice on preventing minors from indulging in online games clearly points out that online game enterprises should strictly control the time and duration of minors' use of online games. From 22:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. the next day, online game enterprises shall not provide game services for minors in any form. The duration of game services provided by online game enterprises to minors shall not exceed 3 hours per day in statutory holidays and 1.5 hours in other days.

On July 21, the central network information office announced the launch of the "Qinglang · summer vacation minors network environment remediation" special action, the person in charge of the special action of the seventh "anti addiction system and the" youth mode "performance is insufficient", this action focuses on the investigation and solution of website platform anti addiction system loopholes.

Among the 20 mobile games evaluated, 3 mobile games in the anti addiction mode have played for more than 1.5 hours on weekdays and 3 hours on legal holidays. When the playing time reaches the upper limit, users with real name authentication information are not forced to go offline. The three mobile games are sword and expedition, shining warmth and love and producer.

It is worth affirming that the 17 mobile games in the evaluation are often restricted to the games of minor users according to the specified standards. Among them, 10 mobile games will pop-up in the game when the game duration of minor users is about to reach the upper limit.

In addition, minors bypass multiple loopholes to recharge the game, which has always been a headache for guardians. According to Article 3 (2) of the notice on preventing minors from indulging in online games, enterprises should regulate the provision of payment services to minors. Online game enterprises shall not provide game payment services for users under the age of 8. For the game payment service provided by the same online game enterprise, the single recharge amount of users over 8 years old and under 16 years old shall not exceed 50 yuan RMB, and the cumulative recharge amount shall not exceed 200 yuan per month; For users over 16 years old but under 18 years old, the single recharge amount shall not exceed 100 yuan RMB, and the cumulative monthly recharge amount shall not exceed 400 yuan.

It is gratifying that the 20 mobile games tested in the anti addiction mode have restricted the consumption behavior of minors. Among them, 17 games will pop up before the minors recharge, informing them of consumption restrictions. Although there is no separate pop-up window for "my world" and "fantasy continent of the Three Kingdoms", you can check the instructions of minors' consumption restrictions in the recharge interface. Only "the strongest snail" this game directly pop up the payment window when the minors request to recharge, without any consumption tips.

Surprisingly, none of the 20 games tested distinguishes the content presented under the anti addiction system from the content presented by adults while playing.

The researcher believes that mobile game app may refer to the "youth mode" implemented by long and short video platforms. In this mode, the video platform will screen out the content suitable for minors to watch, so it will be different from the content under the ordinary mode. To some extent, it can prevent minors from seeing pornographic, vulgar and violent content when browsing these video websites.

After the event remedial measures: 13 mobile games with minors exclusive refund entrance and team, 9 without any minor public welfare projects

In recent years, the social news caused by the massive recharge of minors' games has emerged one after another. Article 9 of the guiding opinions on Several Issues concerning the proper trial of civil cases involving the epidemic situation of new crown pneumonia (2) issued by the Supreme People's court in May 2020 stipulates that: "without the consent of their guardians, people with limited civil capacity shall participate in online paid games or online live broadcast platforms to" reward "and other means to spend funds incompatible with their age and intelligence, If the guardian requests the network service provider to return the money, the people's court shall support it. "

In order to verify the current major mobile game app on minors' refund, the researcher tried to launch the relevant refund process on each platform by simulating and evaluating the identity of guardians and relatives of 4-year-old minors.

The evaluation results show that the 20 mobile games have artificial intelligence customer service and artificial customer service. Among them, 13 models have exclusive channels and customer service for minors, including "glory of the king", "peace elite", "Naruto", "Yin and Yang division", "Moore Manor", "my world", "ball fight", "Mini World" and "Douluo continent: Awakening of martial spirit".

The current mobile game is not only a tool for teenagers' leisure and entertainment, but also an important mass media. On the one hand, as a content carrier with rapid development, it affects people's network life. On the other hand, as a window for teenagers to know the world and understand the world, it also needs to respond to the expectation of the society that it can guide young people to be positive in corporate social responsibility.

Therefore, through the combination of mobile game internal browsing and network query, this study takes "whether there are public welfare projects or activities for the protection of minors" as the inspection item to evaluate the relevant mobile game platforms. Surprisingly, there are 9 mobile games without any public welfare projects.

The evaluation results show that nine apps, including "glory of the king", "peace elite" and "my world", have set up normal public welfare project activities for the protection of minors.

Mobile game content Ecology: the content of 4 mobile games is not suitable for children in the game process, and the filtering intensity of unhealthy content in the social module of three mobile games is low

In the process of the test, the two researchers mainly observed whether the content that minors saw in the game under the anti addiction mode was different from the general mode, whether the content ecology was healthy, and whether there were contents that might threaten the physical and mental health of teenagers.

However, after using the identity information of a 4-year-old child to log into the 20 games tested, the researchers found that there were still many tips to induce consumption in the game interface, such as "first charge X Yuan to give novice gift bag", "super value" and "rebate". In the chat channel of players and the community embedded in the game, you can also see some uncivilized speeches of other players. For example, in the game of "glory of the king" and "peace elite", researchers found that there were a lot of uncivilized remarks and uncivilized user names.

In addition, when the warehouse is full, users need to watch advertisements, such as a 30 second "tomato novel", and the final link will lead to app download. Once minor users can use the new app, the anti addiction and content classification measures previously set up are likely to lose their meaning completely.

In the game match of "ball and ball", if users turn on the microphone permission, they can hear the speeches of other players at the same time, and often hear abusive remarks in the speeches of other players. For the above content, the game system does not filter it.

The embedded social module in mobile game is one of its important functions. Players can share the game's bit by bit through the embedded social module in the game, and can also establish contact with other players. However, if the game does not pay attention to the maintenance of community health ecology in the process of operation, it may cause some unexpected harm.

Among the 20 games evaluated, there are three games in the social module that are not suitable for children, namely, "glory of the king", "elite of peace" and "master of yin and Yang". In these three games built-in social platform, there are a lot of "make friends", "get CP" and strong sexual suggestion content. Among them, when entering the functional interface of "encounter the devil in the world" in the book of yin and Yang, the researcher saw a large number of user portraits that are not suitable for children. When browsing these social platforms with minors' accounts, such content is not filtered by the system.

Nancai research suggests: strictly screen the accessible contents of minors' accounts, and coordinate the management of families, schools, commercial companies and government departments

"Law of the people's Republic of China on the protection of minors" Chapter V network protection general article 75 points out that online game service providers shall, in accordance with the relevant national regulations and standards, classify game products, give age appropriate tips, and take technical measures to prevent minors from contacting inappropriate games or game functions.

Therefore, the researcher suggests that mobile game operators should follow the "youth mode" of long and short video platforms and strengthen the content differentiation under the anti addiction mode. At the same time, it improves the content filtering intensity of chat channel and player community in the game.

Although in the anti addiction system, the game limits the consumption of minors, but we still need to be alert to minors using the identity information of adults for registration and high consumption in the game. Among the 20 games tested, there are still 7 games without a special minors refund channel.

Based on this phenomenon, the researcher suggests that the relevant parties should regulate the refund channels for minors in mobile games as soon as possible. If it is verified that minors have embezzled the identity information of guardians or other adults for high consumption in mobile games without the guardian's knowledge, the account number should be banned and the relevant money should be returned.

According to the evaluation results, Zhang Yanlai, chief lawyer and privacy protection expert of Zhejiang Kenting law firm, said in an interview with Nancai · 21 reporter that game providers and operators should try their best to distinguish minors so as to provide more powerful protection.

He pointed out that the focus of minors' privacy policy and user agreement is to guide minors to use app functions reasonably, and to indicate the purpose and purpose of information collection to users in language suitable for minors. Many apps use mobile phone number as an important identification of real name in the background, which can distinguish most groups, but it can not avoid the situation that some minors use the identity of adults to register accounts. Therefore, in the registration process, in addition to setting the mobile phone number as the background real name identification, it is recommended to set some problems to verify the identity.

Gao Yandong, a researcher at Zhejiang Institute of public policy, believes that in terms of the classification of the content provided to minors, we can learn from the foreign practices with relatively perfect grading system.

For example, the United States, as a representative of the industry's self-regulation model, has developed a game rating system by the independent non-profit organization American entertainment software rating committee (ESRB). Another example is Japan, which is the representative of cooperative regulation mode. In March 2006, the Japanese Computer Entertainment Rating Organization reformed and promulgated a new classification method: the classification was expanded to five categories, and the English letters A / B / C / D / Z were used to distinguish different levels. At the same time, five background colors of black / Green / Blue / orange / red were marked on the lower left corner and the lower edge of the side of the game cover.

At the same time, Gao Yandong pointed out that in order to prevent minors from indulging in online games, families, schools, commercial companies, government departments and other collaborative management are needed. Schools and families mainly undertake the obligation of network literacy education for minors, cultivate and improve their network literacy, and enhance their awareness and ability of scientific, civilized, safe and rational use of the network. While the platform is mainly responsible for providing a safe and healthy network environment for minors. It is not allowed to provide products and services that induce minors to indulge in. The corresponding time management, authority management, consumption management and other functions are set for minors to use their services. The government departments are mainly responsible for the supervision obligation of the platform, supervising and inspecting the network protection work of minors, and punishing the behaviors endangering the physical and mental health of minors according to law.

Wang Qin, deputy director of the media and women's research center of Communication University of China, also suggested that media literacy education should be integrated into the school's curriculum system, and relevant contents should be added to the curriculum design and teaching training of schools at all levels to encourage and guide teenagers to pay attention to information technology and improve media skills. At the same time, media literacy education should be integrated into the daily life of teenagers, encourage their media exploration and media practice, enhance their awareness of network security and innovation, and become a complete individual with subjective consciousness, self-protection and creativity in the digital society.