JPC Member of Tsuen Wan District
TSUI Yuet-kiu

Not like the traditional computer games for which we should use the computers or stations to login, online games can be logged in with our mobile phone. As a result, abuse of playing online games has become the hot topic in our society. In Mainland China, the PRC Government has recently restricted the online gaming time for youth that only allowed them to play online games on the weekend or designated days and the maximum gaming time was restricted to one hour only. Back to Hong Kong, there is no similar restriction, but do we need to restrict the gaming time for the youth?

Before we answer the question, let’s take a look at the advantages and the disadvantages of playing online games. For the advantages, online games may be one of the tools for the youth to maintain their social life with their peers. Like playing football or shopping with friends, playing online games is one of the way bonding the peers. Besides, playing online games, for example Minecraft, might be the way to promote STEM to the youth. The youth could learn coding through the game.

However, there are some disadvantages that cannot be ignored. First, most of the online games would need the youth to buy the tool for beating the “Master” and level-up. If the self-control ability of the youth is weak, they might spend a lot of money to buy the tools. In some extreme cases from the news, some children spent over ten thousand dollars to buy the tools for level-up. Second, the children might indulge on playing online games which could affect their normal social life or their study.

As a result, by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of playing online games, we might conclude that online games have become the tool for bonding the peers that cannot be ignored from the youth’s daily life nowadays. However, the playing time should be restricted to avoid the abuse of playing the games that affect their normal daily activities. Therefore, for the question “should online gaming time be restricted in Hong Kong”, the answer is obviously “YES”.

 

 

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