Tencent Games Applies Facial Recognition Function in Games, Preventing Irrational Purchasing Behavior from Kids
Chinese game publisher Tencent Games announced on June 16 that the company upgraded the protection measures for minors The update aims to solve the issue of “children using parental identity information to purchase in-game items without supervision”.
According to the announcement, Tencent Games has applied the facial recognition technology in the game during the purchasing process. If the monthly charge of a game account (minor suspected) is over ￥400 RMB, the system will require the user to have facial recognition verification. The User who refuses or fails verification will not able to recharge. This system will be applied in all of Tencent’s mobile game products.
In addition, the minor suspected game accounts will be required to login through face identification verification, as the results to be compared with the data from the public security authorities. Rejected or unverified users will be limited the game time to 1.5 hours/day on weekdays, 3 hours/day on legal holidays, and unable to log in to the game from 22:00 pm-8:00 am.
As Pandaily reported in May of this year, Tencent pushed its users to complete a real-name registration process to curb gaming-addition. The system has widely applied in multiple Tencent’s titles, including Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite.
In the raising era of mobile gaming and the convenience of mobile payment, minors lack financial knowledge, and easier to spend a large amount of money in the game. In April, China Central Television (CCTV) reported that an 11-year-old boy spent the annual income of his family (￥200K RMB) in the game without his parent’s supervision.
After this update, Tencent Games expected this system could contribute efforts to build a healthy and safe internet environment.
