Chinese categorizing e-sports hotels as unsuitable places to...

Chinese authorities have stepped efforts in the protection of minors in terms of the management over e-sports hotels by categorizing e-sports hotels as unsuitable places for minors. 

An e-sports hotel gaming room in Baoji city in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Photo: IC

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ministry of Public Security jointly issued on Thursday the circular outlining standardized requirements for the protection of minors in terms of management of e-sports hotels. 

E-sports hotels refer to a new type of accommodation business that provides electronic sports entertainment services to consumers by setting up e-sports gaming rooms, which includes both professional e-sports hotels where all rooms are dedicated to e-sports gaming, as well as non-professional e-sports hotels that allocate certain rooms for e-sports gaming areas. 

According to the circular, e-sports hotels are categorized as venues unsuitable for activities involving minors and e-sports hotels are strictly prohibited from receiving minors at e-sports gaming areas. 

Besides, the number of beds in each e-sports gaming room of an e-sports hotel must not exceed six, and the number of computers and check-in personnel must not exceed the number of beds. 

The notice also requires that consumers should be prominently notified that minors are not admitted to the e-sports gaming room area when they make room reservations through e-commerce platforms or through other means.

The notice also requires local cultural, tourism and public security authorities, as well as relevant departments, to establish a collaborative supervision mechanism for the protection of minors in e-sports hotels, guiding and urging business operators to strictly implement requirements such as real-name registration, setting signs prohibiting entry of minors, and prohibiting the improper reception of minors.

Meanwhile, the terms of the protection of minors, China's cyberspace watchdog mulls comprehensively upgrading the "minor mode" on the mobile internet in order to create a safe and healthy internet environment for juveniles. 

In recent years, the National Cyberspace Administration (CAC) has guided the website platforms to continue to promote the construction of the youth mode, expand coverage, optimize function settings, and enrich the age-appropriate content. Since the mode was launched, the usage rate has steadily increased, and it has played a positive role in helping minors reduce internet addiction and the impact of bad information. 

In order to further improve efficiency, the CAC has drafted Guidelines for the Construction of the Minor Mode for the Mobile Internet (Draft for Comments), which will comprehensively upgrade the settings, and promote the coverage of the mode to expand from apps to mobile smart terminals and application stores.

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