Policy On Online Gaming Must Take Attention Into Account

Policy On Online Gaming Must Take Attention Into Account

An outdated policy approach has been used to deal with a global phenomenon that threatens to rot a generation’s minds. These games might cause a whole generation of citizens to lose their attention and suffer from mental disorders. 

Having a distinction between skill and chance games, as the draft does, is of no use. An artificial distinction between gambling and non-gambling might be used to hide what gaming is all about – building addiction. Players can still be harmed by games that do not involve money. 

All gaming platforms aim to capture players’ attention for as long as possible. Almost all online games are infinite and have no end – the longer the player plays, the more dopamine the brain craves. This perpetual loop and a never-ending game most damaged people’s brains.

Even though there is sufficient research to prove that online gaming is addictive, and the WHO confirmed its harmful effects in 2019, the regulations do not even mention the impact of dopamine addiction caused by these games. 

In recent decades, psychiatrists have urged that online gaming can have a detrimental effect on mental health. Internet gaming was classified as a disorder by the American Psychiatrists Association in 2013. Patients suffering from substance abuse are similar to individuals suffering from Internet Gaming disorder. 

Addiction-seeking behaviours and psychological triggers are the same in both. Ten years later, in India, the mental health disorders caused by online gaming are never discussed or debated. The regulators are always late with the latest, and our think tanks are complicit.

Researchers say these platforms provide users with constant emotional and sensory stimulation. This can rewire the brain circuits and increase their dependency on their sense of reward. 

A person’s full brain development isn’t complete until around twenty-five years of age, which makes them more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s and other diseases. Video games and online gaming have been researched for three decades, but the research is still largely ignored. 

Several studies have shown that similar to substance abuse, online games can alter brain regions that influence impulse control, decision-making, behavioural inhibition, emotional regulation, learning, memory, and reward processing, thanks to the development of neuroimaging techniques. 

Games can already be played online by minors for three hours per week. Games like these are even limited to public holidays in China. Despite China’s unimpressive regulatory controls, it does illustrate their seriousness. According to the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act of 2019, it was suggested to ban some social media features that drive prolonged engagement. 

The US surgeon general stressed the importance of technology companies in protecting youth mental health in a report written in 2021, stating that if these tools aren’t deployed responsibly and safely, they can create tensions, reinforce negative behaviours like bullying, and undermine an environment that young people deserve.

Taxing The Time Spent

Policymakers can use the tried and tested model of self-regulation when they want to put less work into regulating a sector. Due to this, the government approved the amendment on 6 April 2023, dedicating almost seven pages to SROs (Self Regulating Organizations). 

Technology platforms whose business models are based on capturing and monetizing users’ attention do not work under the SRO model. No incentives or penalties in the online gaming industry will encourage them to change their business model. 

Take cocaine, for instance, as an example of another addiction. Is it possible to self-regulate cocaine makers by the government? As another example, the tobacco industry has buried addiction research and carcinogenic elements, and the government has ignored academic research for decades. 

Has any government in the world approved the self-regulation of cigarettes? The sector has one of the most powerful lobbies and annually spends $28 million or more on lobbyists. The players have also enlisted the aid of lobbyists and ex-APCO officials who have shifted the rules in their favour. 

Policymakers, however, do not acknowledge the long-term effects of this sector on a whole generation of netizens and its economic impacts. Pakistan introduced drugs into rural Punjab when it sought to destroy its economy. Punjab’s young age is plagued with the drug problem, which hampers progress.

Using online gaming to subjugate a country’s population or get them addicted to the point where they are incapable of functioning, reducing their productivity and destabilizing the country’s future is also possible. 

Due to this, all foreign games must be registered with the Chinese gaming regulators and require Chinese partners to be operated there. A rival country wishing to create social unrest in India could also weaponize online gaming platforms.

A tax based on users’ time on these gaming platforms will be the only way to reduce their addiction. The tax technology companies that own online platforms when users spend too much time there. The tax should be imposed on companies rather than users. 

It can be calculated by defining a time limit below which engagement with the platform is not considered harmful, for example, 30 minutes daily. For companies to promote engagement and curb compulsive use, the policy should incentivize them to employ their behavioural strategies and data collected.