Game industry management loopholes: sơ sài verification, signs of violating government regulations

The series of articles "Lookholes in Vietnam's game industry management" just published by Lao Dong Newspaper points out the loopholes in the fact that 18+ games classify the age incorrectly on application stores and the situation of large game shop systems blatantly operating overnight against regulations.

Continuing to investigate, records of Lao Dong Newspaper reporters show: A series of 18+ games issued by Vietnamese businesses have rudimentary account verification procedures and user age, are formalistic, and show signs of violating current regulations.

Sloppy authentication process, formalistic

VNG Group Joint Stock Company is a company that publishes many 18+ games in Vietnam, but on application stores such as Appstore and Google Play, these games display classification only as 13+, 12+, even 9+.

Answering reporters' questions from Lao Dong Newspaper about the mechanism for verifying and controlling the age of game players, VNG Group Joint Stock Company said: "After downloading the game, users need to declare personal information, including age, to be able to continue using the service. VNG is currently deploying verification through OTP authentication...".

The reality recorded is completely different. From the feedback of many parents with children addicted to mobile games, we randomly downloaded a game published by VNG. This is a G1 game, licensed by the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information (Department of PTTH&TTĐT) with a recommended age of 18+, currently having millions of downloads on application stores.

After downloading the game, players only need to self-declare their name (excluding full name), phone number, date of birth to be able to play.

To test the level of player authenticity of the game released by VNG, we also randomly filled in some virtual phones, which are not real but can still be played easily. There is absolutely no OTP authentication step as VNG representatives have responded to reporters.

Trying a G1 game, licensed 18+ by VNG, the situation is similar.

A random survey of many games by other famous publishers in Vietnam such asîka, Garena, Funtap shows that the player authentication process is also very rudimentary, in a "for show" style.

Typically, Dau Pha Thuong Khung 2D is the G1 game released by Agoda Joint Stock Company, licensed by the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information with a recommended age of 18+. However, on the App Store, this game is only labeled 13+.

After downloading the game, if you do not have an account, just register with your username and password, without needing to specifically declare information about your year of birth or age, you can log in to the game.

Even, this game also has a "Guest" mode, allowing users to access and experience the game almost instantly without performing any login, identity verification or age steps.

Another case is the game Tam Quoc X published by Funtap Joint Stock Company. This is also a G1 game, licensed 18+ by the Department of PTTH&TTĐT, but on the App Store it is only labeled 9+.

To enter the game, users only need to register "FunID Account" with email information and password. Notably, the registration requirement with an email account but there is no authentication, players can completely write any email, even if it is not real, they can pass this declaration section. Thus, they quickly have a FunID account and enter the game.

The Three Kingdoms X game, according to records, also has a "Play now" mode, users do not need to register an account but can enter to play the game immediately.

At the same time, with a FunID account created extremely easily as above, players can continue to log in to another 18+ game released by Funtap Joint Stock Company.

Or another case with the game Lien Quan Mobile published by Vietnam Electronic Sports and Entertainment Joint Stock Company (Garena Vietnam). This is a G1 game, licensed by the Department of PTTH&TTĐT with a recommended age of 16+. However, in reality, on the App Store, this game is labeled 13+.

To log in to the game, players only need to register a Garena account with information such as: access name, password and email. A verification code will be sent via email but there are no additional steps to declare age.

Signs of non-compliance with regulations

The verification of players is only formalistic as above by game publishers in Vietnam, showing signs of violating current regulations.

Specifically, Article 39, Decree 147/2024/ND-CP requires businesses licensed to provide G1 online video game services to:

There is a technical equipment system to ensure storage and full updates of player information in Vietnam including: Full name; date, month, year of birth; mobile phone number in Vietnam.

Implement the verification of player accounts using mobile phone numbers in Vietnam, ensuring that only verified accounts are allowed to participate in the game; in case the player is under 16 years old, the parent or guardian according to civil law registers the account using the information of the parent or guardian according to civil law and is responsible for supervising and managing the playing time and game content accessed by the player under 16 years old".

Is the business putting profit above social responsibility?

After directly reviewing the registration and player verification process on a series of 18+ games with Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, many parents were surprised, even worried, when they realized that children can easily overcome control steps to access violent games.

What startled them was not only that the game was licensed 18+ but labeled 3+, 9+, 12+ or 13+ on the app store, but also because the player authentication process was too rudimentary, almost formalistic.

According to Ms. N.T. H (An Khanh, Hanoi), a parent with a son in 7th grade, she always thought that 18+-labeled games would be strictly controlled, and children would have difficulty accessing them.

However, after trying to download and log in to some games with PV, she realized that her child could completely overcome the declaration steps in less than 1 minute.

I am really surprised. The authentication steps are only for show. If children declare themselves as older, there are almost no barriers at all," Ms. H said.

Another parent, Mr. P.V. T (Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi) said that he has repeatedly wondered why his child is only 13 years old but is often exposed to violent images and content in games.

Parents cannot sit and check their children's phones 24/24, if businesses do not tighten the verification stage, almost all age warnings become meaningless," Mr. T shared.

Many parents also expressed concern that game publishing businesses may be prioritizing increasing the number of players and expanding revenue over the responsibility of controlling user age. Because the fewer registration barriers, the larger the number of players accessing the game.

Meanwhile, the consequence that children face is the risk of early exposure to violent content, affecting awareness, behavior and living and study time, such as the article: "Games for the wrong age, shops open all night - students, children with mental disorders" Lao Dong Newspaper just published.