Tencent has announced a handful of rules for streamers playing Tencent games, a move that aims to keep the company on the right side of Chinese regulations that recently went into effect.
The list, shared by Niko Partners, contains twelve prohibited behaviors ranging from violations of China’s social values to distributing or promoting cheats or viruses on-air, and Tencent says those that ignore the guidelines risk losing the ability stream the company’s games in the future.
Those prohibited behaviors include:
Violation of China’s social values involving sensitive topics such as politics, ethnicity and religion
Promoting or publishing content that violates China’s social values, including but not limited to pornography, gambling, terrorism
Behavior that damages the Tencent Games brand directly or indirectly
Distributing false information to other users through any means
Engaging in vulgar or indecent information
Distributing or promoting game cheat software or virus software
Promoting excessive violence in game or in the real world
Infringing on the privacy of other users or revealing other users information without permission
Failure to abide by rules of the contract signed with third parties (streaming platforms)
Infringing the copyright of game makers or other content creators
Causing disputes or adverse social impact
Other actions that do not comply with current laws, ethics and game regulations
In a statement spotted by The Esports Observer, a Tencent representative notes that, as the behavior of streamers reflects back on the company and industry, Tencent has a responsibility to enforce certain standards and values. The company notes that it plans to strictly enforce those rules across all streaming platforms, productions, institutions, and streamers.
“There is a natural copyright relationship between gaming contents and live streaming platforms,” reads the statement. “Tencent, as a gaming streaming platform leader and game publisher, has the responsibility to promote the standardization and authorization of streaming contents in the industry.”
These rules come as the Chinese government continues to tighten restrictions on video games in an effort to cut down on video game addiction and over-indulgence among minors. Legislation from the government has pushed companies like NetEase and Tencent into implementing playtime restrictions and curfews into their games, with Tencent going so far as to test facial recognition tech to enforce its limits.