Russia to ban video games for affecting the mind with “hidden messages”

Playing video games is considered by some as a positive activity and by others as something really negative. It all depends on our approach and the number of hours we dedicate to it, but in countries like China they take it much more seriously, making children play only 3 hours a week. Now not only China agrees to their restrictions, but Russia is determined to protect young people from video games Y will ban popular games which, according to them, affect the mind.

Russia began the invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago end of February 2022. Since then, the country has seen the economy sink, as dozens of companies stopped selling their products and sanctions rained down on Russia. But this has not stopped Putin in his war against Ukraine and despite all the time that has passed, it has not reduced the intensity of the attacks. Russia is going through many changes and one of them, and apparently important for the country, is the fact that restrict playing games.

Russia seeks to ban gaming for younger citizens

We could say that among the positive aspects that we can attribute to video games, one of the most important is being able to isolate ourselves. If we play a video game and we like it, the same thing will happen as other leisure content such as movies, series or books, we will immerse ourselves in the work and time will pass without us realizing it. The fact of Being able to disconnect when we play is something that is valued in day to day and more in stressful situations. But for Russia, this is totally negative, since popular video games use “hidden messages“that affect the conscious and subconscious mind.

Thus, the country’s Attorney General’s Office and its ministries seek to ban the games and for this they will create a video games banned list. We don’t know anything about this, but by mentioning popular games we can imagine that they will remove Valorant or the mythical Counter-Strike. Although with the hidden inserts and in-game messages, we can come up with titles that have a story and are not just shooters. Or better yet, refer to games that they trick the youngest into spending the money in lootboxes.

They will create a list of prohibited and approved titles in a Russian Store

Russia is determined to ban games for the youngest, but there will also be approved titles in the country, of course. Although we really do not know if they will have to comply with a series of patriotic requirements to join that group. What we do know is that they intend to create a catalog of online games that will be allowed in the country that will work with the RuStore, the Russian alternative to Google Play and App Store.

But things do not end there, as the Competition Center (TsKIKT) is willing to analyze whether the games for sale in the country have prohibited or objectionable content. Additionally, they suggest that all PCs sold in the Russian Federation come with pre-installed parental control software. All this in order to ban those games that Russia does not consider suitable for its youngest citizens. Thus, we see a similarity with China in this aspect, although we remember that little by little the asian giant stands softening his measures in front of the games and the citizens they will be able to play Valorant.