| asian_XL | 12-02-2010 04:52 AM |
South Korea to impose midnight online game ban
http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/no...?quicktabs_2=2 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/aust...-1225964628276 Quote:
An online game ban will be instituted in South Korea according to the Korea Herald. The new policies "will attempt to block underage access to online computer games after midnight in light of the rising problem of video game addiction among youth," according to the report.
One of the policies will affect popular online games such as Barameui Nara, Maple Story, Mabinogi and 16 others by cutting off access to underage users at 12am sharp. Another policy is "the slowdown policy" where gamers will find their Internet speed dropping to 56k levels if they play for too long.
There was no mention of regular Internet connections cutting off, just online access to those games. So, the underaged gamers in question will stop playing any one of these 19 games at 12am, then either a) load up a new game, b) find a way around the block, or c) surf for porn.
Then what happens when Star Craft II releases? The original Star Craft still draws millions of South Korean gamers online, in LAN parties, and at professional Star Craft competitions and tournaments across the nation. Good luck stopping people from playing that. Its practically a national sport.
As reports of this new online game ban circulate, the example of gamer depravity and addiction that keeps getting mentioned is the story of the death of a South Korean newborn through starvation. It has been claimed that the parents' addiction to online gaming led to their neglect of the child.
A horrible story indeed, but will this new online game ban save millions of babies of underaged parents from a similar fate? Considering the parents in the story mentioned above are 41 and 25 years old, this new ban stands to only truly aggravate and generally hack off millions of (tech savvy) South Korean teenagers, force new games into the limelight, and drive porn profits instead of curbing online game addiction or saving babies.
Can't get a fix in South Korea because of the midnight online game ban? Move to Shanghai where one vocational school offers a class in online games.
Read more: South Korea to impose midnight online game ban | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/no...#ixzz16xipTKC3
| EDIT Quote:
SOUTH Korea's government is close to adopting a "Cinderella'' law to ban youngsters from playing online games past midnight amid growing concerns about internet addiction, officials said.
A bill to be submitted to parliament as early as this month will require South Korean online game companies to cut off services at midnight for users registered as younger than 16, the culture and family ministries said on Thursday.
"The thing about online games is, once you are in it, it is extremely hard to get out of it, especially if you are a young kid,'' Jo Rin, a ministry official in charge of the law, told AFP.
"A lot of kids play games all night long and have trouble studying at school and going about their normal lives during daytime. We believe the law is necessary to ensure their health and a right to sleep.''
The online services would resume at six the following morning, he said, adding there would be a year-long waiting period until the law takes effect so that companies can prepare for it.
The government is also considering requiring companies to limit young users' access to online games to a maximum number of hours a week or a day if parents request this, said Jo.
South Korea is one of the world's most wired societies, but there have been sporadic reports of deaths related to internet game addiction.
Last month a 15-year-old South Korean boy committed suicide after killing his mother for scolding him over playing computer games too much.
In February a 32-year-old man died after reportedly playing for five days with few breaks.
A month later police arrested a couple accused of leaving their baby daughter to starve to death while they raised a "virtual'' child on the internet. The baby had long been malnourished, an autopsy showed.
The government, which estimates that South Korea has about two million web addicts, is already launching one campaign to combat the affliction.
From next year, it will offer free software to people at risk, to limit the time they spend on the web.
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