South Korea Will Block Gaming After Midnight

[Austin MacKenzie]

South Korea Will Block Gaming After Midnight

South Korea is moving to battle online gaming addiction by forcing underage gamers off the internet.

A new policy announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will literally force underage gamers off the internet once midnight rolls around. It is part of a twofold initiative to fight teen gaming addiction. Popular MMOGs like Maple Story and Barameui Nara will all have this system implemented by the second half of the year, and the program is intended to eventually encompass the 19 MMOGs that make up 79 percent of the Korean online gaming consumption.

In addition, the system will also force a reduced, slower performance when it detects underage gamers have been playing for too long. Using the registration, the game will be able to differentiate between underage and above-age players, but there are also plans for ways to stop underage gamers from using their parents' resident registration numbers to keep gaming, though no details on that plan have been released.

The pressure for action has been stepped up recently due to a number of reports of gamers dying of exhaustion after playing for too long, as well as the shocking story of a <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98884-Gaming-Addiction-Leads-to-Death-of-3-Month-Old-Korean-Girl>three-month old girl dying due to starvation and neglect. While critics feel the measures may not be enough to simply prevent underage gamers from simply bypassing them, there is still a push within the country for strong measures to help prevent these problems.

Source: <a href=http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100412000752>The Korean Herald via <a href=http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/54215/Midnight-Ban-For-Online-Gamers-In-Korea>Voodoo Extreme


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[Delusibeta]

Starcraft 2 is approaching release, and South Korea is introducing internet & gaming restrictions. Connection?

I recall the Chinese implementing a similar system.

 

[randommaster]

Iwouldn't call it reasonable, but this may or may not help the problem. I wonder how bad the problem in SK really is and how much of it is publicity. These stories have obviously been sensationalized, but there is an issue if they keep occuring.

 

[zombie711]

whoa South Korea has some hardcore gamers

 

[randommaster]

Starcraft 2 is approaching release, and South Korea is introducing internet & gaming restrictions. Connection?

I recall the Chinese implementing a similar system.

I think that's just a coincidence as the legislation had to go through the government first. It's still very strange, though.

 

[Sir Kemper]

Well, this is going to have some...interesting side effects on South Korea's gameing population.

 

[LWS666]

this is a problem where there can be no solution that is liked by the majority. stop them using the internet and get called a dictator, let them continue and be called a prick for letting people kill themselves this way.

 

[DividedUnity]

Hopefully this will reduce the number of korean grindfest MMOs. Still sucks to be them

 

[The Cheezy One]

oh underage gamers
this title is misleading
but yeah, thats bad, but still, if you are dying, maybe GROTHZOG_LOLLZ can live 5 minutes without killing a demon of draenor while you make yourself a sandwich, yeah?

 

[Rabarberskurk]

They'll move to actual good games now, and hopefully Korean MMOs can finally die.

 

[Kiithid]

I find ironic when the goc tries so hard to step in and seems the parents don't give a flying about it.

 

[GotMurf]

Though this may seem a decent solution to SK's gamer problem, there's always a chance that this successful move will be followed up by another policy, possibly a limitation on adult gamers. It's a sad state of affairs when a governing body can start restricting what you can do for fun (providing its legal), but we'll see where this goes. Could be good or bad news.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I can see thousands of Koreans committing suicide if their internet connection was cut off like this.

 

[GrinningManiac]

That title is inflammatory (I thought you meant the entire country would ban the entirety of gaming)

OT: Makes sense, and it's a good way of dealing with the really intense obsession with gaming, particularly with RPGS and particularly where it's strongest, which is the Far East

WHY is it that they have such obsessive gamers in Korea/Japan? Don't tell me "it's the same amount as other countries but they're more noticable/vocal", because that's not true, it can't be!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

So, they can never play? It's technically always after midnight.

 

[Simalacrum]

Hmmmmmmm...

Sound bad at first, but this move does actually make sense... I wander if it will be at all effective?

 

[Iwata]

On the surface, it seems to suck, but hey, extreme measures...

 

[Aptspire]

I wonder if the country's economy will show signs of decelleration once the South Koreans have bought StarCraft 2 :U
I must admit, I've always felt that their passion for these MMO's was always a bit...over the top

 

[Double A]

Aren't all times after midnight?