Microsoft Blocks Late-Night Gaming for South Korean Kids

[Solid Reece]

When I was 15 not only did I not have any internet at all but I had an 11pm curfew.

kids are spoiled these days.

When I was 15, my curfew was at 9pm

Kid are spoiled because they get anything they want just by asking. When I was 13, I was working for my money to buy anything I wanted.

With that money I paid for my school, supplies, clothes, bed, with anything else that I needed.

Kids today with some almost 18 don't know the value of money

 

[ph0b0s123]

-snip-

Just because that been available for only a short amount of time, at least 10 years, does not mean it should not be questioned when it is taken away. People should question any liberty that is removed.

Your parents were more strict than mine, as at weekends I was allowed to play past midnight on weekends, when I turned 14. But since I grew up in mainland Europe and was going to pub's at that age past mid-night, it makes sense.

On-line is, unfortunately, so integral to most games today, it's removal does have a big impact. I think we should be more empathetic to the younger members of our community and be more outraged on their behalf, rather than throwing them under the bus just because some of us have had negative experiences with them.

 

[rofltehcat]

Sounds fair. They have to get to school in the morning anyways.

However, I think this should be turned off on the weekend and when there are holidays.

 

[Treblaine]

When I was 15 not only did I not have any internet at all but I had an 11pm curfew.

kids are spoiled these days.

When I was 15, my curfew was at 9pm

Kid are spoiled because they get anything they want just by asking. When I was 13, I was working for my money to buy anything I wanted.

With that money I paid for my school, supplies, clothes, bed, with anything else that I needed.

Kids today with some almost 18 don't know the value of money

*Adopts Mock Yorkshire accent*

Oh you had it lucky. When I was a lad I had to get up before I went to sleep, sweep the roads clean on my way to work and that was before I went to school, 7 days a week. And even then it took 36 hours to download one JPEG of Mariah Carey


"And you try to tell the young people of today that... and will they believe you!"

 

[Twilight_guy]

Okay, must have missed the stories about South Korea putting this law into effect (I'm sure that made some noise but I've been busy).

I don't see why there is a story here. South Korea creates a law, Microsoft and Sony follow that law. If you want to question the law, that's a good issue of discussion but just "they followed regulation" seems to be a bit bereft of content.

 

[Treblaine]

-snip-

Just because that been available for only a short amount of time, at least 10 years, does not mean it should not be questioned when it is taken away. People should question any liberty that is removed.

Your parents were more strict than mine, as at weekends I was allowed to play past midnight on weekends, when I turned 14. But since I grew up in mainland Europe and was going to pub's at that age past mid-night, it makes sense.

On-line is, unfortunately, so integral to most games today, it's removal does have a big impact. I think we should be more empathetic to the younger members of our community and be more outraged on their behalf, rather than throwing them under the bus just because some of us have had negative experiences with them.

That was just to address your "within living memory" argument.

"People should question any liberty that is removed."

Might be relevant if it affected people who have reached Ago of Majority. Buuut it's well established that 15 years old you are forbidden from so many things. Almost all the philosophy of personal liberty has been based around that people below the age of majority have totally different rights and responsibilities.

Also, this is not a ban on Xbox Live. This is a curfew. It's only 6 hours out of the day, at a time of the day when any 13-15 year old should be most likely asleep or is winding down to go to bed. Here is the thing. And yes, that is 13-15. You MUST be 13 or older to have an Xbox Live account, same with Steam. This has something to do with anti-paedophile laws or something. And this curfew - which is just for South Korea - is following the law of the land in a rather broad interpretation (it targeted PC based MMOs, but who knows if you that could cover Black Ops as well).

And from what I have seen on the internet... I am GLAD that circumstance meant I wasn't exposed to it till I was much older. This is for their own good. I REALLY think this measure should be followed. if you are 15 and it is midnight, maybe it's time to switch off. Kids need their sleep more than they realise, they have to do more than flip burgers the next day, they have to LEARN. My younger cousins (11 and 13 years old) are asking me about what games console they should get and I'm telling them a Wii, Gamecube, PS2, anything without major online. I told my Uncle plainly that they should NOT be allowed to play any online games, not yet. I'm also telling my uncle they don't need personal computers either nor private unfiltered internet access, definitely not.

 

[Smokej]

i would upgrade my xbox account for a network where this would be in perma effect

 

[Solid Reece]

When I was 15 not only did I not have any internet at all but I had an 11pm curfew.

kids are spoiled these days.

When I was 15, my curfew was at 9pm

Kid are spoiled because they get anything they want just by asking. When I was 13, I was working for my money to buy anything I wanted.

With that money I paid for my school, supplies, clothes, bed, with anything else that I needed.

Kids today with some almost 18 don't know the value of money

*Adopts Mock Yorkshire accent*

Oh you had it lucky. When I was a lad I had to get up before I went to sleep, sweep the roads clean on my way to work and that was before I went to school, 7 days a week. And even then it took 36 hours to download one JPEG of Mariah Carey


"And you try to tell the young people of today that... and will they believe you!"

I want to go to school for 7 days a week!

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I wonder if Korea is aware of the fact that you're supposed to try to use widespread propaganda and PSAs to spread the message of proper sleeping and entertainment in moderation before deciding to flat-out regulate the shit out of everything.

They're jumping several steps here, and I doubt anyone will be pleased with the end result.

 

[mysecondlife]

You know what would stop him? Parents who tell their kids to turn it off and go to bed, and then make sure it happens. Crazy idea, I know, but maybe someone should give it a try.

I lived in Korea to tell you this: I've seen teenagers often go to internet cafe first thing in the morning instead of going to school. Maybe the parents should hold their hand and make sure they go to school? Besides, internet cafes are open 24 hours and easily accessible within 5 - 10 minutes of walk from home. What isn't to say that kids wont sneak out to game in middle of night? Government bans are way easier (and dare I say, better).

 

[mysecondlife]

Sounds fair. They have to get to school in the morning anyways.

However, I think this should be turned off on the weekend and when there are holidays.

Korean kids have school on Saturdays. and there aren't many holidays where they take days off from school.

 

[cyrad]

I feel bad for Microsoft, Sony, and other companies that had to bend over for this law.

These companies had to spend copious amounts of dollars, effort, and man-hours to conform to this law. They had to burden their network infrastructure and their customers across the world. Microsoft ran risk of having to shut down their network for ALL of their customers because of the Korean law.

And for what? Because the Korean government believed entertainment companies should be held liable for the irresponsibility of their customers?

This would be like if the US barred all restaurants from selling more than 30% of the daily calories in food to individual customers. The burden on the restaurant industry would be devastating, and it ultimately wouldn't stop people from overeating.

 

[Sylveria]

You know what would stop him? Parents who tell their kids to turn it off and go to bed, and then make sure it happens. Crazy idea, I know, but maybe someone should give it a try.

Parents being expected to actually act like parents? Nah, why do your job as someone who decided to shoot out yet another kid into this planet when you can get your government to do it for you. I guess being a lazy, neglectful, waste of human life and STILL crapping out a dozen kids is a global problem.

 

[Sylveria]

Government bans are way easier (and dare I say, better).

So you support governments telling people how to run their lives? Hey Stalin, how's life?

It starts with kids under 16, but where does it go? Maybe it works and kids' grades do start going up. What's to stop them from seeing that gaming after midnight affects adult work productivity and making it a ban for the entire population? Then they start moving up the blackout time, so on and so forth till gaming is banned completely because it's viewed as a destructive force to the population and now they have solid evidence to back up that claim.

 

[Wulfheri]

They payed for Xbox so they should get full service or it's discrimination based on age. It's a shame already that they ask for age when you get an account.

 

[mysecondlife]

Government bans are way easier (and dare I say, better).

So you support governments telling people how to run their lives? Hey Stalin, how's life?

It starts with kids under 16, but where does it go? Maybe it works and kids' grades do start going up. What's to stop them from seeing that gaming after midnight affects adult work productivity and making it a ban for the entire population? Then they start moving up the blackout time, so on and so forth till gaming is banned completely because it's viewed as a destructive force to the population and now they have solid evidence to back up that claim.

Same applies for alcohol, cigarettes, etc. You don't seem to be worried about those.

My name isn't Stalin (hur hur) but my life is fantastic. Thanks for asking.

EDIT: By the way, thanks for quoting me out of context.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

Hot damn. They should implement this in the US so I know when I can play online without playing with little kids. (I'm being half-sarcastic here. I don't want a law like Korea has in place, but the idea of playing without kids in my lobby seems fantastic.)

Anyway, MS is just complying with Korean law here. Gaming is a much bigger problem as an addiction over there, so it isn't surprising it is a law.

 

[Treblaine]

Government bans are way easier (and dare I say, better).

So you support governments telling people how to run their lives? Hey Stalin, how's life?

It starts with kids under 16, but where does it go? Maybe it works and kids' grades do start going up. What's to stop them from seeing that gaming after midnight affects adult work productivity and making it a ban for the entire population? Then they start moving up the blackout time, so on and so forth till gaming is banned completely because it's viewed as a destructive force to the population and now they have solid evidence to back up that claim.

That's the slippery slope fallacy.

You could make a "thin end of the wedge" argument, but you would have to demonstrate how this moderate regulation makes it more likely or easier to pass another stricter law. See because it is easy to legislate against 15 year olds because they don't work, don't vote, aren't politically active, aren't independent and most haven't even started shaving yet. You can't get away with the same shit against adults.

Sleep IS more important for 13-15 year olds, and parents clearly are not regulating it enough. This entire argument for this law has been that it is necessary for that age group, it takes a whole new movement to apply it to adults and especially around the world.