South Korea Will Block Gaming After Midnight

[Irridium]

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

I'm guessing it would be Midnight to, say 9AM. After that period of internet downtime, it will be back.

At least I think...
Still, I find this idea very entertaining:

OT: Im imagining a SWAT team busting in a door and putting a few rounds into the family computer at exactly midnight if someone is still playing games on it.

 

[Afterglow]

I'm surprised by the reaction people show in regards to this story. This is nothing but: #1 blatant abuse of power by the South Korean government and #2 a fix the symptom not the cause solution.

Obviously if that many people are being harmed by obsessive gaming then that is a sign of some deeper psychological problems that have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the games in and of themselves.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

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!

I think it's just an Asian thing. /minor sarcasm

My question: Why do they have so many damned bicycles!?

 

[CloggedDonkey]

well, that means that about half of the market is gone for those games at midnight, and what stops them from just logging back on after they get kicked off? ethics? does it spray sleeping gas into the room? how does it keep them off?

 

[Therumancer]

Well my suggestion would be to work on fixing their society, so people would seek less escapism, and thus spend less timing gaming. My usual response to such things.

I find the very idea of the goverment stepping in to "protect people from themselves" to be rather disturbing to say the least. When it comes to underage gaming in these cases, I can't help but wonder where this thing called "parenting" is supposed to come in. The goverment is going to regulate kids playing games so parents don't have to?

Well, maybe we'll see an international edition of cops where some Korean police bust into a house, guns drawn, and shake people down room by room over "after curfew" gaming. I can see it now... as they force people to lay down at gunpoint you'll have people running into the backroom trying to shut off their computers and stuff instead of flushing their stashes.

 

[The Great JT]

After midnight, huh? Now tell me, when can you game again, after 6 AM? If you're on a plane and playing a game and it shifts over to midnight with the time zone, does it automatically click off? I mean, this is "don't feed your mogwai after midnight" kind of explanations, here.

 

[Stoic raptor]

I am positive this will not end well

 

[Cousin_IT]

making sure the kids aren't playing games at midnight is really something the parents should do, but if the reporting of this subject is to be believed, the parents are probably keeping their kids up so they can do raids together

 

[Baby Tea]

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.

Well last I heard, they still said fan death was possible. So I wouldn't doubt that there is some embellishment of the tales going on. That being said, I do think that it can be a serious problem. Didn't we just have a story posted in the forums recently about a Korean husband and wife who let their infant child starve to death because they were always in internet cafes? That's just disgusting.

 

[mip0]

Yay! More LANs and adventure games.

 

[Austin MacKenzie]

Wrong thread, nothing to see here.

 

[the idiot computer]

Michael Atkinson syndrome is spreading...

 

[Jared]

In other news, Korea's economy collapsing as we speak.

On a serious note though, I think its a good idea. If people are taking it too far something needs to be done to curb it, for sure

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Good thing nobody ever lies about their age on the internet.

And I can guarantee you that if there isn't already a black market of registration numbers will immediately appear.

And failing that I bet a lot of kids have enough money to afford a VPN to a country that doesn't try this crap. https://www.relakks.com/?cid=gb 45 euro or about 60 dollars a year for government/isp snooping free internet access....not bad.

 

[Jroo wuz heer]

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.

anything that the government allows is legal. so its impossible for the government to not allow anything thats legal.

 

[Logic 0]

I'm afarid to say ths might be nessary because of the amount of deaths in south korea caused by to much gaming.

 

[Scrythe]

What in the fu-

I had no idea it was getting that bad over there. With Starcraft II coming down the pike, I wonder how big this will get? I'm sure it wouldn't blow up to Michael Atkinson proportions, but then again, the Koreas are known for some crazy shit, not to mention they pretty much own the monopoly on the "free" MMO market.

 

[Aurora219]

An interesting reaction, but we ARE beginning to border on the whole "human rights" thingy. If anything other than just playing a game was restricted like this, I would call bullshit and say they couldn't do it. But games are not one of life's little must-haves-for-existence, so I guess it can be pushed around a bit.

 

[Raptorace18]

whoa South Korea has some hardcore gamers

The most casual south Korean gamer is ten times more involved in gaming than the most hardcore Australian gamer.