South Korea's "Shutdown Law" Takes Effect

[poleboy]

Restricing people's free time to turn them into more effective worker drones? Classy. I thought you were supposed to be the good Korea.

And just because it can't be said enough: Governments are not parents. The purpose of government is to serve its people, not the other way around. And if it's already come to that, it's time for a revolution. Preferably a violent one.

 

[Monsterfurby]

This law is perfect on so many levels.

1. It is very easy to enforce and will be highly effective.
2. Finally, parents are free from the hassle that is actual parenting. Now they just have to point to the law!
3. The government should definitely do parents' jobs. I mean, I trust my government completely and utterly with information about my gaming habits and pretty much everything else, don't you? Why shouldn't completely unrelated government agencies store my social security number and other personal data?
4. Console developers will have no cost and trouble whatsoever in implementing age checks. It's not at all difficult.

All in all, a brilliant move which should definitely be repeated in the west.



[/sarcasm]

 

[GLo Jones]

Knowing the current state of many South Korean students, this is nothing but a good thing in my opinion. The kids are pushed ridiculously hard to succeed academically, whether they actually bother in the classroom or not. While this may not actually leave the gaming kids much time to play, it should hopefully help many to get more sleep.

 

[bjj hero]

This sounds sensible to me. Kids should not be up playing videogames at 3 am anyway.

 

[TheDooD]

If S Korea stopped making a lot of pretty damn fun looking FTP MMO's they wouldn't really have this problem now would they.

 

[Pinstar]

I'm not sure how I feel about this law. There are clearly problems with this sort of things in Korea, more than just one or two nutjobs taking it too far.

Unlike SOPA in the US, this law is specific in both its purpose and scope.

On the other hand, this is the government doing what a parent should be doing in the first place.


Unfortunately, I think the most hardcore of young gamers, the ones who are the intended target of this law, will work just that much harder to circumvent it. Either by making themselves look older, jumping on the back of an older siblings/parent's account or just by going to LAN parties... and hacking games (like SC2) so they can do lan.

 

[kingmob]

It is age limits on games/movies/etc taken to the extreme. Anyone who condones those (as anything other than a way to inform parents) but opposes this is a hypocrite.

The most horrible thing of course is, that when a parent is ok with their child playing after 12 (for whatever reason, it is THEIR kid), are now apparently criminals in SK. Big Brother knows best...

 

[Siege_TF]

The law's passage has been met with furious opposition from South Korean gaming groups and civil rights advocates.

I'm shocked. I didn't actually know South Korean civil rights advocates officially existed.
Seems they don't have much clout though.

 

[Sylveria]

To deal with this problem, the MGEF wants games companies to collect additional information from gamers, including social security numbers and phone numbers, to strengthen account identification systems. As TIG notes, this is "exactly the opposite of personal information protection law."


Oh yeah this is smart. These online game places get hacked all the time, especially in Asia, and they want them storing social security numbers?

 

[Sylveria]

This sounds sensible to me. Kids should not be up playing videogames at 3 am anyway.

That's a parenting decision, not one the government should be making laws to enforce. Saying stuff like this is sensible is the first step to allowing it to happen elsewhere.

Also, lets think of where this could lead. First it's just online providers, then it becomes a required feature in consoles so no games can be played after a certain time for kids, then someone decides that making this apply to adults because it would reduce work-related problems...

 

[Sylveria]

How pathetic and sad are you if you're so desperate to play your damn games between midnight and morning that you go through all that damn trouble? When you're beneath 16 years of age, a fucking child. If you're that desperate to play after midnight, that's an argument IN FAVOR of this law, not against.

You are absolutely right, we need more laws like this. How about making it so the machine can not be turned on after midnight without a parental code so no games can be played?

Oh, but why stop at games, how about laws that say no one can drink alcohol after midnight, that would cut down drunk driving fatalities. But how can we enforce that, even something involuntary could be cheated.. oh I know, we can embed blood testing devices into every person so it can periodically send your blood/alc level to the ATF.

But why stop there! That device can scan your blood for anything it wants: alcohol, drugs, even high-fat foods, after all obesity is a big problem, if we stop people from eating food after midnight, it might cut down on childhood obesity.

Since we've already got a device in everyone, why not let it track our locations, that would drastically cut down on kidnappings and other crimes since we'd know where everyone is at all times.

I think you're on to something friend! I'm glad you want the government to monitor and control our every move, and this is the first step to getting there. For the overlord!

 

[LadyTiamat]

The kids will find a way around it.....trust me.

 

[MonkeyPunch]

OK, I can see how this would work on PSN and XBL but how would they enforce this on PC?
Make ALL games with an online component force gamers to enter their age somewhere?
Seems terribly unlikely and unwieldy, not to mention that you couldn't enforce this law on older games. (ie. kids under 16 could play all nighters with Unreal Tournament 99 and who's to know)
And then what about browser games? I have no clue how things like Farmville work but aren't they online interactive?

Mentioning that last line actually made me think that it's hardly just online gaming responsible for gaming addicts. I'm sure someone who easily gets addicted to something like WoW could also loose themselves in something like Minecraft, Fallout3 or Skyrim?
Therefore I have to conclude that this isn't a very effective law.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

is it really that hard for S-Korean parents to yank their kids from the computer/internet cafe,s?

I guess they could do that if they didn't fear getting murdered in their sleep.

OT: There's an outrage because privilieges are being revoked. Personally i don't think it's such a bad idea per se, but they probably should have gone about it in a different way than just saying "THAT IS A NO-NO!". People don't approve of that sort of thing, i guess there's nothing people loathe more than being told what they AREN'T allowed to do.

Imagine if they outlawed school how many people would start sneaking in there just for the hell of it the first week and within the next month (or year, depending on the people) they'd be having secret study sessions in some private basement.

But yeah, sleep is important. Try finding some time for it (i know i've walked into the trap of gaming > sleep a few times too much before)

 

[Dana22]

hi fascism. Your kids are not really yours, they are the government property.

 

[Fiad]

I honestly support this bill, as much as people will complain about it it is doing the right thing. Only part I don't agree with is the gathering SS numbers and such.

 

[bjj hero]

That's a parenting decision, not one the government should be making laws to enforce. Saying stuff like this is sensible is the first step to allowing it to happen elsewhere.

Also, lets think of where this could lead. First it's just online providers, then it becomes a required feature in consoles so no games can be played after a certain time for kids, then someone decides that making this apply to adults because it would reduce work-related problems...

There already are laws regulating parental decisions so dont act like its such a shocking idea or a huge taboo. Thats why I cannot give my son whisky for breakfast, he cannot have sex with a 55 year old even if I approved, I cannot let him drive me home if Im drunk, he has to be educated, he cannot join the army, even if I think he'd fill sandbags really well. I could go on and on.

So what if it became a required feature in consoles? Your kid shouldnt be playing videogames at 4am. You say expand it to adults but adults have more rights as they have more responsibilities. Most of the civilised world works this way. If you ruin your work day through starcraft then you pay for it in your job, maybe even get fired. Thats part of being an adult.

I noticed your following post arguing that its 1 step away than forcibly implanting machines in people. Are you serious? Thats like saying nationalised health care "could" lead to communism. A silly argument.

 

[Something Amyss]

Mmm I'm not sure its going to have that much effect; if Korea is anything like the west, half the gamers will lie about their age to circumvent having to get age restrictions on their profiles.

More likely, giventhe obsession with MMOs, it'll be like 99%

 

[Erttheking]

This is kinda fucked up.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

.... only if it would work here with 12 year old's on cod or battle field etc...