[NDG.Stitch]

Read Article: http://robotsgonebad.com/2012/07/sou...addiction-law/

It looks like Korea has implemented a new law for all children under the age of 18 to have a limited amount of time for gaming. This really caught me by surprise when somebody in Team Eve told me about this! Wonder what you guys think about this... does it mean the new generation of Korean SC2 players may be weaker with less practice?

[TN.Fitz]

Might be hard to enforce. I know there has been limitations in the past like these laws. Again you could always lie about your age and most likely up to the parents on his to enforce. I highly doubt there will be a police officer looking over your child.

But then again your accounts in Korean have their SSN associated or something like it attached to the accounts so It might be hard to lie about age

[Dingobloo]

Originally Posted by TN.Fitz

But then again your accounts in Korean have their SSN associated or something like it attached to the accounts so It might be hard to lie about age

They're already enforcing the shut down law where they stop children playing between midnight and 6am by using the SSN.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...nto_Effect.php

In fact I heard a rumor that classic battle.net is shut down between midnight and 6am because they don't have the SSN's linked to classic b.net accounts. Interesting none the less. Blizzard have had parental controls in the past (ie with wow) so I doubt this will be much different.

[ToRSpartaz]

Nooooooo! Maru Dx

This is really big for young potential progamers in Korea

[Stallion]

Originally Posted by ToRSpartaz

Nooooooo! Maru Dx

This is really big for young potential progamers in Korea

yay a chance to catch up :P

[nirvAnA]

Oh when i first saw this post i thought this is ridiculous as it was basically limiting freedom. Then when i read the article it said

"South Korea is going to start letting parents decide when their kids can game.

In a move to combat online game addiction, the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has, of July 1st, implemented a system that prevents children under the age of 18 from playing games during a period that their parents or legal representatives set."

This now makes perfect sense. Yes, parents should set the limits when then children should play games until they are mature enough (>18) to make the decision on their own. Its basically empowering parents and their kids are required by law to listen to them.

[Dingobloo]

Originally Posted by nirvAnA

Oh when i first saw this post i thought this is ridiculous as it was basically limiting freedom. Then when i read the article it said

"South Korea is going to start letting parents decide when their kids can game.

In a move to combat online game addiction, the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has, of July 1st, implemented a system that prevents children under the age of 18 from playing games during a period that their parents or legal representatives set."

This now makes perfect sense. Yes, parents should set the limits when then children should play games until they are mature enough (>18) to make the decision on their own. Its basically empowering parents and their kids are required by law to listen to them.

I doubt the law is targeted at children in a "listen to your parents" kind of way, I think it's more targeted at the game companies (over a certain size) to ensure they have systems in place that allow parents to limit when they can log on to the game. I think as long as they repeal the previous shut down law that gave the government the choice rather than the parents this is a decent move.

[Dox]

I could have sworn I posted something about this a looooong time ago, like at least a year ago. They put a lock on accounts under 18 which prevented them from logging into Battle.net after midnight. This looks like it's the next step up (down).

Ah well, it's probably for the best. This takes the responsibility back away from the government and into the hands of the parents - with legal reinforcement as necessary.

EDIT: Yeah, what Nirvana said.

Quick Comments

NvJazBas:

Yeah this law was introduced some time ago

[TN.Fitz]

I mean something I'd always do when I was younger so just have my parents buy for me. If I was 12 I'd just ask my mom or dad to use their credit card. Hell my first SC2 account had WIlliam as my Real ID yet I'm Jamie haha.

So I suppose the parents might buy it and then they can game all they want. Because I know if I was in Korea I'd definitely try to work around it.

[faithHunter]

Dunno if I can say that I agree with this or not. If I am not mistaken, they aren't allowed to game starting from 12 AM to 6 AM right? Or are they only allowed to play for a certain amount of hours a day?

Also, I feel like implementing a law to limit the amount of time for minors to game is just overkill and it kinda violates their freedom IMO. Even if it is for the greater good.

[NDG.Stitch]

It's very hard to argue if you're from a different cultural background man. I mean politically, South Korea is becoming stronger each day with their marketing through different markets such as Samsung being a big breakthrough for Korea. All of this is because of the amazing results they've been getting from the newer generation, its hard to blame Korea for thinking that gaming is a distraction to the students. Coming from an Asian culture myself, I know that my parents would definitely limit the amount of gaming if they could, and this is exactly what Korea is doing. Giving parents a concrete way to teach their kids to let them focus because gaming I have to say really tilts studies if you want to be the top. This is just my opinion.

Edit* Also, being a teenager myself, I know that the good ol' self-motivation to stop gaming and study is so much harder nowadays - mainly because the distractions are stronger. I turn on a stream and I just get glued onto it. In a way even when I study myself I have to isolate myself in a room with no computer to actually focus on work. I really have to half agree to what the Korean government is doing!

[Heady]

I wonder if there will be a spike in tw account sales.

[Ghosty]

Is it such a problem over there that they really need to implement this as a law? Where I'm from they were more worried about kids joining gangs. I'm sure there's plenty of other 'addictive' behavior kids under 16 can engage in without anyone knowing during the early-hours, are they going to "block" that too? :P

I respect that they think they are doing the right thing, and in 99% of cases they probably are, but at the same time it feels like they may be alienating a subculture.
On the other hand I guess if kids are really dedicated to wanting to become a ProGamer they will just practice during 6am-12am. They still have the choice to neglect other things e.g. schoolwork - Is this starting to look more of an attempt to regulate sleeping patterns? lol

[inFeZa]

I'd still secretly train my kids at 3am in the morning going Gordon Ramsay on their ass untill they are gosu kids haha

[Antel0pe]

As a Korean child, game addiction in Korea is a huge thing. There was a news report about a kid committing suicide because his parents didn't come home til 3am in the morning because they took night shifts and day shifts. The parents would also work during the weekend.
Also the kid was a loner, he had no friends and he wasn't good at studying, which means the teacher wouldn't help him or protect him from bullies. And what happened everyday is that a bully, would beat him up and tell him to level up his MMORPG account because the bullied kid had much more free time and no parents to stop him. And this happened over a period of time. Soon enough, he couldn't keep up with homework and training the MMORPG account, that he did his homework more and couldn't train the game account anymore. So then the bully came into his house after school, tied him to a piano and beat the crap out of him.
It wasn't the victim who was a game addict, it was the bully. The bullied child, who was pissed at everything related to life, just because his parents were often too tired after work and couldn't care for him enough, and the teachers in Korea only favor smart kids and he was bullied because he seemed vulnerable, hung himself.
Oh and the kids were in secondary school, so age 11-15
My dad reads these kind of stories everyday on the Korean news websites and often punishes me if I game too much. Hell, these articles come up on the news on a Korean channel in Singapore.

Quick Comments

breadfan:

That's bullying, not game addiction

[Meatex]

Honestly there is no logical argument that can be made against not allowing children to play games at insane hours of the night like i usually do.
Many parents all over the world already use parental controls and this law simply centralizes everything - so parents don't have to spy on their kids to know every game they are playing (which they can't if the child goes to a PC bang) and enforce parental controls for each game. I assume this would force game developers to use a centralized system where the parents could set gaming limits linked to the child's SSN which is required already by law for making any game account

Certainly there are ways around this - like playing foreign games - but ping and language barriers may make that difficult for problem students. And it won't be so easy for a child to get somebody else's details to make new accounts either. Might be interesting though where a child with generous parents could trade game time with other children for snacks or whatever but again with almost every game having some sort of rpg level/unlock system children may be attached to their own character?

Either way I think its a great idea if handled well by the parents

[Antel0pe]

Originally Posted by Antelope

That's bullying, not game addiction

it's bullying from game addiction

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by Antelope

it's bullying from game addiction

No it's not, if the bully was a game addict, he'd probably be doing the levelling himself instead of forcing kids to play for him.

Gambling addicts don't force other people to gamble for them, and alcoholics don't force people to drink for them. Addiction is a very serious occurrence, and is more than simply placing exaggerated importance on the outcome.

[Antel0pe]

hell, if i can find the article, i would find it. i don't know if i missed something else, but it was a story my dad told my brother and i during a meal. This happens a lot in Korea. there was a teenager who was a LAN cybercafe for like 3 days, and ate nothing but played games who died.

Edit - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4137782.stm Here's the game addict who died at a cyber cafe.

[onsRevenge]

honestly. I don't actually think this will change that much.
For example, you a young pro gamer like MaruPrime.
He'll find a way either using a smurf or borrowing an elder's SSN.
The thing that does change is that kids can't stay in internet cafes overnight, and all day. But I feel like if they game at home, it wouldn't be that different