By I understand the Korean government is trying to solve a problem with video game addiction with the nation’s youth, but where are the parents in all of this that are allowing teenagers to hang out past midnight in Internet cafes?:
A pair of policies were announced yesterday that will attempt to block underaged access to online computer games after midnight in light of the rising problem of video game addiction among youth.
In what’s being touted as the “nighttime shutdown,” the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism hopes the new measures they have implemented will help eradicate video game addiction among teenagers.
According to the ministry, underaged users will be forced out of gaming sessions when online access automatically shuts down as soon as the clock strikes midnight.
The policy also includes a “slowdown” system in which internet connection speeds will be stifled dramatically if underaged users are logged on for a lengthy period of time.
These policies will be applicable to popular online games like “Barameui Nara” “Maple Story,” and “Mabinogi,” in the second half of this year — games which require users to spend long hours invested in a virtual world.
Gamers will be given three options for the six hour black-out period –midnight-6 a.m.,1-7 a.m., and 2-8 a.m.
The “slowdown” scheme is currently being tested out on a total of four role playing games, including the hugely popular “Dungeon & Fighter,” and “Dragon Nest,” and will be extended to 19 role playing games. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link on this issue along with other games affected.
7:35 pm on April 12th, 2010 1
I don't think this is the right way to approach the problem. Korea keeps disappointing me with its internet policies these days. Anyways, the whole internet curfew thing isn't that new anyways. Back in 2000 when I used to live there the internet cafe I frequent had a policy that minors had to go home at 12 or 10 (don't remember which). But, the point I want to make is that the policy wasn't really enforced well at all. Even if the government does implement this new policy, I think PC bangs will still find a way to work around it.
8:09 pm on April 12th, 2010 2
I see where they're going with this; impose a midnight blackout to prevent those nutty gamers for playing 72 hours straight. Let's face it, however, these people are the minority and all this policy does is encourage people to waste more time during their waking hours.
8:17 pm on April 12th, 2010 3
Kids regularly stay at hakwons studying until quite late. Presumably there are parents out there spending large chunks of their hard earned paychecks to send their kids to hakwons – and the kids are not always where they are supposed to be. I suppose some of the better hakwons would let the parents know their child is missing from class…but there are plenty of them that are primarily only concerned with tuition payments – and very little beyond that.
10:23 pm on April 12th, 2010 4
I hardly think anyone from the USA can even comment on how Korea polices its youth. When the US can control its drug dealer youth, then the US and its people can lecture others on their youth.
11:32 pm on April 12th, 2010 5
These online games are dangerous. I know parents should do a better job of monitoring their kids, but let's face it; in Korea it's not happening.
When my Korean nephew was 14, my wife and I adopted him so he could come to the USA and get an education. When he arrived, he was addicted to Starcraft/War Craft. We would wake up at 2 AM and find he had sneaked into our home library to play. He was 14, but had the social skills of a 9 year old, was overweight and all he wanted to do was play computer games all day and all night. My wife, being the hard-ass Korean woman she is, made him work out on a treadmill in our exercise room for an hour each day and would only let him on the computer to do homework and at night, we would lock the library so he couldn't get in to play. In Korea he was a poor student – probably because he was hooked on computer games – but in the US he excelled. Under our (my wife's) guidance, he went from a kid that couldn't speak English to graduating from high-school in three years and getting a full ride scholarship to college as a pre-med student.
Yeah, I'm bragging a bit, but I guess what I'm really trying to get across is that these games are addictive to young minds and while I don't agree with government's controlling our lives, I can understand why Korea is doing it. Too many of their young bright minds are becoming online video game mush muppets.
12:50 am on April 13th, 2010 6
I'm not American, but I have the right to vote in the local elections…So, piss off.
2:19 am on April 13th, 2010 7
So……….you're telling me you can't read?
3:31 am on April 13th, 2010 8
Yeah and Koreans make their fair share of comments about American society, so they are getting back what they dish out.
If they don't like it, too bad, they talk shit about everyone else.
If a Korean lives abroad somewhere and does something bad, you can be sure they're going to blame the corrupting influence of the host country.
8:36 am on April 13th, 2010 9
Not everyone has a daughter that was addicted to Meth.
9:44 am on April 13th, 2010 10
Read between the lines. I'm saying a great deal of us here are long time residents, some of us even have the right to vote. But, if we voice our opinion were just "uppity forners"?
9:44 am on April 13th, 2010 11
That's a low blow. Really.
10:10 am on April 13th, 2010 12
Yet they are still allow to roam around midnight still in their school uniforms from hagwon to hagwon.
10:36 am on April 13th, 2010 13
Actually, I think the point is: No matter what the government does, without parental control, support, and guidance, the kid's a loser. Your case clearly proves it. Government regulation won't make kids stop playing, only parents can.
11:08 am on April 13th, 2010 14
Agreed. I just hate to say it, but so many parents (in America or Korea) won't do anything about it. When I was stationed in Korea back in the 80's, Korean television was only on a few hours a day. Partly because they didn't want their youth to get hooked on TV. Now the entire country is hooked on Korean dramas. It reminds me of when I was a kid how so many women in America were hooked on "All My Children", etc. Maybe it's just a phase every country goes through during their generational cycles.
11:10 am on April 13th, 2010 15
I'm guessing your directing that at my admission in another thread about my daughter having went through addiction. You're quite the character aren't you. No class at all.
12:58 pm on April 13th, 2010 16
President Park JH banned daytime television because he felt no one had any business watching tv during work hours. Of course, kids were at school during the day, so the ban didn't really affect them, because they couldn't have watched tv during daytime hours even if it were available. So it would be more accurate to say the ban was directed at adults, rather than children.
12:59 pm on April 13th, 2010 17
Forgot to mention – even though Park was assinated in 1979, that policy continued on for several years after his death.
1:00 pm on April 13th, 2010 18
Freudian? I hope not…
Make that "assassinated."
1:38 pm on April 13th, 2010 19
GOOD IDEA!
1:45 pm on April 13th, 2010 20
"assinated"
"Freudian? I hope not…"
Worse.
He was shot by Kim Jae-kyu…
…which makes him "jae kyu offed".
That's just too many coincidences to be purely Freudian.
2:33 pm on April 13th, 2010 21
Ummm. Does this basically mean they are going to throttle down everyone's internet speeds? I mean, what is the technology behind this? Seriously, lets consider, the government knows the IP address of every under age user so they can selectively target them? I do not remember registering my PC or internet connection as adult owned and operated. Getting my point? Can they monitor our keystrokes; determining our age by some algorithm or the applications running in memory? There could be serious repercussions for everyone living in Korea.
3:38 pm on April 13th, 2010 22
Don't worry, Leon.
You will still be able to play Maple Story.
None-the-less, to answer your questions, your age (and sex) seemingly CAN be determined by the way you type… "researchers" claim within 10 keystrokes.
Also, I get the feeling the limitation is on the gaming account, linked to the national ID number, rather than the Internet in general…
…which means I will be selling all my friends' ID numbers to kids for 200 gold pieces or any +10 magic weapon with double damage against hob-goblins.
As this whole thing sets up another layer of intrusive and expensive "enforcement" with little real chance of success, if the Korean government was to ask me, I would recommend a national campaign to shame parents into putting a bit more effort into monitoring what their kids are doing out between midnight and 8am.
C'mon, "I was at the hogwon at 3am," is bull.
10:06 pm on April 21st, 2010 23
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3:43 pm on July 25th, 2010 24
I think shut down program is really necessary because there are many parents who are not paying attention to their children.
In addition children will play games eventhough their parents are looking them. For example, they can play games secretly.