Korea Bans Late Night Gaming Amidst “MMORPG Epidemic”

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Hysteria over children being led astray by the temptations of MMORPGs has prompted Korea to enact legislation banning youths from late night MMORPG sessions.

A supposed epidemic of “game addiction” reaching 7% of the nation’s schoolchildren, some 510,000 children, has prompted the government to ban underage players from playing a selection of popular MMORPGs, including “Maple Story,” “Barameui Nara” and “Mabinogi.”

The ban is to be implemented by forcing gamers to choose a 6 hour period running from 12AM-6AM, 1AM-7AM, or 2AM-8AM.

Additionally, game makers are gradually being forced to implement “fatigue” systems in RPG titles, reducing drop rates or similar if the player spends a long period in game.

19 games are to be included in the “fatigue” system, thought to cover some 80% of the country’s market for online games, though some have noted that such popular titles as Lineage have escaped inclusion for now.

Korea’s legislation is similar in scope to that adopted in China, which has long scapegoated games as subversive elements, placing the nation in good company indeed.

The Korean government and mass media appear silent on the issue of whether parents actually bear any responsibility for what their children do at night – it seems not.



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    Comment by Anonymous
    07:55 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    What took them so long!

    Comment by Anonymous
    07:00 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Sucks to be a kid in Korea, then doesn't it.
    At the same time, though, there really isn't a need for a bunch of little kids to be up playing MMO's past midnight anyways. Whatever happened to sleeping?

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:56 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Hahahahha, how does the government think it's going to impose this ban? by blocking ports for those titles at those times? Kids are intuitive these days, not to mention it should be up to the parents not the government.. then again this IS Korea we're talking about, albeit South Korea..

    Comment by Anonymous
    07:55 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Fuck that, if the "parents actually doing parenting" line really worked in the practical world, it wouldn't have to be repeated all the time. Too easy to say, not so easy to do and enforce.

    What, you think you guys are geniuses for figuring that out? I think you're all idiots for saying it all the time and yet failing to ever see it work.

    Comment by Anonymous
    07:59 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Nexon games ban underage kid good =)

    Comment by Anonymous
    09:08 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Anon 2035

    Parent should tell the kids to use computer at age of 11.

    The reason for that is they dont even know how to protect the computer and search the web carefully.

    Parenting is not easy as you think. it takes a lot of responsibility and hardship.

    Besides if you decide as a single, that's fine. however, it gets boring and lonely.

    Comment by Anonymous
    05:45 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Not to sound stupid but North or South???

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:37 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Yeah, you sound stupid.

    Comment by Anonymous
    07:01 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    To put it in another way, if you honestly think the North allows its citizens to have that much freedom on a computer as to be able to freely browse and download mmo's, you've got another thing coming.

    Comment by Anonymous
    03:52 06/04/2013 # ! Neutral (0)

    More like "If you think the North Korean standard of living actually allows people to afford computers, MMOs, and reliable electricity."

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:13 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    *makes account*
    "what year were you born?"
    *1967*

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:29 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    While I think a fatigue system is a good idea, I think it's a bit of bullshit to have it legally mandated. And banning late night gaming is just a terrible idea.

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:27 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Usually it's the parents who are doing all the mmorpging and starving their children

    Comment by Anonymous
    09:06 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Wrong. A lot of the older generation isn't very tech savvy, so they can't monitor their children as well.

    Comment by Anonymous
    09:17 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Wait, is this North Korean or Sou--

    Oh, yeah. Only one has electricity. Nevermind.

    Comment by Anonymous
    12:42 01/05/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    well atleast MMORPG players are not on the streets shooting at them selves...

    Comment by Plagus777
    19:47 15/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    What's the point? This only limits the elementary school tards.

    Middle school grade 3, i can use my parent's Social number to make an adult account, which does not carry the inconveniences of a minor's acc.

    And it's 19 in korea, though the actual age is pretty much the same. This ban won't do shit.

    Comment by Anonymous
    Comment by Anonymous
    15:27 11/10/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Needs lesser "parents let tv do the rearing" and more "child beating"

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:21 25/05/2012 # ! Neutral (0)

    No fatigue meter. HATE fatigue meter just a time-waster and makes game annoying.

    This ban is fail btw.

    Comment by Anonymous
    14:53 22/05/2012 # ! Neutral (0)

    The solution is easy: no internet for kids up to 11 or 12 years.

    I mean all you need is to not give the kids an ethernet cable or a wlan-antenna and they won't be able to access the i-net at all. Seriously, kids don't need the internet (at least we didn't need it in our grade school/early high school days, so there's no excuse to let your children go online) since the school doesn't force you to reports until you're at an age where you can gather reliable information(and even then,books are still better references <_<).

    The internet is far worse than plating MMORPGs though, because while you're in another world, at least you're save from the perverts that lurk out there like child abusers,porn distributors, sects and cults, drug sellers and specific political organizations that are lurking everywhere out there (not to mention the hackers and other criminal identities...).

    So the best solution would be to force the parents to ban their kids from using the internet via law. That way,nobody's gonna get harmed in any way (I seriously doubt that just banning MMORPGS would help, maybe they will just roam the net instead at night and get on suspicious sites like facebook/twitter/etc.).

    Comment by Anonymous
    08:20 20/04/2012 # ! Neutral (0)

    Didn't do a thing but make companies loose money. They just got back on using parent info and a gaming they went.

    FAIL.

    Comment by Myballz
    05:50 15/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Good now that prevents the Koreans from playing on Starcraft 2.

    Comment by Anonymous
    12:34 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    OMG!! whats going to happen to the korean servers on wow?!

    how will the ever finish ICC25 hardmode now! its the end of the world

    *sarcasim thoughout

    Comment by Fonzer
    10:17 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    hey i remember playing stronghold crusaders and sometimes it said have a snack sire,take a nap sire and don't know what all it said.No such messages in these games?

    Comment by Anonymous
    10:14 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Reducing drop rates...

    That will force the insomniacs to invest even more time into the game.

    ie. Bad Gamblers will keep gambling even if losing, similar argument.

    Comment by Anonymous
    20:22 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Surely lowering the drop rates means people will play for even longer.

    Comment by Anonymous
    01:45 15/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    B-b-b-but i need to get my hunter to lv 99..:(

    Comment by Anonymous
    05:21 15/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    TRUST. YOUR. GOVERNMENT. THEY. KNOW. BETTER. THAN. YOU.

    Government have millions of "ADVISORS" and "TACTICIANS" and "COMMITTEES" and "SENATE PANEL HEARINGS"

    Government have Unlimited resources and can do everything for you like;

    Providing Food, Shelter, and Jobs
    Health Care
    Low Mortgage rates
    A Bright Shiny Future without pain or suffering

    And most importantly - The Government has;

    Change
    Hope
    Future

    Do you need anything else/ I think Not =D

    I'm Barack Obama and i approved this message.

    Comment by Anonymous
    10:56 15/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Sure as hell beats the rat race just to hope for the merest chance of success

    Now quick slap on your tinfoil hat, I hear the black helicopters coming!

    Comment by Anonymous
    21:49 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    No need to ban.:S

    Comment by Anonymous
    05:18 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Did they mention how they're going to ENFORCE this shit?

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:32 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    I would imagine they just make the developers modify the game so that it blocks access during one of those three periods. As for which one, it's pick your own poison (or salvation as they see it). Same for the fatigue system. Make the developers modify it or press charges against the company.

    Comment by Anonymous
    00:20 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    What about people who keep their characters online because they're selling stuff in shops and too cheap to afford proxy vending features?

    Comment by Cowpies
    00:27 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Parents doing PARENTING!?
    Now that's just crazy talk, Artefact. No, Clearly this is the only solution.

    Comment by Riiku
    00:32 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    And to think that all that time you waste on a game is vanishing into thin air. Just imagine, that if you invest that time to make some advancements in your life, how much more enjoyable it could be? Wouldnt you want to have fit body, a cute girl, a car, a nice job? So having a non-existent 80 lvl character, who exist purely in your brain, and in some bits on HDD, is better, right?

    Comment by Anonymous
    01:21 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    i have thought of this too.

    1 i hate muscle, i want to be a twig, but im also fat. so i tried to excersize, and without instant results, like im able to lift 1 pound more after the workout and rest, or something tangible, i cant keep at it for more than 2 weeks. if there was something that could show me what i was doing was paying off instead of just making me tired id do it. ever see the strong man competitions? what if my body build is that of a extremely strong fat guy? EFFORT WASTED

    2 i hate "cute girls" because they know they are cute and can get away with more shit and can be more demanding. i prefer a nice 6-7 girl over a 10, because i find them more enjoyable to be around, and honesly a 6-7 isnt hard to get.

    3 a car gets me from point a to b, and moves stuff i buy, so long as it has heating, cooling, working stereo, and gets 30 miles to a gallon, im happy, fuck the expensive cars that get shit mileage.

    4 i cant have a job that i like, because i am incapable of doing them. tried to learn Japanese so i could be a translator. tried to be an artist, but i need some amount og god given skill to even make a livable income with that. and honestly don't get me started with game making. making things for a game for people more talented than you, would kill me more than what i do now, its hard to explain but it nets me 30$ an hour, and lots of over time.

    all in all i hate life, but a mmo where i can at the very least have a goal i can actually accomplish is a great thing to have.

    Comment by Anonymous
    08:07 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    @Anon 01:21

    1. Okay, so you're a fat guy. If I was fat, I'd rather be a _strong_ fat guy, but, everyone's got their priorities.

    2. Don't hate a group (in this case, 'cute girls') just because some of them are manipulative, etc. I've met cute girls who are nice. But, your comment about "6-7" girls is generally true.

    3. I have the same philosophy.

    4. Try more effectively to find out the overlap between things you like to do, and things you're good at doing, and things that someone will pay you to do. (I'm not suggesting you start a website "www.fatguyfapsonwebcam.com" or anything. [But if you're okay with doing that, there's probably lots of people who would pay to see it {shudder}].)

    Comment by Chen-04
    01:07 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    The “fatigue” system should be standard. Otherwise playing the game without sacrificing your life (if you have one) is kind of difficult. In fact, it should be sufficient to get 2h playtime per day, but then again the whole concept is to get the players spending their life/money on it.

    btw I propose to BAN CHILDREN from the interwebz. Solves all problems in one ban.

    Comment by yuza
    00:10 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Let MMORPG companies implement the time tracker on a separate server, giving players a welcome invite to ddos it.
    Government: "Mhhm...."
    MMO Devs: "We tried..." *shifty eyes*

    Comment by BlaqCat
    Comment by Seravy
    23:20 13/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    So now they'll need to play even more thanks to the reduction of drop rates, and they'll need to play twice as many accounts/characters because they can still play the second character while the first one is tired and suffers from those reduced rates safely.
    Way to make the games even harder and more time consuming.
    Raising the drop/exp rates so people actually need to spend less time in the game didn't even occur to them as a possibility?

    Comment by Yoshii-kun
    00:23 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Fatigue systems? Surely you jest, if you hope to have LESS players?

    Comment by zealtron
    04:19 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Fatigue System...So thats why Dungeon and Fighter has fatigue system...Limits potential leveling up by so much.

    Play on a Character until fatigue runs out, rage, quit and make a new character to play on.

    Comment by Anonymous
    06:47 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    nah, at higher level, trying to waste a whole fatigue bar on dungeon & fighter takes alot longer, not to mention there is no restriction on how many chars you can play in a day.

    on another note, D&F(DNF) is the first game with fatigue system, and very body else just copied off them.

    Comment by Anonymous
    01:10 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    In korea you need to post something like your Security number (which all people who has korean citizenship has) to register to play these games. So a person can't make multiple accounts and i think the time limit is most likely to placed on the whole account not the single character.

    Comment by BaltazarDZ
    02:01 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Assuming that they don't go as far and include the limit on whole persona =w=; That aside most likely they will swap to international servers where there aren't restrictions like that.

    Comment by Anonymous
    02:24 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Assuming thats true then I can see non-gamers making a profit by buying accounts under their SS number.

    Comment by Fonzer
    23:45 13/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    how about paying less incase of time ban?
    Like it costs less for people under 18.

    Comment by BlaqCat
    00:15 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    I'm sure the game developers/distributors would never go for that. Which would probably get rid of the ban, and bring things right back to square one....

    Comment by Fonzer
    05:55 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    true that adults pay it.But why not be tricky and make it cost less for people that need a time ban and are obviously under 18.

    Comment by Anonymous
    03:28 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    Who do you think pays for these games eh?
    The kids? No....

    Comment by Darkrockslizer
    02:23 14/04/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    I don't see your point.

    I mean, fonzer is right, if the fee is monthly but you get less chance to enjoy that month of mmo fully, ppl deserve some compensation.





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