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Three hours and out: South Korea considers additional gaming ban for minors

by Justin Olivetti on Jan 27th 2012 8:30PM

It looks like being a young gamer in South Korea is getting tougher and tougher. Last year the country put into effect a "Cinderella Law" that prohibited online gamers 18 and younger from logging in to popular games between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m.. Now the government is taking a close look at an additional law limiting the amount of time played each day for minors.

The proposed policy comes from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) and would yank account privileges for minors if they played either more than two hours in a row or more than three hours daily. The MEST is concerned about game addiction in minors, citing that it may come from the duration of play sessions.

The game industry is concerned about possible over-regulation by the government spurred by theories on addiction that haven't been proven. Some are calling for earlier shutdown policies to be overturned if this one is implemented.

Source: Gamasutra

Tags: cinderella-law, gamers-under-18, korea, law, legal, mest, ministry-of-education-science-and-technology, minor-gaming, minors, policy, shutdown-policy, south-korea

Reader Comments (34)

It sure is good to be American..... oh wait, wasn't our government just about to pass some laws that would take control of the internet from us?

Ron Paul 2012! WOOOOOOO

@Maseno not your "government" but your Senate was trying to pass that law with many members of Ron Paul party supporting it! However both Obama and Ron Paul are anti-sopa!

Okay, instead of 2 hours or even 3 ours, I would say 9 hours would better. Actually, what would be better is to never have the law. It's great to be an American Game developer right now I guess.

Bet'cha the South Korean government didn't like NCsoft for sueing Blue Hole.

Kidding.

@J45neoboy

How about no hours? How about holding parents accountable, or letting them raise their own goddamn kids? You do realize that a lot of the shart in Korea gets moved over here, right? Dungeon Fighter Online, Atlantica Online, Elsword, they all came over with stamina systems, which were required BY LAW in Korea, and started changing OUR way of gaming as well.

This is what happens when people "do it for the children" though. It's never for the children. It's all in hope they'll stay busy lil worker bees and do more work...

i don't have a problem with this as long as it stays FOR MINORS.

i believe one should at least finish high school before gaining the right to kill themselves from 72 hours of no food, water, sleep, or pooping.

adults however should be able to do whatevah they want.

@Blyn

I disagree. Teens generally won't do this as they have school, and there should be no restrictions on minors at all. The parents should be parents.

@Blyn

Same here. A limit of 3 hours a days is hardly draconian, plus they'll be better off long term if this forced moderation sticks with them into adulthood.

@J45neoboy

you do realize that we are talking about Korean Minors, right?

as in different culture so different standards, habits, and practices ... most Korean Gamers log in from a net cafe, not home where parents can regulate their actions.

to Korea these kinds of laws are like US laws that crank up the severity level on dealing drugs in a school zone.

@Fakeassname

Ahh, I understand it's about Korean kids but I was referring to his comments about just kids in general.

But I agree, I lived in Korea for a few years and they take their MMOs seriously.

I agree with Blyn, it is pretty bad these days with some kids. Parents using things like WoW to keep their kids busy because they don't want to deal with raising them. Lack of activity and the on going problem with childhood obesity is also a major problem.

I am very much against any form of government control but something really needs to be done with such a huge population of extremely irresponsible people.

@Rayve

The only thing we can do is to educate the parents and the children about healthy habits.

@Rayve

oh sweet zombie jesus, KOREA!!!!! this is about KOREAN kids and KOREAN gaming laws.

I'm pretty damned sure that KOREAN parents are not using WOW as a baby sitter.

@J45neoboy As I said I am not a fan at all of government interference. The good parents to bad parents is just HUGE. The whole argument of if the parents aren't good enough than the children should be taken away is just not logical at all.

Who is going to take care of them. Who is going to pay for it. I suppose if someone else doesn't mind a massive tax increase to fund such silliness than by all means they are welcome too.

3 hours of gaming per day is not stepping over the line no matter where it is for a minor. That still equates to 21 possible hours a week which is equivalent to a part time job.

No one is asking for gaming to minors to be banned but just to be allowed in moderation. I really don't think that is asking too much. I however do respect everyone's opinion on the matter as they are entitled to it.

None of this matters, in 20 years or so all the old generation will be dying off and the newer generation will be repealing all these laws. The world moves onward, and outdated views along with it.

@(Unverified)
Doubtful. In 20 years, the law won't apply to them, so why should they? They'll want to keep their own kids under control, from doing the same things they used to (and may even try to pretend they didn't).

I just finished 2 exams today, and one yesterday. After studying for 4 hour sessions regularly (three a day) for an entire week, I don't think id let anyone give me shit for playing for more than 3 hours after finishing all that.

this is the parents' job, not the government's. plus there are so many workarounds for this...

Ah, yes. The tried and true method of curbing the symptom but not the source of the problem! Brilliant Governments in the world!

You have to make people understand, invest money in that. You can't just throw some chains on something and expect the problem to go away. What's craved in the teens flows right into adulthood. They just look forward to becoming 18 and playing a game all night.

No problem solved.

@Tizmah

But... but then they'd have to think! and thinking is like... hard... and stuff...

dont they already have a way to regulate this?

hint - it starts with a P, and ends with "arenting".

The government should stay the hell out of the way of people parenting. If the parents aren't fit to do their job, take the kids away and you can make any rules you want for them, but ffs let them do their jobs. Glad this isn't my country. That shizz is ridiculous.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

Three hours and out: South Korea considers additional gaming ban for minors

Reader Comments (34)

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 8:34PM Maseno said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 10:42PM TheJackman said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 8:50PM J45neoboy said

Posted: Jan 28th 2012 3:52AM ShivanSwordsman said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 8:50PM Blyn said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:14PM J45neoboy said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:16PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:18PM Fakeassname said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 10:09PM J45neoboy said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 8:54PM Rayve said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:15PM J45neoboy said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:21PM Fakeassname said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:32PM Rayve said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 8:56PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 30th 2012 4:40PM StClair said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:01PM FreakSheet said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:08PM Xo1o said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:09PM Tizmah said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 10:51PM FreakSheet said

Posted: Jan 27th 2012 9:12PM Resurge said

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