Thai Government Comments On Gaming Curfew

Thanks to BBC News for their article discussing the reaction to Thailand's imposition of a gaming curfew for those under 18, as previously reported at Slashdot, meaning that, "For younger players [at net cafes] without the special [adult ID] logon, the game simply stops working at 10pm." Apparently, "The government say it has seen a significant drop in the number of nocturnal players since the curfew was imposed", and justifies itself by arguing: "But in the developing world, in Thailand, the parents, especially those parents who have teenage children, they must work very hard and they work until very late at night so they don't have the time to look after their children properly." But the BBC article wonders: "Is it really the government's job to decide what's best for the nation's youth after dark?"

Comments

Kids after dark

[joshsnow]

"Is it really the government's job to decide what's best for the nation's youth after dark?"

Ironically, here in the UK, the problem seems to be the opposite - how to keep the kids off of the streets after dark. There's even legislation for so-called "anti-social orders" which , AFAIK, force a curfew onto kids making sure they're not hanging around on the streets at night in large "intimidating" groups. Trouble is, these orders rarely used because they're very difficult to enforce.

I wouold have thought that giving young people something constructive to do in the evenings (like gaming) was a Good Thing.