South Korea Grapples With Online Gaming Addicts

Posted by simoniker on Tuesday January 13, 2004 @04:36PM from the two-falls-or-submission dept.

Thanks to Yahoo News/Reuters for their story discussing the problems associated with online gaming addiction in MMO-crazy South Korea. According to the article, a 12 year-old named Lim's "love affair with the fantasy game [Lineage] saw him fall foul of the law after he stole $16,000 from his father and ran away to feed a passion for online gaming." This issue is particularly marked in Korea since "...about 70 percent of South Korea's 48 million people have access to the Internet, with 11 million using high-speed services, the world's highest broadband penetration rate." The article ends with the note that, "while some game industry alliances have been pushing game makers and distributors to provide purchasing guidelines, the likelihood of authorities imposing regulations that may pull the plug on a lucrative 500 billion won [$420 million] industry seems unlikely."

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Seriously... by ObviousGuy · 2004-01-13 16:38 · Score: -1, Flamebait

Who cares?

If these boys want to kill themselves playing video games 24/7, what business is it of anyone?

The government has a responsibility to protect people from each other, but not from themselves.

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I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
1. Re:Seriously... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-13 16:47 · Score: 0, Flamebait
  
  So drug addicts shouldn't be protected from themselves? one persons problem is eventually going to become our problem.
  
  Typical fucking Republican.