South Korea Grapples With Online Gaming Addicts

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."

Comments

Why South Korea?

[MBCook]

Could someone tell me why I hear so many things like this about South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and other Asian countries? I've heard one or two stories about people in the US being addicted, but I seem to hear tons from the whole Asian area?

Why is this? Is this a cultural thing (they encourge you to be part of a group, as opposed to the current US mantra of "be yourself")? Does it have to do with availibility of the games (there are very few gaming cafes here in the US for example)? Is it some other issue (I'm not willing to pay $10 a month or whatever for a game that I already own but pricing structures are different over there)? Is this just an outgrowth of how RPGs are much MUCH more popular than here in the US?

Thanks for any answers you can give me.

PS: And why SHOULD I pay $10 a month for a game I already paid $60 for? Silly marketing execs. Now if the game was free upfront and it was only the monthly fee, I could be lured in...

Re:Why South Korea?

[Cosmik]

I think the answer has many facets which I won't go into while I should be working *grin*, but I just wanted to mention that the US has it's problems with online addiction too - there have been quite a number of articles in newspapers discussing how online games have caused problems for people and their dependants (Everquest is a major contributer to this).

Just quickly though, some of the reason you hear more about this in Asia is because the population is larger (ie more chance of this to happen) and especially in Korea there is large push to get everyone onto broadband (whereas less people have access to a connection able to play games in the US or elsewhere). In fact, Asia as a whole is pushing to be technologically advanced in a major way - the US isn't on the same level in terms of this. More exposure to the internet = more exposure to online games.

Although it's not documented anywhere, I feel another reason may be because not many people in the US etc are prepared to talk about online addiction. There's certainly a bit of a taboo about it being an addiction. Asia seems more ready to admit it.

Re:Why South Korea?

[jsse]

Is this a cultural thing

Kinda. Parents would rather see them playing computer games than let them going out. At least you have less chance getting hurt from playing computer games. :) I cannot speak for most asians, but parents in general do not support their kids participating in sports or outgoing activities. I'm a Judo coach myself, and the major obstacle to the kids' judo development is their parents, whose want them studying at home instead.

I've been told of a story in Japan a completely naked Japanese boy was found falling unconscious in the middle of stinking junks of his locked room. Investigation revealed that his parents love his kid so much that they don't dare enter his child's room without his permission. Since he has no friend and he doesn't need to go out so he doesn't find any need to tidy up his room or even wear clothes. He fell into coma after 3 days straight of gaming without drink or eating.

(there are very few gaming cafes here in the US for example)

Because we usually don't have something called 'Parents' basement' here. :) We live with our parents in a very small apartment and kids like to go to internet cafe for online games so as to avoid their parents interference.

Re:Why South Korea?

[Otter]

Also, has anyone seen meaningful numbers about this sort of thing? I agree that you almost always hear these stories about Asia (which is worth explaining) but it's not like that's remotely proof that game addiction is genuinely more common there.

Re:Why South Korea?

[nelsonal]

I think his point is that the companies should cut the price of the game to boost their subscriber rates. As an example, I got a cheap AO (downloaded copy I think they charged me about $20) and subscribed for a year. If the price had stayed around $40, I would have never subscribed, but thought it was worth checking out for $20. Later I realized I would have been better off, buying a copy off the shelf, you got a nice map, and a free month for the same $20.

Related News?

[$exyNerdie]

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

In another news, South Korea's credit card crisis worsens. But these maybe unrelated...

Interesting but an extreme case

[DrDoombender]

Obviously this is an extreme case of gaming gone amuck. However, it would be interesting to see what the South Korean government cooks up to help curtail video game addiction. Hopefully it will be well thought out and not absurd. The real question is how do you stop a problem like this? You can do ad campaigns, include restrictive legislation (which I think they already have something about limiting the time of day for game playing). However, could they include moral values, or reality values into the MMORPG games?(IE: yeah, the cyber world is great, but the real world is better).
I think this is a social psychological problem. malajusted people look for escapist realities to cope with a dissapointing life. Plus, if you do poorly in school, but your a hero in a virtual world, wouldn't you want to go where your welcome?

Overall, I hope this kid grows out of his addiction to video games or at least learns to moderate, but I do think that something else in his life is making games more appealing than real life. However, we don't get to see that because of the articles focus. Ask the why.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Re:Interesting but an extreme case

[(trb001)]

How about restricting gameplay time to 8 hours a day? Or even 12, or 16. Something that forces you away from the computer (or, at least, the game) for X hours a day. Throttle back subscription fees if must, but it would be, IMHO, a hard case to make that you are going to play more than 16 hours a day of any game.

--trb

it's bad in the us too..

[ickna]

it's not AS bad in the US, but I had a friend who got hooked on everquest. bought it the day it came out, and I didn't see him for about a year, and he nearly failed school because he spent all his time on it instead. regulating online gaming probably won't help much, it's up to parents to impose limits on their kids, and the process of natural selection will eventually weed the weaker (see: MMOG player) out in favor of the stronger.

Re:Seriously...

[illuminata]

Yes, what's often considered flamebait on Slashdot is indeed the truth. To me, this sounds more like a really spoiled kid who wasn't given his way than a true addict.

Really, anybody who does something in excess could be called an addict nowadays. If overdoing something leads to you causing trouble for somebody else, then you should be held fully accountable for it, just like drunk drivers are for killing somebody with their vehicle.

What should not be done is banning certain things because they could cause an "addiction" that leads to trouble. People shouldn't be forced into treatment either because it will be useless if they don't want it.

And, please, don't force taxpayers to pony up for somebody else's mistake. It wasn't their fault. Private treatment (as in no government funding) should be made available for those who couldn't afford it. But, if it is not available the addict, will just have to deal with it. No matter how callous it may seem, nobody else caused the addiction.

People should be able to make their own decisions, no matter how stupid. But, addicts should be held accountable for what they do. Society doesn't owe them anything.

Not a huge surprise

[ReyTFox]

I wrote a small paper for a school class on how virtual and real worlds will collide with new technology. Online game addictions of all kinds(whether it be a simple fragfest or a more long-term RPG type like EQ or Planetside) are early manifestiations of such collisions - the people in them are real, but their status is changed as they play their avatars.

With another generation for additional tech such as augmented reality and information-beaming implants to reach maturity, people will be able to direct and shape their virtual personas into real world ones - it's a fairly common area in modern science fiction.

Then, when people tell you to "get a life," you can ask them which one. ^.^

Re:my 2 cents

[Matrix272]

I agree completely. If you look at any given MMORPG logically, you'll see a never-ending cycle of making money, getting to a new level, and spending your money on new armor that you can now use to kill animals and get to the next level, etc. Logically, it doesn't seem like there's much of a point.

However, I've been playing FFXI for about 3 weeks now, and I can comment (in a rational way) about the appeal. It isn't so much about playing the game, although that is the "hook" that brings you in. Once you're in, it's more about socializing. People you meet in the game can quickly become friends who you enjoy to "hang out" with. Since the only place you know them is in the virtual world, that's where you have to meet them. The virtual world of MMORPG's have become the mall of our generation.

The gaming aspect, once you're plugged in, is more secondary. For instance, next time you jump into FFXI, try to join a party of a few people who group together pretty often. At least 1/3 of the time, they'll spend chatting about one thing or another (much to the dismay of anyone who actually has a goal in mind to accomplish with that group).

Our generation has grown up with computers, and feel that using one as a medium for communication is a very viable alternative to the telephone, or even face-face. As such, the interaction between multiple people in a virtual world can seem just as enjoyable to this generation as talking to a friend on the telephone was in the 80's and 90's.

Of course, just like then, some people just never understood the point of spending hours on the phone with someone. They'd rather just meet them somewhere and do something. Neither type of person is wrong about the better way to socialize, but I don't see it changing anytime soon.