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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."
While I'm in favor of educating children about the dangers of addiction [to anything], there's only so much a government can do in that area. If I decide to use heroin and at some point overdose on it, is that REALLY the government's fault? After all, no one - apart from the most hardcore Pollyanna - believes that drug abuse can be eliminated from the entire population, so what is the government's true responsibility beyond "due diligence" (i.e., doing the best one can)?
As for the original topic: Unless MMOGs are to be declared an addictive health hazard suitable for regulation, all any [democratic] government can really do is shrug and move on when the weak-willed fall victim to their addiction. Of course, if such a determination is to be made then how about we start instead with television? I would submit that far more people fall victim to TV addiction and the diseases/conditions related to the resulting sedentary lifestyle - the number of people addicted to MMOGs doesn't even represent a drop of water in an ocean compared to those addicted to TV.
For the most part, no they are not soft...unless it involves one of them. In which case, those devoted to the person will pull a 180 and defend him.
Now, I'm going to be fair here: Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, etc. would all do the same. The problem that stems from Republicans doing this is that they are extremely outspoken in their attitude against drugs and typically believe in, "screw em, give them the full punishment." So, as should be obvious, the hypocracy is more blatent with them.
To be on topic for a moment, no, the government shouldn't have anything to do with these people except for when they do something illegal like steal. If they wish to waste away in their home playing games, let em. When they step outside and cause problems, THEN nail em.