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

All wrong.

[Cosmik]

See, this kid got it all wrong. If you are going to play MMOs and commit a crime, you may as well put them both together.

Nothing like killing two birds with one stone. And the kid learns a life skill or two (ie pimping) so he can use them on the street when his cash runs out.

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?

[y0bhgu0d]

Now if the game was free upfront and it was only the monthly fee, I could be lured in...

Like the Korean MMORPG Ragnarok Online, perhaps?

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?

[sandalwood]

This is not a complete answer, but to generalize vastly, the competition is really fierce. Games are played to be won and to be a demonstration of skill. This permeates a lot of East Asian culture, and I am sure you could delve into history to find all kinds of examples of this, although anyone who's had a traditionally-minded Asian mom* will understand what I mean. Piano lessons, anyone? ;)

Accordingly, you "win" at MMORPGs by investing more time into them. I'm not saying their parents are making them do this, of course - just that the idea of "winning" is very important in these cultures.

There are other factors too, of course - high broadband penetration in South Korea and the group-oriented gameplay of titles like Lineage. I might add that being part of a group isn't just important in Asia, it's important everywhere. How many times have you heard people go, "Well, I really only log onto EverQuest to chat with my guild these days"...

*my mom is from Tokyo

Re:Why South Korea?

[strech]

South Korea specifally - It has highly a concentrated population, especially in Seoul, so being highly networked isn't as much of a problem and was heavily pushed for.
Also, there were no japanese consoles up until recently (due to old import laws) so gaming became an entirely PC thing, and with the high broadband rates network games (not just MMORPGs, but stuff like Starcraft as well) and cyber cafes became extremely popular with a lack of competition.
The culture does seem to be different as well, as there is an emphasis on participating in the group given the descriptions I've seen of some of the teamwork showed in Lineage.

P.S: There's the upfront+monthly costs because there's upfront+montly costs in making the game. They have a long development time with a large team due to the amount of content necessary, and they have highly monthly costs due to servers (relatively cheap) and staff continuing to work on the game (not relatively cheap).
There are some free or cheap upfront games, of course, but they tend to be more modest efforts and/or be specifically targeted to smaller groups. Not to say they aren't worthwhile; "A Tale in the Desert" is a free download, $13.95 monthly, and apparently is quite good (I have never tried it, if only because I spend far too much time with games as it is).

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?

[NanoGator]

"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.."

You do realize that it costs them money every month to run and moderate the on-line servers, right? MMORPG's aren't like Quake where anybody can host a server. Assuming service is good, the price is reasonable.

Re:Why South Korea?

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

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

There are 3 in my city of 100,000.

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.

Re:Why South Korea?

[Louis Guerin]

There are 3 in my city of 100,000.

There are about a dozen in my town of Daesan, South Korea, pop. 30,000.

Seosan, pop 150,000 (about twenty minutes away), has hundreds. As many PC Rooms as bars, easily.

L

Re:Why South Korea?

[asjk]

"Could someone tell me why I hear so many things like this about South Korea..."

First of all your asking g33ks a sociology question; but since we are free to speculate I'm going to have to say that, in the absence of any data other than a suspected higher percentage of users that this may be one answer. In other words, since there are more people using there are more abusing. The article leads me to believe, however, there is more to it than that. Some have alluded to the status this type of activity bestows. This quote seems to buttress that.

"Some professional gamers are as young as 13, and there are more than 50 pros starring on gaming channels on a regular basis," she added. "One superstar even has a fan club with more than 100,000 members."

I don't think there is any US equivalent to this yet. Also I haven't heard of any US cases of the more extreme examples as reflected in this quote.

"Local media has reported six deaths related to online gaming since late 2002, including a gamer who killed his sister after becoming confused between the online world and real life.."

Summary: the sheer number of users may account for the higher incidents of Asian aberrancies. There is certainly more information needed to explain things further.

Re:Why South Korea?

[bugbread]

First, an aside: the US mantra may certainly be "be yourself", but it's just as conformist as Japan or Korea. It just doesn't like to admit it.

On topic: There are many reasons for MMORPG success in Korea; I'll take a stab at mentioning one that hasn't been mentioned so far.

(Although it's a chicken-vs-egg argument), the wide range of people playing means that you are not necessarily playing against the stereotypical l33t h4xx0r or "30 year old in mom's basement" types. This increases the appeal for regular folks, as they realize that they are playing against other regular folks. This removes a lot of the stigma attached to games like this, and also makes it easier to meet up with friends from real-life within the game.

Re:Why South Korea?

[Matrix272]

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.

Technically, since you posted it, it's now documented. However, I agree. Most addicts don't want to admit they're addicts. Now that I've cleared the air, I'm here to admit that I'm addicted to Final Fantasy XI. It's a fabulous game with many possibilities that I want to sell my house, quit my job, and desert my friends and family for. I certainly feel that spending 20 hours a day trying to make gil and get to lvl 75 is far more important than working at a job, spending time with loved ones, or just generally having a good wholesome life. I fully admit my addiction, and I'm here looking for help.

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. ^.^

my 2 cents

[Joe the Lesser]

For years I railed against MMORPGs, and their addictive qualities. I have a friend who clearly spends way to much time with them. Not going to bed until 6AM when he has class, etc. It's like he gives himself completely to the unreal world to escape, which only aggravates his real world problems.

Anyway, over a month ago I bought FFXI. I've been a huge final fantasy fan ever since I beat the first one back in elementary school, and since I have a strong willpower, I figured I'd give it a try.

The game is certainly enjoyable, as it requires cognitive thinking which more or less, is more interesting, or less risky, then everyday affairs. But I am able to drop it on a dime for a better social event.

Ergo, my values and thinking structure prevent me from getting attached to the game (or anything for that matter) when a better alternative arrives. I feel no loyalty towards the game, and no feeling that I *must* reach a certain level.

So it's as if I'm watching TV, since I can get up anytime I want, but generally I like to watch my favorite shows.

My point is that it's the personality of the user which determines their addiction to it, so the Korean trend is not likely a product of their culture so much as it is a product of more addictive personalities being exposed to the game, instead of other addictive activites which we tend to have many of in America.

It's possible their culture has an effect in creating addictive personalities, but that would be another issue altogether.

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.

Re:my 2 cents

[jafuser]

I played it for about 2 weeks before I became completly bored with it. I kept thinking to myself.. what is the point? I level up so I can get better weapons so I can kill bigger animals so I can level up so I can.. etc.

This is what we call in the MMO industry, treadmilling. It's working hard to get nowhere.

Some games make it obvious and unrewarding, but many have managed to disguise the treadmill with entertaining content (and these games go on to become successful). It can all depend on the game you're playing. I've not personaly tried FFXI, but I've played a few other MMO games (E&B, AO, SWG).

I spent about 6 months on Earth & Beyond. It was a very fun game, very social, and the treadmill was not too bad in the first 2/3 of the game. The only real problem I had with it was that it had a short feature list (ie no automatic selling), and I was interested in trying something more sophisticated.

I spent about 2 weeks on Anarchy Online. I got tired of doing the missions, and it seemed like there was nothing else to do, since PvP was not a realistic option until I had finished treadmilling. There was also little to no crafting ability, and very few people were open to socialize with a "newbie". =(

I spent about 4 months on SWG. I got in on the beta testing, and had a blast exploring all the new stuff and chatting with people who were game enhusiasts more than they were 'l33t d3wds'.

Once the game was released, it was still a fairly fun atmosphere, but it slowly degenerated into 'l33t d3wds' and people became less socialable. Also, by this time I had seen most of the content that was available to the game, and new content was very slow to come.

I think the problem with SWG was that they were all tied up with bugfixes that they had no time to add significant content in the first few months of release.

Finally, I found Second Life. =P I can't really expect that I will ever get bored here, since 95% of the content is made by the people who play it. It's not really even a game so much as a large simulation world. This is the closest thing we have right now to a metaverse.

I had heard of SL back when it was in beta, but what finally hooked me to try it was when I heard that it let everyone write scripts to put into the objects they build.

When I finally did the free trial, I realized the world looked a whole lot better than the website depicted it, and that it is a lot more flexible and friendly than I thought was possible in an online environment (minimum age of 18 could have something to do with this).

I think I've realized the problem with most online games is that the developers can't keep things fresh enough for all the users. This is why I think online environments that give the players the tools to create ALL of the content will become more popular as people get bored of the levelling treadmills.

I guess SL is a lot like slashdot. The developers give us bits of things to get us started, but we create and enjoy most of the content. I think this is the best way to go, and will definitely keep things interesting (and very addictive) for a long time to come.

Anyway on the topic of game addiction in South Korea, I think it has a lot to do with:

Availablilty of Technology + Social Acceptability to Enjoy that Technology

In the United states, we have a good amount of the former, but not much of the latter.

In the US, most people use technology only a tool. We have no more interest in it than to get the job done, so they can go home and watch friends or hang out at the bar. We don't need to upgrade because their current computer runs Word 97 just fine and that's all we need. Also, we don't have many "gam

addictiveness ratings on reviews

[jago25_98]

Next time I review a game, or read a review I'll have to take note of the addictiveness rated.

Like chocolate there are drawbacks to gaming