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Gaming Addiction In The Media Again
RexDart writes "'Gamers camped out at Internet cafes typically live on instant cup noodles and cigarettes, barely sleeping and seldom washing,' declares a CNN.com article on gaming addiction in Korea. The story reports on aberrant behavior sometimes fatility linked to obsessive gaming, and is sure to add fuel to the various videogame legislation fights going on." From the article: "Many of South Korea's 17 million gamers -- some 35 percent of the population, principally males in their teens and twenties -- are obsessive. At the 1,000 won-per-hour ($1) Internet cafes popular among young South Koreans, they'll sit eyes glued to monitors for hours on end. Sometimes play will extend for days."
they'll sit eyes glued to monitors for hours on end. Sometimes play will extend for days."
...truly they are greater men than I.
The laws of probability forbid it!
I just don't want to quit.
.sdrawkcab si gis siht
Extreamly sad.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
They're only charging 1,000 won ($1) per hour? Well, I have a way to cut down on game addiction. Raise the rates! I'd have been addicted to arcade games if they were that cheap back in the day, too! It worked out to $5/$10 per hour the way I used to play. That just doesn't lend itself to compulsive play when you're a kid with a paper route.
...Is that the media would be bitching if they threw people out if they stayed too long.
Media craves conflict to prey on these days...
Video games are a North Korean Plot! South Koreans will be so busy playing them that they won't even notice the North rushing across the DMZ and conquering them.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
because I swear that some of the people there could be described just the same.
And dont get me started on the magic the gathering (should be garnishing) players.
Isn't it better that all these people who (it would seem) have nothing better to do are doing something harmless and out of the way, as opposed to roaming the streets looking for something, anything, to do?
And how is this different from the mass TV culture the West has, where people are glued to Teleboxes all day?
C17H21NO4
I've been to arcades in California where a game of Time Crisis costs $2 USD per game with the difficulty cranked up to max. The fact that some games no longer rely on pure skill (fighting games are a great way to lose money fast if you don't spend hours studying the moves at home) doesn't help either. And then of course, there are the games which are extremely alien in their designs (Virtual-On's dual sticks control? Golf games that use a trackball?).
With 16 minutes of ads an hour, watching 24 should only take eighteen hours.
/. is no place for you. How do you handle your Trilogy of Trilogy Star Wars viewings?
If you can't handle sitting on a couch for eighteen hours,
What ever happened to the concept of something just plain being enjoyable? Just because something is fun enough that one is inclined to do it to excess does not make the activity an addiction.
It seems at least one person a year dies of video games in Korea. While the family that left the infant at home seems real, the others seem a little off. Its hard to believe that 50 hours of gameplay would kill you. Remember this is also the country that thinks that fallin asleep with a fan on in the room will kill you. Makes you think of 1850-1910 newspapers.
Fan death
Infant Death
---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.