Malaysia Gamers Face Night Curfew

Nanook writes "A Malaysian city have issued a midnight curfew for online games to curb the growing addiction problem. From the article: 'Gaming areas will need a separate entertainment license and will be required to close at midnight, even at weekends. Local lawmakers say they plan to deploy teams of officers to check on popular internet spots. Those found playing games after midnight will be told to leave, while cafe owners who ignore the rules face having their licenses withdrawn.'"

Comments

Sometimes I wished that we were limited here too

[xutopia]

Too many games give huge benefits to people who can play longer hours instead of rewarding skills.

Take world of warcraft pvp ranks for example. It's the worst bloody time sink ever. Everyone is up in arms about how little skill it takes to get to high warlord except that jobless-27-year-old-live-at-home-in-parents-baseme nt types. Only people with 16 hours a day have a chance to reach rank 14 and even skill less people have been able to do so just by having more time on their hands.

As a married man with a job and a social life I'd love it if I could play with skills and get rewarded. Instead may games reward time spent.

If we were limited to 2 hours a day of gameplay (or at least no advantage whatsoever to play more than 3 hours in a day) the pvp ranking system would be way less skewed in favor of people with more time.

How does this solve anything?

[Purplephred]

A curfew won't stop hardcore gamers from gaming - ever - nor will it enourage gamers to spend less time on their choice game. The only thing such a law will accomplish will be to encourage an underground network of gamers to find new alternative to the open cafe atmospheres.