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South Korea Announces Daily MMO Blackouts For Youths

Posted by Soulskill on from the probably-just-making-more-time-for-starcraft dept.

eldavojohn writes "GamePolitics reports that South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has announced two new policies that will force underage gamers to pick a six-hour block of time (midnight-6 AM,1-7 AM, or 2-8 AM) where they will not be able to play 19 online role-playing games. While it targets most popular MMORPGs, some popular games like Lineage were left off the list."

29 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Stupid by girlintraining · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A lot of kids just suddenly turned 18...

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:Stupid by compro01 · · Score: 3, Informative

      IIRC, registering for those online games in Korea requires your nation ID #, so that won't work.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    2. Re:Stupid by trytoguess · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I rather doubt this will be possible. To sign up for pretty much anything online in Korea (with the exception of sites that cater to an international audience) you must enter your "resident registration number." And like wikipedia so kindly tells us, the first six digits of that number is ones date of birth.

    3. Re:Stupid by girlintraining · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I rather doubt this will be possible. To sign up for pretty much anything online in Korea (with the exception of sites that cater to an international audience) you must enter your "resident registration number." And like wikipedia so kindly tells us, the first six digits of that number is ones date of birth.

      Yeah, because registration based on a number has worked so well in other countries and systems that impliment it...

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    4. Re:Stupid by zill · · Score: 2, Interesting

      1. Steal parent's/friend's/neighbor's ID #
      2. Register new account
      3. ???
      4. Play until dead

      Just look at how many drug related robberies happen every day; from what I've seen MMORPGs can be a lot more addictive than your average narcotic substance.

    5. Re:Stupid by Daengbo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Korea has an online ID law, so I don't think that would work. Real identities with real national ID numbers are used.

      --
      Put identity in the browser.
    6. Re:Stupid by crossmr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Generate them all day. it won't do you any good. Your name and the number is verified against the database. Any site which implements this system (which is all of them) must actually connect to the government database to verify. You also often have to verify your account with an SMS message to a cellphone registered in the same name. You cannot fake them. you can steal them, but you cannot fake them. So yes, they're completely worthwhile for verification. Other than people using stolen/borrowed ones, they know who everyone is.

  2. Great! by Computer_kid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now more kids are going to be on my lawn!

  3. Freedom? by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm not seeing it. It should be left to the Parents to decide what kids should be doing late at night, and I'd certainly prefer my kid be home during those hours, rather than outside getting into trouble.

    IMHO.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    1. Re:Freedom? by Renraku · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Because there's SO much to do in South Korea at night. This isn't about blocking MMOs, it's about trying to make sure that the kids have nothing better to do than go to sleep and get ready for school the next day. An appreciable number of young South Koreans play 10+ hours a day of MMOs and it will affect the next generations of the country.

      However, this is the wrong way to go about fixing the problem. Perhaps they should make more things for young people to do at night, other than play MMOs?

      --
      Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
    2. Re:Freedom? by BobMcD · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not seeing it. It should be left to the Parents to decide what kids should be doing late at night, and I'd certainly prefer my kid be home during those hours, rather than outside getting into trouble.

      IMHO.

      Excellent point, but you're probably off-target.

      Currently:

      1) Kid eats supper, logs into (MMO)
      2) Hours roll by
      3) Kid glances at clock, notices that it is 2 AM
      4) Kid thinks 'meh', and keeps playing
      5) Kid notices the clock says 4 AM
      6) Kid elects to get three hours of sleep before school

      Ideally under the law:

      1) Kid eats supper, logs into (MMO)
      2) Hours roll by
      3) Kid glances at clock, notices that it is 1 AM
      4) Kid is blacked out from the game
      5) Kid whines about it on Facebook a while, then goes to bed

      Your scenario:

      1) Kid eats supper, logs into (MMO)
      2) Hours roll by
      3) Kid glances at clock, notices that it is 1 AM
      4) Kid is blacked out from the game
      5) Kid goes on a crime spree...

      I think the ideal scenario is more likely, as these are the kids that are electing to stay up way too late to play an MMO, rather than are out raising hell. In short, I think this law would have little impact on the types of kids who are out and about at that time of night.

    3. Re:Freedom? by X-Dopple · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually in South Korea it's more likely than not the kids will be studying at any number of academies until midnight. I doubt there's any opportunity for them to get into trouble.

    4. Re:Freedom? by LandDolphin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      it's about trying to make sure that the kids have nothing better to do than go to sleep and get ready for school the next day.

      However, this is the wrong way to go about fixing the problem. Perhaps they should make more things for young people to do at night, other than play MMOs?

      If the goal is to get the kids to go to sleep, how would providing more things to do besides MMOs help?

      --
      Spelling and Grammar errors have been added to this post for your enjoyment
    5. Re:Freedom? by zarzu · · Score: 2, Funny

      ah yes, all those kids playing mmorpgs instead of screwing the hot cheerleaders. haven't we all been there?

    6. Re:Freedom? by LandDolphin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While I do not refute that there might be some evidence to support starting school at 11. I am not sure that a later start time for school would mean that kids would just stay up later than they already do.

      --
      Spelling and Grammar errors have been added to this post for your enjoyment
  4. Re:Government bailout by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    And those commie bastards in NK better not even think about trying a zerg rush...

  5. Oh thank God by masmullin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now the rest of us can compete in PvP!!!

    1. Re:Oh thank God by surmak · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But only from 2-6AM Korea time.

  6. Re:Registration Numbers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A couple of years ago, there was a big disaster with Lineage 2 (insanely popular in Korea) where a bunch of Korean Social Security Numbers for everyone who played the game got leaked. As a result (don't ask me how this makes sense), the Korean government demanded that every MMORPG operating in Korea take down identification (in the form of KSSNs for Korean citizens) for every player using their system. This is why it is insanely difficult for non-Koreans to get into Korean MMOs - usually, they either have to find a leaked KSSN and use that to register, or in some cases use a separate registration system that requires sending multiple forms of ID to the company operating the MMO and potentially having that ID looked at by the Korean government.

  7. Socks for South Koreans by allometry · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm going to make a killing running SSH proxy's!

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    http://www.allometry.com
  8. Re:Government bailout by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, basically this will only increase their time spent playing non-listed games.

    Yeah. Think of it as the Unpopular MMO Promotion Act. Encouraging a healthy ecosystem of MMOs, when smaller ones normally have trouble stealing enough subscribers from the big ones to stay afloat. That's it. That's the ticket.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  9. While we sleep? by lemur3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How about I use my block during the hours of sleep i enjoy at night...... or while i am at work/school.....

    yeah this will work out perfectly!

    1. Re:While we sleep? by compro01 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How about I use my block during the hours of sleep i enjoy at night

      That's the point. The issue is that children are reportedly playing these games all night and not sleeping enough.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  10. This is probably not going to work by tann0r · · Score: 2, Insightful

    All this is going to do is cause the MMOs that aren't on the initial list to see a huge rise in traffic during the blackout hours. So now instead of focusing all of their time on leveling one blue haired angel that can do a flying knee kick at the face of a tree who spits fairy dust at you -- they will have two to worry about. If these kid's parents are allowing them to spend upwards of 12 hours a day in front of the computer I have a feeling they aren't paying enough attention to know whether they are playing Maple Story or a lesser known (but just as time consuming) title.

  11. Re:Make it universal by selven · · Score: 2, Funny

    I know, it'll be great. Let's go and ban all the other undesirable elements of society while we're at it, and productivity will shoot through the roof! I say start with alcohol.

  12. As opposed to... by MessedRocker · · Score: 2, Funny

    As opposed to North Korea, where you can spend as much time on MMOs as you'd like. Except the only MMO is standing guard at the DMZ, awaiting an attack by the South Koreans or the Americans. And it's not a game.

  13. Internet use in korea isn't based at home by Deibhaid · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think the reason for this new measure decided upon by the government is because in Korea, it is far more normal for people to get together at a PC Bang (basically internet cafe), where first of all the kids waste their money and time (not to mention sucking up huge amounts of second hand smoke, even in the so-called "not smoking areas") and in addition to that, they pay less attention to their studies. In Korea in particular where studies are very important up through the end of high-school,

  14. Re:Registration Numbers? by Daengbo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That was pretty much the reason I left Korea. Massive nanny state. Internet filter. AND I was unable to join or post on many sites.

    --
    Put identity in the browser.
  15. Re:What a joke by crossmr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Most students don't get home from school until 10:30 pm. They go straight from public school to private academies all night.