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Late Night Gaming Banned In Vietnam
R3d M3rcury writes "Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communication has asked ISPs to block access to on-line games between 10:00PM and 8:00AM. 'The request, made on Wednesday, is another move from the authority to mitigate the side effects of online games. The request follows numerous stiff measures by the ministry to tackle the issue, including cutting internet access to agents at night beginning last September.'"
So, now rather than the schedule being something like
School -> Homework -> Games
It will be
School->Games->Homework
Homework refers to anything productive done..
So, rather than spending the end of their day gaming, when you would be tired anyways, spend the time when you are not so tired gaming, and the time when you are tired doing productive stuff.
How is that good??
It's funny - there's this typical consensus on Slashdot that the world would be a better place if only The Smart People were in charge and could make the difficult, unpopular decisions that we need to become a true progressive, multicultural society. Instead, time after time we get uneducated dipshits who make random decisions and let things go to hell because there's no direction or overarching plan to ensure a good outcome. A simple faith that things will turn out all right as long as people do whatever they want is scorned as the province of hicks and other lesser minds.
In Vietnam, the smart people really are in charge. The Party doesn't allow just anyone to join, you know. Students are identified by merit and only the best allowed to join. Party work takes up a lot of college time that would otherwise be spent partying. Policies like this one are hammered out by sober, highly educated people for the good of the people they rule. If you have a Ph.D too, then you might be able to have a seat at the table, but please be quiet otherwise as you're simply not qualified to discuss weighty topics. Vietnam's experts have identified a problem with society. The problem is not gaming specifically, but the negative side effects associated where gaming appears. Having identified this problem, they are now proceeding with a solution and will not deviate from that course, no matter how loud the protests are. After all, a child cries when he's told to go to bed when you know he'll get cranky and angry if he doesn't. It's distressing to see responses on Slashdot of all places, that decisions of smart people are being dumped on.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Vietnamese here. It is just another law that nobody cares about in Vietnam. Remember the law that mandate FOSS usage back in 2008? Nothing has changed since then. Well, maybe the internet shop will have to bribe the local police more, but that is it. Online gaming has bad effect on the youth, that is true to some degree, but people are blaming too many things on it, so the government tries to show that it is doing something. And the fact that they ban it means they failed to control it.
PS: Online FPS in Vietnam have to change the knife to a wooden hammer, and the blood color to pink (or remove the blood effect completely) to avoid being branded as 'encouraging violent behaviours".
Joe Lieberman and/or Hillary Clinton will clamor for the same in our "free" country next, because they think it's just no fair that these other countries get to wreck their people's computer use while the US citizens have no such interference.
Lieberman's "kill switch" request and the two of them grandstanding over the Grand Theft Auto Hot Coffee mod showed them to be exactly this disgusting and sinister, belonging absolutely nowhere near having domestic powers in the "land of the free."
And those two are just the obvious and outspoken ones...