South Korea Blocks Late-Night Online Gaming for Adolescents

PolygamousRanchKid writes "In its effort to curb game addiction among adolescents, South Korea pulled the plug this weekend on young gamers after midnight by blocking access to game websites, putting a hotly debated law into practice. The new system called the 'shutdown law,' also referred to as the 'Cinderella law,' blocks those under the age of 16 from accessing gaming websites after midnight and has fueled heated anger among younger gamers and avid game fans. Critics point out that many teenagers hold gaming accounts created with their parent's personal information, easily providing them with an alternative log-in option. 'You can say someone is an alcoholic if they drink more than three bottles (of liquor) a day, but you can't call them alcoholic because they drink after midnight. It's the same with gaming,' Lee Byung-chan, the lawyer who filed the petition on behalf of parents and a young gamer said. 'From the parents' point of view, it violates their right to educate their children,' Lee added. It is for the parents to decide what time they want to allow their children to play games or not, not for the government to exclude them from that process, the argument goes."

Comments

Military Service

[Sigvatr]

Honestly, this will have an even greater effect than people are imagining at the moment. All males must service mandatory military service after high school, so they will probably have to wait a while longer to play games after midnight than people are thinking. This is all just a conspiracy by older people to make younger people not have any fun.

Re:And there was much rejoicing....

[sahonen]

In the recent MLG, there were 4 foreigners in the top 8... Two Americans, a Canadian and a Swede. The Swede made it to the final, only to be defeated by a 16-year-old South Korean kid. It was quite the tournament.