Did Ya See?

Shared by Mystech

You know gaming addiction is a real problem when the ban is earlier than the curfew on bars and adult entertainment.

The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism doesn’t want the country’s youth becoming addicted to video games, particularly MMOs, so it’s imposing a ban of sorts. Starting in the second half of this year, underage gamers will find their Internet connections disabled for six hours every night, either from midnight to 6am, 1am to 7am, or 2am to 8am. The idea is to ween kids off these games, by hook or by crook, before they become addicted. Gotta start somewhere, I suppose.

The measure extends beyond a simple connection ban. If you’re caught playing a game online for more than six hours at a time, then you’ll find that your connection will be throttled.

(I didn’t know they had Comcast in South Korea, amirite?)

It does seem that the connection ban will only be applicable to specific games, including MapleStory and Mabinogi, totaling 19 games in all. Presumably kids will still be able to browse Wikipedia to research supercontinents and whatnot.

One game not included in the new ban: Lineage. Isn’t that the most popular game over there? I’m sure I’ve heard that before. Pretty toothless ban if that’s the case.

via Destructoid

Flickr