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People play online games at an internet cafe - Source: Reuters
South Korea plans to cut off on-line video games at midnight for
school-age children and allow parents to set limits on playing
hours to curb problems of internet gaming addiction in the world's
most wired country.
The sensational case in March of parents whose infant daughter
starved to death while they were playing games on the internet
raised concerns in the country about gaming addiction and calls on
the government to act.
Under the plan announced this week by the culture ministry,
computer game companies were asked to put in place voluntary
restrictions by the end of the year for children that also try to
cut down on the hours adults play games.
South Korea, which has one of the world's highest penetration rates
for high-speed broadband connections at homes, is also saturated
with PC rooms where gamers spend long hours in front of computer
monitors.
Internet gaming would be denied from midnight to about 8 am for
school-aged children.
Several game providers have already set in place the
regulations.
To enforce the measures, the government has called on game
providers to monitor the national identity numbers of users, which
include their ages, while allowing parents to see if their IDs were
used by children looking for ways to play after hours.
"The policy provides a way for parents to supervise their
children's game playing," said Lee Young-ah, an official at the
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The ministry has asked the game companies to find ways to cap the
hours that adults play.
"Users can select a special server that gives them incentives for
cutting down on their gaming time," said Kim Kun-woo of NC Soft , a
leading South Korean game company.
