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Online gaming Bill splits South Koreans
Move to rein in industry - backed by parents - alarms tech firms, enrages gamers
SEOUL - A law under consideration in South Korea has sparked vociferous debate by grouping popular online games such as StarCraft together with gambling, drugs and alcohol as an anti-social addiction the government should do more to stamp out.
The bill is winning support from parents religious group and doctors but has alarmed the Internet industry and enraged gamers. The legislation includes provisions to limit advertising, while a separate Bill would take 1 per cent of the gaming industry's revenue to create a fund to curb addiction.
The uproar over the Bill highlights conflicting social and economic priorities in technology-soaked South Korea. Internet entrepreneurs are prized as a source of innovation in an economy dominated by grey conglomerates. but conservative lawmakers and many parents say online obsessions are taking a growing toll on schooling, families and Workplaces.
"we need to create a clean Korea free from the four addictions," top ruling party lawmaker Hwang Woo Yea said in a recent speech.
Game companies have taken exception to being lumped together with drugs and other vices. "The 100,000 people employed in the game industry are not drug makers," said the Korea Internet and Digital Entertainment Association, which represents game companies.
The legislative assault, backed by 14 ruling party lawmakers, is the latest phase in South Korea's version of American culture wars. Professional gamers in South Korea can gain wealth and status akin to sports stars, but as a pastime it is framed by critics as a threat to family and the social order.
Headline-grabbing incidents such as the starving to death of an infant daughter of online gamers have fuelled a moral panic. A law passed in 2011 that bans gaming between midnight and dawn for anyone under the age of 16 is being appealed at South Korea's Constitutional Court.
"There is a huge prejudice that gaming is harmful," said Mr Lee Byung Chan, an attorney involved in the Constitutional Court case.
Nourished by South Korea's rapid adoption of broadband Internet and the ubiquity of cyber cafes, online gaming has become a significant export industry. Last year, the game MapleStory and other online game titles earned more cash from abroad for South Korea than the YouTube sensation Gangnam Style, K-pop.music, movies and other cultural exports combined.
The government started studying 1nternet game addiction in 2011. Its latest annual study found that 2 per cent 0f South Koreans aged 10 to 19, or about 125,000 people, needed treatment for excessive online gaming or were at risk of addiction.
"My parents tried to stop me but I kept playing. Even the government wouldn't have stopped me," said college student Shin Min Chul, 21 as he recounted his heavy gaming past. At elementary school, he played StarCraft three to four hours a day at an Internet cafe after classes.
He dreamt Qf becoming one of the professionals with corporate sponsorship whose games are broadcast live on cable TV to audiences numbering in the millions. By high school, he was playing World of Warcraft for up to 15 hours straight. His school grades plunged. Nothing but his own volition could take him away from Warcraft. "When I tried to think more broadly about my life, playing games wasn't that important... Then I lost interest."
Supporters of the Bill say such cases show why curbs are needed. Others say South Korea should do more to address the factors behind online game addiction, such as hyper competitive education and a dearth of other leisure options for teenagers.
South Korea had the lowest percentage of students who reported being happy at school last year, among 65 countries surveyed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Move to rein in industry - backed by parents - alarms tech firms, enrages gamers
SEOUL - A law under consideration in South Korea has sparked vociferous debate by grouping popular online games such as StarCraft together with gambling, drugs and alcohol as an anti-social addiction the government should do more to stamp out.
The bill is winning support from parents religious group and doctors but has alarmed the Internet industry and enraged gamers. The legislation includes provisions to limit advertising, while a separate Bill would take 1 per cent of the gaming industry's revenue to create a fund to curb addiction.
The uproar over the Bill highlights conflicting social and economic priorities in technology-soaked South Korea. Internet entrepreneurs are prized as a source of innovation in an economy dominated by grey conglomerates. but conservative lawmakers and many parents say online obsessions are taking a growing toll on schooling, families and Workplaces.
"we need to create a clean Korea free from the four addictions," top ruling party lawmaker Hwang Woo Yea said in a recent speech.
Game companies have taken exception to being lumped together with drugs and other vices. "The 100,000 people employed in the game industry are not drug makers," said the Korea Internet and Digital Entertainment Association, which represents game companies.
The legislative assault, backed by 14 ruling party lawmakers, is the latest phase in South Korea's version of American culture wars. Professional gamers in South Korea can gain wealth and status akin to sports stars, but as a pastime it is framed by critics as a threat to family and the social order.
Headline-grabbing incidents such as the starving to death of an infant daughter of online gamers have fuelled a moral panic. A law passed in 2011 that bans gaming between midnight and dawn for anyone under the age of 16 is being appealed at South Korea's Constitutional Court.
"There is a huge prejudice that gaming is harmful," said Mr Lee Byung Chan, an attorney involved in the Constitutional Court case.
Nourished by South Korea's rapid adoption of broadband Internet and the ubiquity of cyber cafes, online gaming has become a significant export industry. Last year, the game MapleStory and other online game titles earned more cash from abroad for South Korea than the YouTube sensation Gangnam Style, K-pop.music, movies and other cultural exports combined.
The government started studying 1nternet game addiction in 2011. Its latest annual study found that 2 per cent 0f South Koreans aged 10 to 19, or about 125,000 people, needed treatment for excessive online gaming or were at risk of addiction.
"My parents tried to stop me but I kept playing. Even the government wouldn't have stopped me," said college student Shin Min Chul, 21 as he recounted his heavy gaming past. At elementary school, he played StarCraft three to four hours a day at an Internet cafe after classes.
He dreamt Qf becoming one of the professionals with corporate sponsorship whose games are broadcast live on cable TV to audiences numbering in the millions. By high school, he was playing World of Warcraft for up to 15 hours straight. His school grades plunged. Nothing but his own volition could take him away from Warcraft. "When I tried to think more broadly about my life, playing games wasn't that important... Then I lost interest."
Supporters of the Bill say such cases show why curbs are needed. Others say South Korea should do more to address the factors behind online game addiction, such as hyper competitive education and a dearth of other leisure options for teenagers.
South Korea had the lowest percentage of students who reported being happy at school last year, among 65 countries surveyed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
