Korean Legislature Taking Steps to Curb Game Addiction

The culture ministry in South Korea increased their budget for battling game addiction over ten times to five billion won ($4.4 million) today. This is the first of a few steps the ministry has in mind in order to curb game addiction.

• Aforementioned budget increase


• Some developers, depending on the type of game being made, would be required to implement a sort of deterrent based on fatigue. As playtime increases, aspects of the game may degrade, such as the player character's abilities.


• Extensive counseling and therapy for those seeking help with gaming addiction


• Public awareness campaign to alert people to the dangers of gaming addiction

They've started this program because of a lack of progress towards "curing" game addiction. About 7%, or around 400,000, Korean teens are currently affected by game addiction. Nexon, the creators of Maple Story, are the ones who supposedly gave rise to the fatigue-based deterrent idea. Nexon implemented a similar deterrent in 2008: In order to play any games through their online portal, users had to register. All users registered under the age of 18 were required to give a cell phone number for one of their parents. Through this, Nexon would track the usage of their service, and if any underage users were determined to be at risk of game addiction, the parents would be notified.

Game addiction has been a serious social problem in Korea for years now. Most recently, the story of a mother and father who let their child starve while focused on raising a virtual child fueled concerns over the issue. This is an interesting idea being implemented that could have some real positive effects. With the legislation so early on, though, it will be a while before we see any developments.

Thanks to reader Quan, who sent me this tip (and translated the Korean).

The original story can be found here, though it's in Korean: news.mk.co.kr