Gaming now classified as an addiction

[hellicoptajuuce.livejournal.com]

Korea is renowned for its dedicated hardcore gaming community. Sadly in recent times this dedication has proven to be far deadlier than anyone would believe it to be and has resulted in many a teens relinquishing their lives following gaming marathons. Korea is now prepared to look at it as an addiction and is planning on taking action in order to safeguard its youth.

A recent series of posts being made on various sub-Reddits and forums indicate that the Korean government is about to pass a legislation that will treat video games as an addiction; one which is in the same basket as that of drugs, alcohols and cigarettes. If this legislation is passed then every video game in the country is going to be treated just like other addictive materials.

Additionally this will also enable the government to ask for taxes from game companies for medical treatment purposes. Currently that amount is said to be 6 percent of total sales for most games but for bigger game companies, this figure is going higher.

Riot Games has done well in promoting their League of Legends title in Korea. The game managed to achieve what many deemed impossible; dethroning StarCraft as the most played game in the country. Hence it’s of no surprise that the game came into Korea’s crossfire.

A recent inspection of government offices in light of video games addiction by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family found League of Legends guilty of exposing young gamers to ‘inappropriate content’.

Many fan-made drawings showcasing the game’s female characters in little clothing was highlighted. Korea now wants Riot Games to claim responsibility for the addiction to teenagers.

The said ministry is already responsible for introducing the law called Shutdown, which prohibits teenagers from playing games during 12:00 am – 6:00 am. Additionally most MMO titles have specific ‘timers’ that detail how many hours a player can play in a day.

While the ministry has clearly stated its stance over the matter; many others believe that it’s just a way to get money out of Riot Games. The government’s specific usage of the word “donation” to cater for those addicted by League of Legends is not sitting well with the community.

They believe that it has little to do with health and more to do with recent financial problems. No one knows just how much Korea is demanding from the developer but the figure is said to be pretty massive.

A more surprising statement that the ministry passed was that they can’t allow a foreign company to be the top gaming company in their country; for it’s a threat to their culture.

Source: segmentnext

SMH at the SK government tbh, how about solving the problem and not just treating the symptoms. How can you ban gaming (espeically LoL) because of fan-made art? thats so fucking stupid omfg im so pissed off right now.

Who do you guys main? I play Kat, Karma, Lux and some other peeps coz theyre so awesome

Comments

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

Well, any kind of addiction is bad. But the law seems just to take money from the game company? Idk, not enough data from the article, like the prevalence of game-addict or how much is the impact of that said addiction to their national health and economy.

as for me, I only do casual PC games. or candy crush saga. Those are enough distractions/escape already :P

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

I guess Korea's descent in to extreme conservatism continues. Also safeguarding the youth, don't make me laugh you shits.

[achan123.livejournal.com]

can we REALLY not let people decide for how long they want to play?? WTH!

Also i read on the LoL sub that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family group is SUUUPER hated in korea by EVERYBODY!
hope it doesnt get passed though :S

they are gonna host the god damn LoL world cup tournament in S Korea next yr!!! :[[[[[[

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

I play casual games, especially Hidden Object Games. I also used to play sims and fifa, but my laptop can't handle those 2 right now.

[froggster.livejournal.com]

And the ministry of gender and family fuckery strikes again! What will they strangle next? Stay tuned.

While game addiction might be a problem, this is not the way to handle it. At all.

[morgenderper.livejournal.com]

Op you should have bloded this sentence:
A more surprising statement that the ministry passed was that they can’t allow a foreign company to be the top gaming company in their country; for it’s a threat to their culture.

Because it tells even more than the addiction thing, this is the real reason why they're doing this shit, not this addiction crap.
Screams North Korea to me, with all the shenanigans the gov has done lately (hiding important things behind irrelevant scandals, being all "la presidente is the best she was so awesome in europe" when in fact she fell on her face, and all things like that)

I don't know I see big warning signs all around.

[hellicoptajuuce.livejournal.com]

thanks, edited!

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

Really seems to me that this addiction thing is just an excuse and those are their real motives for wanting to deal with this kind of thing

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

they can’t allow a foreign company to be the top gaming company in their country; for it’s a threat to their culture.

starcraft tho?

[sikania.livejournal.com]

"They believe that it has little to do with health and more to do with recent financial problems" THIS
it's a ridiculous excuse, sure some people have an addiction to gaming but I don't think a donation will solve anything...

[oniongulru.livejournal.com]

I've been laughing for so long at this I can't believe it's real

[toshi830.livejournal.com]

whoa whoa whoa are you saying my dreams of beating faker someday is being crushed before I even try? fuck you guys

also I support nami, adc jinx, elise jungle, and am trying to ahri, but I fucking suck

[zuluuluz.livejournal.com]

omfg does everyone on this comm play LoL
we need more dota representation tbh - its what everyone will be playing soon enough

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

lol but dota is so.... ancient

[zuluuluz.livejournal.com]

OMG you need to play dota2 then

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

gurl how can you ignore my fab pun i'm insulted

[zuluuluz.livejournal.com]

Omfg I didn't even see it what the fuck is wrong with me
Too used to defending dota to league fanatics D:

[bumie.livejournal.com]

I understand their concern but it's not the way to do it .