“We take responsibility in our action; things like this can be avoided if all gamers know their limit and how to make our hobby much fun and enjoyable”

From the words itself, addiction, imagine how bad can possibly be?  Like many other addiction like alcoholic addiction and drug addiction, gaming addiction is as serious.  Many have lost their jobs, their spouses and even their lives for playing online games.  They are literally living in the virtual world.

In late July, a 21-year-old online-gaming addict was found dead in his home in Inchon, South Korea. He’d played intensely since graduating from high school, rarely sleeping or leaving his room, according to family members.  In 2005 a 28-year-old man collapsed and died from organ failure after playing for 50 hours straight. He had apparently just lost his job because of his online-gaming habit.  Both incidents prime suspect is online gaming.

A gaming shutdown law is now being implemented in Korea where it aims to demolish the addiction

The country thought of another strategy to abolish the online game addiction or at least lessen it.  “Cooling Off” system is introduced; this is to regulate the students of the amount of time they spend in playing online games within the 24 hours.  Soon the video games addicts in South Korea will have limited hours to play online games.

Cooling off will work like this, their games i\will be switch off after two hours, where they will be given ten minutes to  rest, and then they can only log again in once for a maximum two hours in the following 24 hours. 

The newest strategy of Korea is this new law where allow parents to communicate with online game providers and set time limits for their children's online gaming.  This comes as South Korea struggles to deal with rampant Internet addiction among young people in South Korea.  And only shows how serious this online games addiction truly is.  Online game addiction is not a laughing matter; it is as deadly as alcohol and drug addiction.

Originally posted by FromHell
My eyes are burning like hell after the occasional 3-4 hour session, I don´t know any game which would be that addictive to play 50 hours straight, that is simply insane.

That would be those damn Korean Grinders. My guess is the poor bastard was trying to go from level  10 to 11.

Originally posted by mrputts

Originally posted by FromHell
My eyes are burning like hell after the occasional 3-4 hour session, I don´t know any game which would be that addictive to play 50 hours straight, that is simply insane.

That would be those damn Korean Grinders. My guess is the poor bastard was trying to go from level  10 to 11.

lol.

When has limiting or outright banning a good or service ever made the situation better?  How's that war on drugs working out?

One day governments around the globe will learn you can't legislate against stupidity.

online gaming addiction...CHECK

To put things into perspective:
9 people die every year in South Korea to venomous snakes and lizards.
14 people die every year to eating disorders.
161 people die every year to emphysema (smoking related illness).
6 people die to flatulence related conditions (wtf).
227 people die because of assaults with sharp objects.

That doesn't mean that online gaming addiction is a good thing. I'm just not sure that what they're trying to do is worth the effort. I'm not really sure it will be effective.

But really, if they want to stop people from becoming addicted to internet games, give them something else to do and don't set them up for failure. They've setup internet games as a national sport. Don't let children under the age of 8 watch television at all, but restrict the viewing times to later in the evening at the very least for televised internet game tournaments. Don't allow anyone under the age of 16 or 18 use a computer in an internet cafe. Heck, don't even let them in there. If you force them to find something else to do, they will find something else to do that isn't internet gaming. Then, once they are adults, they can kill themselves in ways that are more acceptable.

Originally posted by dave6660

When has limiting or outright banning a good or service ever made the situation better?  How's that war on drugs working out?

One day governments around the globe will learn you can't legislate against stupidity.

They don't need to learn anything.

They make a nice profit as it is by taxing the stupid already. Either side of the coin....banning an item or making it legal....is only done when there is a reason to change the status and that is always profit linked

Originally posted by ViperHoundz
That is unfortunatley true, at least the country is trying to do somethign about it. Parents need to be parents though. Thing is, in both cases these were adults =(

Ah yes, the call for "government" to swoop in and deliver us from ourselves. How about PEOPLE take responsibility for themselves and the CHOICES they make. Did you know that an addict can not recover unless THEY make the choice to actually do so. And by the standards set here, ANYTHING can be considered an addiction.....ANYTHING!