Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication plans to "build
centers that aim to prevent online gaming and Internet addiction, as well as offer anti-addiction courses to local
universities." This follows the enormous rise in requests for help from online-game addicts to the Korea Agency for
Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO) in recent years.
Korea has become a leader in a number of categories related to international gaming recently, whether with regards to
professional
gaming
events,
gaming's status in the culture, or
the sheer number
of people playing at any given time.
Unfortunately, Korea has also become a leader of sorts in terms of not only
potentially offensive reference apps and
settings for war games (as well as
the resultant ban of those games), but also
well-publicized cases of game addiction and
related neglect. The number of addicted online gamers KADO
counsels has grown from 2,243 in 2003 to 8,978 in 2004, and is projected to increase again to 12,500 by the end of this
year.
While it's doubtful that the citizens of democratic South Korea will stand for
strict limitations on play time or
violent content, this move towards addiction clinics
similar to the ones
established in China may be a needed one for one of the
most wired and game-crazed nations in the world. As for isolationist North Korea, we're pretty sure that any gamers
there who can actually play Guild Wars will stop when they're told to. [Author's disclaimer: I'm Korean, and
I'm an addict. Sort of. Maybe I'm addicted to game news?]
Engadget
TUAW