[Gamasutra rounds up the week's biggest reports on South Korea's booming online games market from This Is Game, the leading English-language site about the country's game industry.]
In our latest round-up of news from South Korea's online games space, we look at a proposed new bill that would prohibit minors from playing online games for more than four hours a day, or from playing game betas.
MEST proposes "Cooling Off System" bill, game tax
The South Korean government's Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has proposed a bill for its "Cooling Off System," which is designed to limit how long minors play online games, and to prevent online game addictions.
With the Cooling Off System, children under the age of 18 would be automatically logged off an online game after they've played two hours in a day. They will be able to log back in 10 minutes later, but they can only play a total of four hours in a single day.
Furthermore, the bill seeks to prevent minors from taking part in any closed or public beta tests for games, regardless of the game's rating. Companies failing to enforce these rule could face up to $24,000 in fines and up to three years of jailtime.
MEST is also considering a law that would apply an extra 1 percent tax to games, which will collect money for a private fund that would pay for treating online game addiction, as well as preventing school violence allegedly resulting from exposure to games.
Opponents of the tax argue there is no evidence that violence in games cause school violence. And some in the game industry have criticized MEST's bill for adding yet another regulation for online games to the existing Shutdown and Selective Shutdown laws.
President also planning measures to fight online game addiction
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has voiced his support for MGEF's online game regulations, and declared at a meeting discussing violence in schools last week, "[I am] drawing up a plan to stop game addiction as a part of anti-school violence measures."
And at separate trade meeting in the same week, the President commented, "Games have a [corrupt] side. The game industry needs to try developing games that feature beautiful stories to purify young gamers in terms of social contribution."
Myung-bak also mentioned concerns about random items in games possibly constituting as gambling, that regulations could be put in place if they become a problem. "Operating a casino might attract lots of tourists, but we don’t do so because it also destroys families," he said.
NHN to begin Winning Eleven Online beta test soon
Developer and Hangame portal operator NHN will begin beta testing for Winning Eleven Online, a free-to-play online version of popular soccer series Winning Eleven (or Pro Evolution Soccer in the West), in the second quarter of this year.
NHN, which co-developed the title with Konami, intends to follow the private beta with open testing and a launch sometime during the second half of 2012. Both companies previously said they may bring Winning Eleven Online to other countries if the launch is a success.
NHN also intends to begin closed beta testing for first-person shooter Metro Conflict next quarter. The company expects Winning Eleven Online, Metro Conflict, and Bluehole Studio's TERA to drive its sales in the second half of 2012.
[This story was written with permission using material from ThisIsGame Global, the leading English-language site about the South Korean game industry.]
''MEST is also considering a law that would apply an extra 1 percent tax to games, which will collect money for a private fund that would pay for treating online game addiction, as well as preventing school violence allegedly resulting from exposure to games.''
Despite the good intentions, it could be just another way to make more money. Oh, people play games and do not spend money, let's find ways to put taxes on games and limit their playtime so they can do something else and, obviously, spend money on other things. But who knows, I'm just suggesting.
What I find ridiculous in the whole story is that in every society on Earth where there are governments, the only way they found to attempt to solve the problem is by making the people pay more.
To blame video games or anything else for those bad behaviors is ridiculous. If the source of the problem is in the head, if it's not video games it's going to be something else. If it's not video games, it's going to be alchool, television, drugs, sex, energy drinks, etc. They should fix their mind instead. They should instead force those people to change their diet and learn how to practice daoist, buddhist or yogic meditation or Qi Gong. Why? Because that would be at least 20x more effective. They'll be more creative, focused, aware, calm and will have more energy to spend. 40 minutes of meditation does more good to a human being that to go train to the gym physically for 2-5 intense hours.
And tell me if I'm wrong, but MMOs and Star Craft are not what I would call highly violent games. Are there any more violent games heavily played in Korea?
I agree that some games were intentionally designed to exploit the weak psychological traits of gamers. I'm strongly against that and vocal about it, since that's precisely why I put my foot in this industry a few years ago. Chinese game developers are well familiar with that practice and so are some of our western developers, notably the ones behind Halo and Call of Duty. The pool of gamers grew up tremendously during the past years and a lot of them are new comers and are, unfortunately, inexperienced. We are in a dangerous period, because the smart developers know how to exploit such an inexperienced audience and suck money out of them in a way that isn't healthy for them or the industry, because instead of buying games because they are great, they will buy them because they make them feel better about themselves. Then we end up with a really crappy gaming community all around the world. And a some of those people will eventually become the new breed of game developers. It already started.
That last paragraph, that's the sad truth, Christian. But what can we do besides trying to create a different audience with games that stand for being interesting instead?
How much real danger is going on in Korea I can't tell, but their gaming community has a lot to teach us.
By the way, if you want to marry a girl in South Korea, you have to beat her father in Starcraft.
The suggestion was just to teach them what to eat and how to breathe properly. It slightly affects the blood and the mind, a real life changer. The comment had nothing to do with religion.
Despite the good intentions, it could be just another way to make more money. Oh, people play games and do not spend money, let's find ways to put taxes on games and limit their playtime so they can do something else and, obviously, spend money on other things. But who knows, I'm just suggesting.
What I find ridiculous in the whole story is that in every society on Earth where there are governments, the only way they found to attempt to solve the problem is by making the people pay more.
To blame video games or anything else for those bad behaviors is ridiculous. If the source of the problem is in the head, if it's not video games it's going to be something else. If it's not video games, it's going to be alchool, television, drugs, sex, energy drinks, etc. They should fix their mind instead. They should instead force those people to change their diet and learn how to practice daoist, buddhist or yogic meditation or Qi Gong. Why? Because that would be at least 20x more effective. They'll be more creative, focused, aware, calm and will have more energy to spend. 40 minutes of meditation does more good to a human being that to go train to the gym physically for 2-5 intense hours.
And tell me if I'm wrong, but MMOs and Star Craft are not what I would call highly violent games. Are there any more violent games heavily played in Korea?
I agree that some games were intentionally designed to exploit the weak psychological traits of gamers. I'm strongly against that and vocal about it, since that's precisely why I put my foot in this industry a few years ago. Chinese game developers are well familiar with that practice and so are some of our western developers, notably the ones behind Halo and Call of Duty. The pool of gamers grew up tremendously during the past years and a lot of them are new comers and are, unfortunately, inexperienced. We are in a dangerous period, because the smart developers know how to exploit such an inexperienced audience and suck money out of them in a way that isn't healthy for them or the industry, because instead of buying games because they are great, they will buy them because they make them feel better about themselves. Then we end up with a really crappy gaming community all around the world. And a some of those people will eventually become the new breed of game developers. It already started.
How much real danger is going on in Korea I can't tell, but their gaming community has a lot to teach us.
By the way, if you want to marry a girl in South Korea, you have to beat her father in Starcraft.
Yeah, fuck freedom of religion, just don't dare tax our video games like you might any other product in a market!
The suggestion was just to teach them what to eat and how to breathe properly. It slightly affects the blood and the mind, a real life changer. The comment had nothing to do with religion.