Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Reporter's Notebook Time for game regulation to be revised
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By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
Korea's law that bans minors from playing PC games during night hours has long been disputed.
The law went into effect in 2011, with the intention to help prevent those under the age of 16 from losing sleep by staying up late playing games ― an activity that can develop into a serious addiction.
The age group subject to the restriction have their connection to game websites severed from midnight to 6 a.m.
The law has faced opposition from game developers as this restricts business opportunities for them. But this is not the only argument for repealing this regulation.
Many cite that the law is ineffective in curbing hours spent playing games at night. Surveys show that time spent playing games during the regulated hours was hardly reduced after the regulation went into effect.
This is because minors find other routes through which they can access games, such as by using their parents' resident registration number.
Another major loophole of the law now is that it doesn't cover mobile games. Most minors use smartphones, and mobile games that are not online-based are not subject to the restriction.
The controversy surrounding the regulation was reignited as Microsoft's “Minecraft” received an R-rating recently due to the regulation.
This left many dumbfounded as the bestselling computer game described as “online Lego” is about creating structures and is rated suitable for ages 7 and above. This was a result of how foreign game companies dealt with the introduction of the regulation in 2011.
Game companies contend that the regulation instills the idea that games are potentially harmful and need to be regulated, and claim this poses a detrimental impact on them. They say that the blanket ban takes away the opportunity for gamers to develop self-discipline.
This is not to say that the regulation should be abolished to enable minors to play games without restriction. Lawmakers of both the ruling and opposition parties have recently proposed revisions, stating the regulation should be revised so that children are able to play games under parental guidance.
There are already apps that enable parents' real-time monitoring of mobile games their children play on smartphones. Now is the time to revise the restriction to make it more relevant to the changed circumstances of 2021.