Blizzard threatens server shutdown
By Kim Tae-jong
Blizzard Entertainment said Monday that it may have to shut down its server for “StarCraft” and some other online games, blocking all Korean gamers’ access at night from late next month.
As it cannot selectively block the games for certain age groups as requested by the country’s online shutdown system disallowing those aged under 16 to play online games from midnight until 6 a.m., it will instead opt to block the Korean Internet Protocol (IP) completely for certain games at night, company officials said.
The government-led compulsory shutdown, effective from Nov. 20, aims to combat game addiction among primary and secondary school students.
Under the new measures, gamers aged 16 or under will be banned from playing Internet games between midnight and 6 a.m. Their connection to online games will be automatically severed during that time.
Blizzard said blocking all Korean IP addresses is inevitable since it is impossible to determine a gamers’ age in its online gaming server, Battle.net.
“We don’t have a plan to develop a new system to identify the age of gamers in our classic server,” said Yun Ji-yun, an official from Blizzard Entertainment Korea. “So if we have to follow the new regulation, there is no other way but to block all Korean IP in the server during that time.”
Consequently all Koreans, regardless of age, won’t be able to play popular online games such as “StarCraft,” “Diablo II” and “War Craft III” between midnight to 6 a.m. through the server. Gamers can only play those games without using the Battle.net.
Still, gamers can play the company’s latest online games such as “StarCraft II” and “World of Warcraft” through its newly-built server without worrying about the regulation once they are over 16, Yun said.
The plan was first revealed last Monday by Robert Bridenbecker, vice president of Online Technologies at Blizzard, during “BlizzCon,” an annual convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate their major franchises.
During the sixth event held Oct. 21-22 in Anaheim, U.S., he announced that Blizzard has to shut down its server to follow laws in some countries, referring to the new regulation in South Korea.
But gamers expressed their discontent over the move, saying the company is overlooking the many fans of its popular games.
“I think the measure completely disregards gamers here,” Kwon Jin-hun, 34-year-old office worker, said. “I think they should at least try to do something so that adult gamers can enjoy playing their games without having problems.”
Internet cafe runners also fiercely criticize the company’s plan, arguing that it takes customers “hostage.”
“It’s completely wrong,” said Kim Seung-hyun, an official from the Cooperation of PC in Korea, a group of internet cafe operators. “It’s an apparent revolt against the shutdown system, but they took a wrong measure by victimizing Korean gamers.”
He said the company should come up with measures to minimize the inconvenience of adult gamers and the financial damage incurred by internet cafe owners from the shutdown. “They shouldn’t irresponsibly treat the biggest contributors to the company’s success like this,” Kim said.