Thursday, November 24, 2011

The 'Cinderella Law'

It’s called the 'Cinderella Law'. Faced with a growing problem of its youth being addicted to playing online games, South Korea puts into effect a 'Cinderella Law' that requires all online games to block players under age 16 from playing between midnight and 6 a.m.

As expected, the law has its opponents which include several South Korean gaming companies like Nexon and NCsoft. It should be noted that part of their problems with the law is on how the companies could possibly compile with it. It’s not unusual for players to lie about their age when they signed up for a game (I know I did) and how they could stop players from circumventing the ban by connecting to overseas servers, which have no such restriction.

These are all valid questions. It does seem that the South Korean government passed the law without fully thinking it through but on the whole, I am in support of it. Frankly, there is no reason for kids to be playing online game between midnight and 6 a.m. There had been times when I did it but I’m a working adult. Some kids below 16 (and some above that age) do not have the self-control to tear themselves from the computer and a law like this is great.

It’s true that there are some questions about the implantation of it but on the whole, the spirit of the 'Cinderella Law' is good. A law like this is something I believe Singapore should look into as well.

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