[MUD-Dev] Korea and online world responsibility

[Mike Parker]

This has been an interesting thread thus far. As an American living
in Korea (going on 12 years now) I'd like to give my 2 cents.

<EdNote: Missing attribution fixed>

apollyon <apo11yon at hotmail.com> wrote:

> The IMPRESSION I'm getting, and I don't have any statistical
> backing on this, is that in much of SE Asia (and Korea in
> particular) these incidents are on the rise to the point where
> they are becoming statistically significant.

Korea is not part of SE Asia (neither are China and Japan for that
matter) and I haven't heard much about the gaming scene in SE Asian
countries. But from what I've seen in Korea, this law and all the
todo about it are not a surprise.

Violent incidents in Internet Cafes are not on the rise here, just
as school shootings are not on the rise in the US. What happens is
the media gets ahold of one or two incidents and it's suddenly a
national emergency,

I think the biggest issue is the kids here want to become
'Westernized'. For years, parents have been forcing their kids to
study all hours of the day. This stems from the fact that college
entrance exams are difficult to pass. There is no standardized test
like the SAT.  Each school provides its own test, and to get in to
that school you have to pass that particular test. This is
exacerbated by the fact that Koreans, as a society, are very
superficial. Image is everything (job, cars, clothes, all of it). If
your children are not going to one of the top schools then you keep
it quiet. So you wind up in a situation that schools with
reputations have a large number of students testing for a limited
number of seats.  Competition is fierce. So parents have this
unnatural drive to make sure their kids get into a top school.

Institutes covering every topic imaginable have sprung up around the
country. This is where a large majority of kids spend their after
school hours studying English, math, science, art, music, and
anything else you can think of. Parents pay a lot of money, some
even send their kids to these places 7 days a week.

I could go on, but I think this gives a general idea of the stress
heaped upon these kids. Some accept it, but most I've spoken to have
been spoiled by Western movies and TV shows like 90210, and they
want the freedom US students have. Games in these 'PC Game Rooms'
(as they are called here now) are their escape. Many skip institute
classes to go play games, some skip school to do it.

The bottom line is that there is very little parental influence in
Korea. The typical father leaves early for work, finishes late in
the evening (around 8 or 9), spends a couple of hours having dinner
and a few drinks with his coworkers/clients, then arrives home
around midnight. The kids, supposedly at an institute until late
evening, then are supposed to go to a 'study room' which is somewhat
like a library. They usually get home around 1 am when the study
rooms close. Dad works Saturday, and junior goes to
school/institutes. Mom is usually a housewife, but since junior is
gone all day she, like Dad, only gets to spend quality time with him
on Sunday.

I wish I could give you statisitics on this type of family. Teaching
both adults and kids over the years here I can tell you it's very
common. The point I'm making here is that I really think there's a
lot of finger-pointing going on. The root of the problem is not the
games, or even the game rooms. I really believe it all comes down to
parenting. The parents are just too concerned with their children's
academic performance and pay very little attention to their social
needs.

Enter Lineage, the first big MMOG here. Now you have this huge
social vacuum that has been filled, and people flocked to it. Kids
to get away from school work and have fun, adults to forget about
the hell they call work (you really do not want to work for a Korean
company - in Korea anyway). All of them have this highly ingrained
sense of competitveness that has been hammered into them from Day 1
by parents and teachers alike. With so many people playing these
games in public places ( a few million ), a small number of them are
going to snap. A few have even killed themselves over the years
because they were terrible at Starcraft. And naturally, just like
anywhere else in the world, parents refuse to see that the blame
lies anywhere other than the games.

A public outcry ensues. Politicians 'investigate'.A tough law on
games to protect the kids will get votes. The game industry is
opposed at first, but realizes they can sell more games by
supporting it. The 'PC game room' owners will post a sign on the
door regarding the new law(s) and pretend to enforce it. The police,
with other more important things to do, will take a day or two every
few months to raid the game rooms for publicity, and ignore them the
rest of the time, in particular the ones who slide something under
the table.

And some mentioned that the game room owners have a moral
responsibilty to prevent their customers from dying in their
seat. Well, all I can say is that I invite you to come spend some
time here. You could be lying near death on the sidewalk and the
most commotion you would cause is a traffic jam as people strain to
see the dead guy. Don't expect too much from these game room
owners. Most of them are illegal anyway, using pirated software, and
the longer you stay the happier they are.

Anyway, just wanted to give my perspective. There is a point I was
making somewhere in all of this ;)





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