Curfew on Internet gaming.

[Stratos]

'The authorities in Thailand are imposing a night curfew on certain internet games in an effort to curb addiction amongst young people.

The curfew, which starts on Tuesday, is a short-term experimental measure which will be reviewed at the end of September.


Children as young as seven are becoming addicted
Much of their concern is focused on the new role-playing game recently introduced in Thailand called Ragnarok which has proved particularly addictive and led to young players exchanging large amounts of money to improve their performance.

The success of Ragnarok has taken Thailand by storm. Introduced only six months ago, it already has 600,000 registered players here.

It offers a complex virtual world in which players take on the identity of a character and can play indefinitely, competing for power, weapons and status.

Unofficially, there is a cash element too. Points gained during play can be used to buy weapons or improve performance.

But in Thailand, players are buying and selling these points in the real world for money, sometimes large amounts.

Local newspapers say children as young as seven are becoming addicted and even getting into debt. Now the authorities have decided it's all getting out of hand.

Cheap access

They're going to block Ragnarok and games like it from 10pm until six in the morning.

Some people have also called on parents to spend more time with their children and help them to put games like this into a healthier perspective.

Access to the internet is very cheap in Thailand. Many cafes charge only about 30 to 40 US cents an hour.

Cafes will still be allowed to stay open all night, but players will have to choose other games to entertain them.'

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3067647.stm


Is this the way to deal with gaming addiction?

[Kakero]

yes, if children don't have computers to play, then they'll stop playing computer games.

It might be effective.

[ 07-16-2003, 07:11 AM: Message edited by: Jan ]

[Azimaith]

You know its really bad when children are getting into debt, better than simply slapping a curfew, make it so monetary transactions like that are illegal as well, buying things with real money for in a virtual game is bad news.

Right Azimaith!!

Children would do crasy stuff (stealing... and much worse) to pay off debt.

[Stratos]

There's another problem with these kinds of curfews and that is that online games usually attracts people from all over the world, peope from different time zones. I don't know if this Ragnarok game only is available in Thailand, but if I were to play that game from over here (Sweden ) and they shut it down from 10 pm to 6 am in Thailand then that is, what, in the middle of the day for me. It would be in the middle of the night here when it's online over there.

As as comparison, Ziroc here has a NWN module call Escape from Undermountain and he has the server up every now and then on the evenings. The only problem is that the evening for him is early morning for me so I have to rise up early, say 4 or 5 am, to play from the beginning. If I join later most other people I know here will be way ahead of me.

[ 07-16-2003, 08:22 AM: Message edited by: Stratos ]

[Cristian]

a week ago i got into that Ragnarok website and it looked so cool so i really wanted to get it but now when my mom read this in the paper i cant damn i really want a rpg like that online when the chars look like manga figures [img]smile.gif[/img] but oh well

[Kakero]

Ragnarok is available worldwide. here the link . it's an okay game but not my type.

It is pretty difficult to read and understand the instructions [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img]

[ 07-16-2003, 08:36 AM: Message edited by: Jan ]

[Timber Loftis]

This is a larger issue than just kids. I once moved to school with a girlfriend. She started playing MUD-type games online that year. Before I knew it, she was going to bed at 5-6 a.m., missing classes ALL day, and getting up around 4 p.m. to do it all again. I got sick of signing her in to the classes she was missing -- especially after some fellow classmates busted me for it. She ultimately dropped out.