Tag: video games

China has tightened regulations on kids who play online video games:

Korean game companies face a major hurdle as China, the world’s biggest game market, has recently released tougher measures for juvenile online gaming.    
   
The Chinese government announced on Aug. 30 that minors under the age of 18 will only be allowed to play online games on Fridays, weekends and holidays, from 8 to 9 p.m. each day. This limit is a tightening of the existing 90-minute per day regulation that had been in place since October 2019 and is aimed at curbing juvenile game addiction.   
   
While not taking direct aim at the Korean market, the regulations have had a ripple effect as seen in the fall of stock prices of game companies in recent weeks.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but there is another option called parenting where parents tell their kids to go to bed and take the gaming devices from them if they don’t.

It may be easier soon to do late night video gaming in South Korea:

The Ministry of Gender, Equality and Family has agreed to review the controversial “shutdown law” that bans minors from playing PC games after 12 a.m.  
   
Effective since November 2011, the law bans teens younger than 16 from playing computer games between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. The aim was to forcibly prevent teenagers from late-night gaming — an activity seen by the ministry as causing sleep deprivation, health damage and potentially, game addiction.  
   
Since it took effect, the law has been attacked by players, game companies and even lawmakers that questioned its effectiveness, especially after smartphones replaced desktops as the dominant medium for games. Facing those criticism, the Ministry of Gender, Equality and Family has always refused to abolish the law.  
   
Its Tuesday statement, however, strikes a softer tone, suggesting the ministry is now willing to consider a change.  
   
“The gaming environment has shifted and multiple bills were proposed to the National Assembly in regard to this law, including abolition,” the statement said. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I don’t play these games, but based off of what I am reading this does appear to be a form of gambling. Does anyone that plays these games want to comment on this proposed legislation?

A loot box is a common feature in both PC and mobile games. Users pay to draw game items like weapons or armor from a loot box. The prize may be worth several times what they paid for the draw — or worth close to nothing at all.  
   
The problem occurs when players start drawing multiple times to get their hands on items they want, which some say becomes a form of gambling. Although game publishers officially ban the practice, rare items are often traded online in exchange for cash.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Any gamers out there in the Army that want to help recruit?  Here is your opportunity:

The Army is putting together a team of video gamers from within its ranks to try to reach young Americans in the digital worlds where they spend much of their time.

More than 15 years after launching “America’s Army,” a first-person shooter game aimed at enlisting real world soldiers, the Army is calling for active duty troops and reservists to compete in video gaming tournaments, or esports, in one of its latest recruiting efforts.

The move follows the Army’s failure this year, for the first time in more than a decade, to meet the fiscal year target for bringing in new soldiers as it seeks to expand its ranks to more than 500,000 in the next four years.

The Army is also creating a “functional fitness” team to compete in CrossFit athletic events and is reportedly looking to spruce up recruiting efforts with more bonuses, more recruiters, better furniture and a new slogan to replace “Army Strong.”

The service plans to hold tryouts for a variety of electronic games, said Staff Sgt. Ryan Meaux, an Army recruiter, in a Facebook video on Wednesday.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

If it's video games and not easy availability of guns, then South Korea would have a lot more shootings than its current count of ZERO https://t.co/kPN4frO8fa

— KingSejong (@KingSejong) February 19, 2018

A visitor experiences a Virtual Reality survival game at “Play Box” at a theme park on Jeju Island on Nov. 29, 2017. (Yonhap)

Korean president's eldest son releases video game to fanfare: https://t.co/krlqRDMMi3 pic.twitter.com/fuZUENFIVj

— KoreaJoongAngDaily (@JoongAngDaily) May 26, 2017

I hope they give him at least a good middle name he can fall back on if this doesn’t work out:

Famous StarCraft player Lim Yo-hwan announced he will name his child Marine after the infantry unit in the game’s Terran species.

In an interview with a local news outlet Wednesday, the 36-year-old eSport legend said he couldn’t think of other names aside from the popular unit from the real-time strategic computer video game. His wife, actress Kim Ga-yeon, 44, agreed to the name, he added.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Japanese gamer's Dance Dance Revolution technique stuns the world http://t.co/we1ylvSw2z pic.twitter.com/IBKs2nEGrF

— DramaFever (@dramafever) January 3, 2015

The competitive gaming industry in South Korea is incredibly popular:

Top video game players in South Korea are household names. Millions of people tune in to watch game competitions on television. The largest Internet portal, Naver, has its own section covering the results.

Competitive video gaming is now taking off in places like the United States, attracting thousands of people to major events. But in South Korea, more than anywhere else, it has already oozed into mainstream culture. Couples going to game clubs is about as common as couples going to the movies.

Time and again, South Korea has provided glimpses of technology-related transformations before they expand globally, including widespread broadband availability and smartphone adoption. The country has also led in professional video game competitions, often called e-sports, creating organized leagues, training well-financed professional teams and filling giant stadiums with frenzied fans to cheer on their favorite players.

Such excitement was on display in Seoul on Sunday, when more than 40,000 fans filled the outdoor soccer stadium used for the 2002 World Cup semifinal to watch the world championship for League of Legends, one of the world’s most popular games. On stage, two teams of five players sat in front of computers wielding mouse and keyboard to control fantastical characters in a campaign to destroy the opposing team’s base. Three huge screens displayed the action.  [NY Times]

You can read more at the link, but even more impressively according to the article there was a Starcraft tournament in Busan that drew an amazing 100,000 fans.  As popular as competitive gaming is in Korea I do not see it ever reaching the same level in the US.