In Korea, children started playing games at the age of 10. It is during this age that students lose interest in schools, friends and family. The habit of sleeping, eating, and living is getting worse. Many cases of teenage gamers died causing the “Shutdown Law” to be born in 2011.
Specifically, teenagers under 15 will be blocked from accessing the game between 0-6 am. The Korean Internet system stipulates that when logging into a website, users must declare the ID containing encrypted personal information.
However, there are still many cases of “game addicts” who steal their parents’ IDs to cheat. In addition, the “Closed Law” does not mention mobile games, although since 2017, the number of smartphone gaming users here has been about 36.3 million.
Park Young-mok, CEO of Nchant Interactive, a mobile game development company in Seoul, points out that gaming is still a good way for Korean students to relax after a long hard day of studying. Academic achievements weigh on the shoulders of young Korean people, making the educational environment extremely competitive. Meanwhile, the outdoor activities can not attract them compared to this “indoor” culture.
Finally, “peer pressure” is also a key factor. Korean society is highly collective, which greatly affects the gaming culture. Joining mobile games, online with friends and colleagues is a must here. It is impolite that you decline an invitation to play a game from someone. Therefore, many Koreans play games only by invitations from friends.
Jun Byung-hun, a member of the Korean National Assembly and the head of the esports management agency KeSPA, said that people of the previous generation are still very prejudiced about playing games.
Jun tries to promote educational guidelines that encourage schools to warn students about game addiction, and to help parents better understand the game. “The best way to avoid addiction is to play games together,” he said.
Jun Byung-hun has promoted a number of initiatives that encourage Korean organizations to consider eSports as real sport. The most obvious achievement was the persuasion of Chung-Ang University, a leading university in Korea, to enroll two students based on their success in esports.
In society with the division of age groups with rigid hardware, “glass of old age” is very important, the game is a bridge for players from different ages. In fact, playing games is not only sitting for hours building a stronghold, killing monsters, it is also a place to keep vivid memories with friends, as a childhood of Korean people.