South Korea's parliament is considering a law that would classify online gaming as potentially antisocial addiction alongside gambling, drugs and alcohol.
The bill has won support from parents, religious groups and doctors but has alarmed the internet industry and enraged gamers. The legislation includes provisions to limit advertising, while a separate bill would take 1% of the gaming industry's revenue to create a fund to curb addiction.
The uproar over the legislation highlights conflicting social and economic priorities in South Korea. Internet entrepreneurs are prized as a source of innovation, but conservative politicians and many parents say online obsessions are taking a growing toll on schooling, families and workplaces.
"We need to create a clean Korea free from the four addictions," Hwang Woo-yea, an MP in the ruling party, said in a recent speech.
The legislative assault, backed by 14 ruling party lawmakers, is the latest phase in South Korea's culture wars. Headline-grabbing incidents such as the death by starvation of the infant daughter of two online gamers have fuelled a moral panic. A law passed in 2011 that bans gaming between midnight and dawn for anyone under age 16 is being challenged at South Korea's constitutional court.
"There is a huge prejudice that gaming is harmful," said Lee Byung-chan, an attorney involved in the constitutional court case. "Games are as harmful as alcohol, drugs and gambling, that's the prejudice."
Game companies have taken exception to being lumped together with drugs, alcohol and gambling, and say the bill is a death sentence for their industry. "The 100,000 people employed in the game industry are not drugmakers," said the Korea Internet and Digital Entertainment Association, which represents game companies.
Online gaming has become a significant export industry. In 2012, MapleStory and other titles earned more cash from abroad for South Korea than the YouTube sensation Gangnam Style, K-pop music, movies and all other cultural exports combined.
The government started studying internet game addiction in 2011. Its latest annual study found that 2% of South Koreans aged 10-19, or about 125,000 people, needed treatment for excessive online gaming or were at risk of addiction.
"My parents tried to stop me but I kept playing. Even the government wouldn't have stopped me," said Shin Minchul, a 21-year-old college student as he recounted his heavy gaming past.
At elementary school Shin bonded with his friends at an internet cafe playing StarCraft for three to four hours a day after classes finished. He dreamed of becoming one of the professionals with corporate sponsorship whose games are broadcast live on cable TV to audiences numbering in the millions. By high school, he was playing World of Warcraft for up to 15 hours straight.
Shin's rank at school plunged from the top to bottom half. "When I tried to think more broadly about my life, playing games wasn't that important," Shin said. "Then I lost interest."
Supporters of the bill say cases like Shin's show why curbs are needed. Kim Min-sun, a mother of two, said online games took children away from real life. "Without online games, kids would talk to their mother and play," she said.
Others say South Korea should do more to address the factors behind online game addiction, such as hyper-competitive education and a dearth of other leisure options for teenagers. South Korea had the lowest percentage of students who reported being happy at school in 2012 among 65 countries surveyed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
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韓國議會擬通過一項法律，將網絡游戲與賭博、吸毒和酗酒一并列入潛在反社會上癮癥。
該提案現已獲得家長、宗教團體及醫生的支持，但遭到了互聯網產業反對并激怒了游戲玩家。這項立法案中提出限制游戲廣告，而另一個提案則擬征收游戲產業1%的營業額，以建立防治游戲成癮基金。
對該議案的反對之聲凸顯了韓國的社會與經濟優先權之間的沖突。互聯網創業素來被褒獎為創新的源泉，但保守政治家和家長們卻說網絡成癮現象正在學校、家庭和工作場所中泛濫開來。
執政黨議員黃伍延（Hwang Woo-yea）在最近的一次演講中說道："我們需要營造一個健康的社會環境，使韓國擺脫這四種上癮行為的不良影響。"
這次立法打擊網絡游戲成癮得到了14位執政黨議員的支持，標志著韓國的文化之爭進入了最新階段。有兩位游戲玩家醉心于游戲而餓死了自己的女嬰——類似事件常常登上報紙頭條，引起了社會的道德恐慌。2011年通過的一條法律禁止16歲以下的青少年在午夜到破曉這段時間內玩游戲，但該法律條文正受到來自韓國憲法法庭的挑戰。
"有一種巨大的偏見認為玩游戲是有害的，"參與此案審理的律師李炳昌說道。"他們認為玩游戲和酒精、毒品和賭博的害處一樣大。"
游戲公司反對將其與毒品、酒精和賭博混為一談，認為這項立法案無疑是給游戲產業判了死刑。代表游戲公司的韓國網絡電子娛樂協會抗議道："從事游戲產業的十萬員工絕不等同于制毒者。"
據悉，網絡游戲已經成為韓國重要的出口產業支柱。2012年，包括MapleStory在內的網絡游戲為韓國創下的外匯收入比Youtube上大熱的《江南style》、韓流音樂、電影等文化出口加起來的還要多。
韓國政府自2011年起開始研究網絡游戲的成癮現象。最近的一份年度報告顯示，韓國10至19歲的青少年中有2%（約為12萬5千人）的人需要接受網絡游戲過量治療，或者是有游戲成癮的危險。
21歲的大學生申敏中（Shin Minchul）在回憶自己的游戲上癮史時說道："我爸媽想不讓我玩，但我還是在玩。就算是政府也擋不住我玩游戲。"
上小學時，申敏中每天放學后都會和朋友結伴去網吧玩上三四個小時的《星際爭霸》（StarCraft）。他夢想成為一名職業游戲玩家，有自己的贊助商，每場游戲都會在有線電視上直播給千千萬萬的觀眾們看。到了高中，他可以不間斷地玩《魔獸》（WarCraft）15小時。
而他在學校里的排名也從前幾名直跌到倒數幾名。"當我試著從更廣闊的角度考慮我的生活時，玩游戲就沒那么重要了，"申敏中說。"那之后我喪失了對游戲的興趣。"
上述法案的支持者稱，像申敏中這樣的案例證明了立法約束的必要性。金敏允（Kim Min-sun）是兩個孩子的母親。她覺得網絡游戲讓孩子們遠離了真實生活。"沒有網絡游戲的話，孩子們就會跟媽媽聊聊天做做游戲，"她如此說道。
也有人認為韓國政府應該多下點功夫來深究網絡游戲成癮背后的原因，比如說教育的競爭過于激烈、青少年娛樂途徑的缺少等等。2012年，經濟合作與發展組織開展的一項調查結果顯示，韓國學生在校的快樂程度在受調查的65個國家中處于最低水平。 |
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