Thai govt bans online games at night
Published: 09 Jul 2003 10:19 BST
Thai authorities have imposed a curfew on online gaming so the country's youths can have more time to rest and study.
Under the new rule, both local and overseas servers -- which are required for networked gaming with other players -- will be blocked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily from 15 July to 30 September. Internet cafes and online-gaming centres will also be subjected to this restriction, newswire AFP reported.
The closures are voluntary. However, the Thai government is said to be thinking of passing laws to regulate the online gaming industry.
Gaming outlets or LAN shops are popular in Thailand and access fees have now dropped as low as 10 to 20 baht (15p to 30p) per hour, the report said.
In particular, an online role-playing game called "Ragnarok Online" has come under fire. The game was developed by Korean firm Gravity Interactive and has attracted more than 600,000 registered players in Thailand, said the report.
"As a matter of fact "Ragnarok" is not a violent game, but its problem is that child players are becoming addicted, so we have to prevent children playing for long periods of time," Surapong Suebwonglee, Thailand's information and communications technology minister, was quoted as saying.
The report said these could include compulsory breaks every two hours and issuing identification cards so players cannot profit from the games. Trading for cash is common in online gaming, as special characters and weapons can now be sold on auction sites such as eBay.
"Some of them play online games as a job," Surapong told Thai daily The Nation.
The Thai government's move has since been met with outrage by the country's online gaming population.
Fans of "Ragnarok Online" have flooded online chat rooms with angry messages calling for Suebwonglee's impeachment, reported The Nation.
Most argued for a separate set of rules for adults and children instead of a blatant curfew, the report said.
"Do you think this is a major infringement of individual rights or simply a parental control issue? Does it make sense to regulate and shutdown the whole online gaming scene and label it as bad for everybody, including working adults looking for some fun?" an enraged gamer said on the paper's Web site.
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