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Thai gamers work around curfew

Staff, CNETAsia CNet Asia

Published: 18 Jul 2003 14:08 BST

Irate Thai gamers are turning to other activities after a curfew that limits late night Internet games came into effect on Tuesday.

Last week, Thailand authorities instituted a ban on online games from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily to curb growing addiction among the country's youths. Under the curfew, both local and overseas game servers will be blocked from 15 July to 30 September, but Thai officials said the restriction could be extended.

The move has been met with protests from the country's gamers, particularly among the 700,000 registered players of a popular role-playing game called Ragnarok Online.

A timer now pops out at terminals of Internet cafes and online-gaming centres seconds before 10pm to warn users of the impending shutdown, Thai daily The Nation reported.

While this curfew was meant to give teenagers more time to rest and study, industry players say the youths are simply switching to other forms of online and offline entertainment instead.

Nick, the owner of an Internet cafe, said his outfit saw booming business round the clock over the weekend with gamers playing their hearts out just before 15 July curfew.

Now, he said, customers are turning to IRC (Internet Relay Chat) or LAN (Local Area Network) games such as the first-person shooter Counterstrike. LAN games do not require an Internet connection and thus bypass the Thai government's online gaming clampdown.

Others would just go clubbing, he added.

What's going on in games? For all the latest see GameSpot.com.