The Democratic Party of Korea hosted a debate on 18 June called “Video Games: Addiction or Art?” in which games industry representatives joined officials and educators to collectively discuss the issue of game addiction in Korea.
“Everyone and everything has the right to freedom of expression and games are no different. They have the right to freedom of expression as a legally published medium, whether art or not,” said Korean Game Developers Association representative Jong-Duk Kim. “The title of the debate suggests that if video games are considered to be a form of art, they should be protected and punished otherwise.”
Last December the Korean assembly began considering legislative measures to give the government authority to apply the same legal restrictions to online games as alcohol, gambling and drugs.
A government study in 2013 claimed that two per cent of all Koreans aged 10-19 needed treatment for excessive online gaming or were at risk of addiction.
“We need to create a clean Korea free from the four addictions,” said ruling party MP Hwang Woo-yea in a statement last year.
The wave of proposed regulations has also gained support from parents, religious leaders and physicians, alarming the country’s online games industry and angering gamers. One law would limit game advertising, and a separate bill would take one per cent of game industry revenues to create an addiction prevention fund.
Last year fourteen South Korean representatives joined South Korean politician Shin Eui-jin to introduce the bill grouping online games with alcohol, gambling and drugs as activities in need stricter regulation due to their addictive nature.
“The governing body shall have the right to regulate the manufacturing, distribution and sale of addictive substances and can limit promotion of them as well,” according to a draft of the bill.
A law passed in 2011 banning gaming between midnight and sunrise for youths under age 16 is also being challenged in Korea’s constitutional court.
“There is a huge prejudice that gaming is harmful,” said attorney Lee Byung-chan in an earlier statement. “Games are as harmful as alcohol, drugs and gambling, that’s the prejudice.”
