South Korean ‘cinderella law’ gaming curfew now in effect

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South Korea has implemented its “Cinderella Law” which prevents gamers under the age of 16 from playing online games between the wee hours of midnight and 6am. According to Gamasutra the law will also prevent those under the age of 16 from playing on Xbox Live or the PSN during those times.

Originally proposed as a way to counter the rapidly increasing trend of video game addiction which was seen by the government to be cause for concern, the Cinderella Law was passed earlier in the year with advocates from the government’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MGEF) supporting it.

Under the law, those who are not 16 years or over will be unable to register for PSN accounts or log in to xbox live or the PSN between midnight and 6am. The South Korean government has given Xbox Live a two-month grace period to enable them to create a system which will be able to track users’ ages and block those under the age of 16 from accessing online gaming during those late night hours. It has been suggested, however, that the curfew may result in all gamers, regardless of their age, being locked out of xbox live from midnight to 6am.

Critics of the recently implemented legislation have pointed to the fact that the government has yet to prove that playing games is more detrimental to youth than watching movies or TV, or engaging in other indoor activities. They further assert that the law violates children’s civil rights. Additionally, the Korea Association of Game Industry (KAOGI) which is made up of games publishers, have claimed that the law enforces “excessive prohibition” on a small, select number of players, and the group is drafting a lawsuit in retalliation to the curfew.

More news on the curfew as we get it.

Source: Gamasutra


About the Author: Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Tash is a self-diagnosed gaming fanatic with a doctorate in Psychology. She's also a self-confessed Mass Effect fangirl and will likely talk your ears off if you ever get her started on the subject. A lover of all things RPG and adventure, she has more gamer related action figures and memorabilia than any 30 something year old professional has a right to own, and has spent more time than she’d like to admit to daydreaming about exactly what she would do should the Zombie Apocalypse actually happen.

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