Underage gaming became a hot issue in Korea when the police were called to prevent underage children from playing Overwatch in PC bangs.
Since then, there have been many pictures posted in various online communities of police cracking down on underage playing in PC bangs. One picture showed a police officer taking down the name and school of underage children. Another was a screenshot of text messaging between a reporter and police. It almost became a trend to post pictures of such scenes.
Overwatch is rated PG-15 in Korea, meaning that children under the age of 15 cannot play the game. They can't even create an Overwatch account because Blizzard collects personal information from the users; if underage children are playing Overwatch, it means they are using someone else's identity, and that is against the law. Therefore, it is appropriate procedure for police to be sent out if they receive reports.
According to the Game Rating and Administartion Committee (GRAC), it is the obligation of PC bang management to prevent underage children from playing inappropriate games. As such, both PC bang owners and underage children recieve legal punishment when the police receive reports of violations.
Owners complained about the difficulty of prohibiting underage children from playing Overwatch. As the issue grew more serious, some PC bangs began to put up notifications to prevent underage access while some forbade underage entrance altogether.
An intense debate over the issue is going on now. On one hand, hard-liners claim that we should strictly follow the legal agreement and that law enforcement is necessary. On the other, moderates claim that such reports and prohibitions are just ways of harrassing guilty underage children and wasting police forces.
Sort by:
Comments :0
