Religion

The recent explosion of popularity in online gaming has generated billions of dollars for video game manufacturers worldwide, but has also spawned a generation of gaming addicts. With gamers paying monthly fees to play the most popular online games, companies are purposefully making games more and more addictive. In East Asia, where online gaming is more popular, problems stemming from addiction are becoming more then just addictions but also life threatening. If trends in the United States and the rest of North America continue as they have been, online gaming may soon become as popular here as it is in Asia. Though the first amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees American's certain liberties, but placing restrictions on certain online games would be reasonable. Just as the government is obligated to protect its citizens from addictive, harmful substances, it also needs to take steps now to protect gamers from the very real threat of online gaming addiction. We must look to Asia and see how they have tried to combat the addiction as well as come up with our own solutions.

There is no doubt that online gaming could become a serious problem for Americans. It is predicted that, by 2007, a quarter of North American households will be playing games online (Li). Many problems have already arisen in the USA. Shawn Woolley, a 21 year old who lived in Wisconsin, shot himself on November 20th 2001 (Hall). He was found in front of his computer, logged on to the game Everquest, an extremely popular MMORPG or Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Players have nicknamed the game "Evercrack," due to its addictive qualities. In South Korea, where "games are televised and professional players are treated, as well as paid, like sports stars," the government is funding several centers to treat online addiction (Griffiths). The decision was spurred by the death of a South Korean man; he died of exhaustion after playing a non stop, 50 hour gaming session. Professionals there are treating online gaming addiction like any other disease, and have compiled a list of symptoms: "preoccupation with the Internet, inability to perform every day tasks, uncontrolled behavior, disruption of daily routines, and nervousness or anxiety when not online," (Quilala). In China, where online gaming generates billions of dollars annually, a man hunted down and killed another man who had stolen an online sword from him (Dale). While playing World Of Warcraft, the latest MMORPG with over 5 million users worldwide, I regularly chat with my fellow players. One player admitted to me that he was planning on sleeping on the floor of his office overnight, he wanted to play World of Warcraft late into the night, and had to work the next morning. To most people, online gaming addiction is not thought of as a problem. It is cast aside as a benign, humorous problem affecting only society's outcast. This is a common misconception. If left alone online gaming addiction will soon poison many of our youths and spread into a serious problem in adults.

As previously mentioned, online gaming in countries such as eastern Asia is prevalent and growing rapidly, by analyzing the steps they have taken to defend against addiction, we can make informed decisions on how to implement measures here in the USA. Problems in South Korea have forced its government to not only create gaming rehabilitation centers, but also a ten o'clock curfew at cyber cafes (known as 'PC Bangs' in Korea) for underage players (Quilala). Similarly, a few cities in Malaysia are introducing a curfew. There teenagers often run away from home and live in cyber cafe's for days until they ultimately found and sent home. "Local lawmakers say they plan to deploy teams of officers to check on popular internet spot... cafe owners who ignore the rules face having their licenses withdrawn," (Kent). It is doubtful that something like this would help the situation in either the United States. Firstly, law enforcement would need to patrol cyber cafes periodically after the designated curfew, making sure people were not present. This would waste far too much time for law enforcement agents. Secondly, in the USA, "the market for cyber cafes is shrinking as more players are playing at home," so a curfew would do little to battle addiction in America (Quilala). China has started introducing controls to discourage people from playing for long periods of time. The longer an in-game character is played, the more reduced his abilities become, while resting returns the character to full power. Xiaowie Kou a spokesmen for the Chinese government stated, "The timing mechanism can prevent young people from becoming addicted to online games," (Perhay). The problem lays in the fact that the Chinese government has tried to put the gaming restrictions into use, but the gaming companies are trying to make a profit and often ignore