Game companies have taken exception to being lumped together with drugs, alcohol and gambling, and say the bill is a death sentence for their industry. "The 100,000 people employed in the game industry are not drugmakers," said the Korea Internet and Digital Entertainment Association, which represents game companies.
Online gaming has become a significant export industry. In 2017, MapleStory and other titles earned more cash from abroad for South Korea than the YouTube sensation Gangnam Style, K-pop music, movies and all other cultural exports combined.
The government started studying internet game addiction in 2011. Its latest annual study found that 2% of South Koreans aged 10-19, or about 125,000 people, needed treatment for excessive online gaming or were at risk of addiction.
"My parents tried to stop me but I kept playing. Even the government wouldn't have stopped me," said Shin Minchul, a 21-year-old college student as he recounted his heavy gaming past.
At elementary school Shin bonded with his friends at an internet cafe playing StarCraft for three to four hours a day after classes finished. He dreamed of becoming one of the professionals with corporate sponsorship whose games are broadcast live on cable TV to audiences numbering in the millions. By high school, he was playing World of Warcraft for up to 15 hours straight.
Shin's rank at school plunged from the top to bottom half. "When I tried to think more broadly about my life, playing games wasn't that important," Shin said. "Then I lost interest."
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