[Student Reporters] Teenagers In 'Game Addiction'
Jae Lee / 11th. Seoul International School(SIS)
It is estimated that the U.S. game market toppled $30 billion and the online game market accounts for $1.7 billion. The U.S game companies will grow by 30% and more for online game companies. Even though there was a huge growth in online games the video game market consists of 80% of the U.S. game market.
In South Korea over 15.45 million people are subscribed to the internet and 7.24 million are children and teenagers ages 7-19. In Korea 80% of the people that play online games are students.
According to the KADO (Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion) 14.4% of teenagers are addicted to the internet meaning that 1 out of 7 teens are in the grasps of the internet. Most of the internet addicted teens are also addicted to games.
One of the dangers of game addiction is that the addict cannot tell between reality and the game. In South Korea there was an incident in March 2006 where a middle school student who was addicted to a game about yakuza and mafias killed his grandmother for scolding him. Also in South Korea there have been 750 people who have died due to playing online games for 200 hours without stopping.
Even though the government has set strict online regulations in actuality they are destroying the teens by encouraging them to play. The Ministry of Culture & Tourism has decided to fund the game industry $300 million by 2012 to push Korean games into the global market. The government is also trying to raise the Korean game industry to $9 billion by 2012 and increase foreign exports to $3.5 billion. Even though it is up to the teens to control their addiction if the government does not come up with stricter regulations and mandates game addiction can become a serious threat in the community.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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