In March, 2010 in Seoul (South Korea), a first legal case regarding Internet addiction in Korea was taking place; in which a couple, Kim Jea-Bom (41) and Kim Yun-jeong (25) , was found guilty of starving their 3 months old baby to death while busy raised a virtual child in Prius Online, a 3D Fantasy game.
“While the couple fed and lavished gifts on their virtual child, Anima, allowing her to acquire magical powers as she grew, their real daughter starved in their single-room apartment. She was fed nothing but powdered milk two or three times a day, before and after her parents' marathon gaming excursions.
The court heard how the couple, who met through an online chatroom, arrived home one morning last September after spending another night at a PC bang to find Sa-rang dead. The infant, born prematurely, weighed just 5.5lbs when she died.“
The case was simply shocking and caused many attention not only from the local media but also the national one. But, who to blame in this tragic incident, the game itself or the uneducated irresponsibility parents ?
According to the Korean government, about two million ( nearly one out of ten online users ) are addicted to the internet (McCurry, 2010) . Million dollar was spent on addiction treatment and to open counseling centers, also from September 2010, there is restricted for gamers who are under 18 from midnight to 8am in most 19 popular game online sites. However, there is increased number of older player rather than young teenager.
It is rather difficult if there is only the restriction from the government since South Korea was known as the world most wired nation with 90% of homes has high-speed connection which give an easy way to the game online players to fuel their addiction (McCurry, 2010) . Moreover, there is no penalty for company games if the rules is broken because the government is in charge of promoting gaming, according to Eo Gee-jun, president of the Korea Computer Life Institute.
Then, isn’t it necessary to educate citizens and raise their awareness about this addiction?
References:
- McCurry, J. (2010, July 13). Internet addiction driving south koreans into realms of fantasy. Retrieved from
- (2010, April 5). youtube. (2010). [0]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdDmp_Ak1no
I cant believe the video news, how far can the effect of online video games can go if parents neglect their own new born daughter, and starve her to death. It is incredible how these games capture all types of people no matter age, gender, or social status. They all act the same, and this blog is good, because it talks about a topic that is very present today among kids and teenagers mostly. The same thing happens in facebook online games like farmville and city block, which I personally find very stressful that people are constantly sending me invitations to join in, I don't like it. People should definitely research about this topic since it is a cause of concern for society since all kkinds of cases can happen such as the parents in South Korea.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco Navarro
Personally I was shocked by the article and the new as well. I did heard about the addiction and people do silly thing cause by that but to that level of again the human's common sense, it is way too extreme. Hope that it will be a wake up call to others who still drowning and wasting time on that.
DeleteI also get really annoying when people sending me request and I often thought that if they have anything better to do.
But yes, everyone have their own problem and some just happen to have this.