Minecraft has ceased to be an all-ages game in South Korea, but it’s for a reason that not many know about and it’s an interesting one.
Minecraft is known for being a game that lets you be as creative as you want or as your programming skills allow. Proof of this is all the awesome things they have created using the mechanics of the game itself.
From building functional computers to real cities recreated to perfection, there is no limit to what you can build in Minecraft. That’s why it’s a game that continues to be very popular with players of all ages, there’s even a version that can be used in schools to teach children different subjects.
But now it seems that Minecraft is no longer a game for the whole family, at least in South Korea.
Minecraft for adults
No, don’t think that Minecraft suddenly became a game with a lot of violence, blood, or racy scenes, but that doesn’t mean that South Korea’s classification is any less controversial, so to speak, because if it hasn’t changed its colorful and friendly world, what then?
In South Korea, there is a law that prevents children from playing video games from 00:00 hours to 6:00 hours. Seriously, it’s like a nightmare for everyone here, because that’s when there is even more time to play in peace, but it is a law that seeks to prevent children from becoming addicted to video games, something that is much more common in South Korea than in many other countries in the world.
It is thanks to this law that only people 19 years of age or older are allowed to play video games during the previously established hours.
Many game companies, as a result of this, looked for ways to develop systems that would give the possibility to comply with this law without affecting their games, but Microsoft had to take other measures.
Despite the fact that in order to create a Microsoft account you need to be 19 years old or older, many people used to log into Minecraft with a Mojang account to bypass this restriction. Now, this can no longer be done, as Microsoft placed the restriction that only those with an Xbox Live account can log into Minecraft, making it impossible for those under the age of 19 to play the game, regardless of the time of day.
What has been the public response?
Since the law in question began to be implemented, the gamer community has begun to express their dissatisfaction with this, starting campaigns to set aside this law, as they are now the only place in the world where Minecraft is a game for adults and not for all ages as it should be.
Honestly, there are very interesting things that can be analyzed regarding this, because it is true that the youth in South Korea suffers from an addiction to video games, but perhaps that is not the best way to solve the problem, as it also affects the gaming industry in general.
It is worth mentioning that not just anything can be considered an addiction, but that is attributed to the way a person consumes anything. That is if the quest to consume something affects your personal, family, work, and school life, to the extent that you neglect everything (including yourself), is when it can be considered an addiction and this is not only with video games or narcotics, but it can also be an addiction to work, sports, food, and many, many more things.
So video game addiction is really a problem that must be treated seriously.
