Vietnam Bans Online Gaming from 10 PM to 8 AM

REUTERS

So much for those late night gaming sessions in Vietnam. The country is placing a ban on all online gaming activity from 10 PM to 8 AM in order to protect the youth from wasting their brains, according to the Daily News.

“Provincial departments of information and communication will inspect on-line games activities nationwide and deal with organisations that violate regulations by cancelling their services,” Vietnamese deputy minister Le Nam Thang said, adding that officials have tried other methods which have not proven effective.

While being addicted to gaming at a young age is bad, the fact that a country puts a ban on all gaming for everyone is a travesty. Adults should at least have the right to play whenever the want and should be punished for illegal activities (such as illegal online betting) not for just playing a few hours than what some might consider normal. It should be up to children’s parents to decide when and where their offspring should be allowed to play, not the government.

According to the article, internet service providers have until March 3 to comply with the shut off or they will be cut off by the Vietnamese government. Gamasutra points out that China has put stringent restrictions on their country’s youth gamers including making games with “unwholesome” content including pornography, violence, gambling, cults and material classified as “cruel” or “horrifying” illegal, outlawing real currency in games in lieu of virtual currency and put heavy restrictions on minors “buying” products in the gaming world, but none seem as extreme – or unwarranted – as this.

Is the 10PM curfew too much governmental influence in people’s lives or a necessary evil to curb online gaming addiction?

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http://ghormax.wordpress.com ghormax

I am not sure if this was a wise decision. It may be that those people who play computer games may now have lots of time for other activities such as political campaigns. They may even be motivated due to the government’s paternalistic attitude.
skinnieguy

What do you expect from a communist government. They think they know what is best for you and the country. Of course they do nothing about the corruption. By the way, I am Vietnamese but I live in the states. For some reason, I feel my accounts will be hacked after making this post.
syzito

Don’t give Obama and Clinton any new ideas since they both are closet socialist this will be next on their agenda to control society.
http://ghormax.wordpress.com ghormax

I am afraid, banning computer games is more something for moralists which tend to be on the conservative side of politics. Moreover, you should know Vietnam and China are now only ‘socialist’ in name but capitalist in practice.
http://brownj00.wordpress.com brownj00

While I agree with the sentiments advocating freedom in a broad sense, you have to realize that in totalitarian states the “rights” you have are dictated by the people in power (usually the people with guns and money, by the way). Not wishful thinking. Now I have a universal human right to an Xbox and 24×7 online gaming? Wow.

Vietnam is “socialist” in name only- the COMMUNIST PARTY(and it’s allowed offspring subsidiaries) is completely in control, and is the ONE and ONLY party allowed in government. Admittedly, the govt. there is pro-capitalism which (surprise!) accounts for the dramatic change in their economy in recent decades after “reforms” in the 80′s. So the government still has control of the Internet infrastructure there and they can do what they like.

Comments like “Adults should at least have the right to play whenever the[y] want” really just show how someone has an assumption about individual (or collective “Western”) beliefs should be universal. They are not. Laws, morals, and customs are different in various parts of the world. It is not a question about “right or wrong” it just is reality. It is arrogant to insist other countries MUST or should allow “freedom of the press” or other secondary privelages, etc. we choose for ourselves. I think it’s better to recognize the differences and understand them- not to act shocked and wag our fingers and say other people should act like US in trivial ways like access to online gaming.
http://brownj00.wordpress.com brownj00

re: “… Vietnamese deputy minister Le Nam Thang said, adding that officials have tried other methods which have not proven effective.”

I’d like to know what they tried before that did not work??