Vietnam Bans Online Gaming at Night

Posted 02/21/2011 at 9:57pm | by Nathan Grayson

8

Comments

Print

If you're anything like us, you probably love nothing more than to get home from a rough day at work, rush past those other humans who inhabit your house, and settle in for a nice evening of stress-evaporating, catharsis-inducing game time. For many of you, that means some multiplayer man-shooting or some massively multiplayer raiding. Unless, that is, you live in Vietnam.

According to TechNews, Vietnam's Information and Communication Ministry has asked that – beginning on March 3 – Internet service providers block access to online games between the hours of 10pm and 8am. Fortunately, it's being referred to as a “temporary measure” while Vietnam seeks out a less restrictive, outrage-inducing method of prying school age children off their favorite games and into bed.

Meanwhile, surveys have found that 82 percent of students frequent Internet gaming cafes – an issue compounded by the fact that gaming companies like VinaGame and Vietgame have flat out refused to give kids the old “you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here” treatment after 10pm or shift their operations at least 200 meters away from schools (the latter of which is technically illegal).

Unsurprisingly, online game operators like VTC Intercom and Asiasoft have vocally come out against the ban, noting that it essentially serves as a giant middle finger to paying adults as well. 

Here's hoping, then, that the Information and Communication Ministry gets its act together and confines this “temporary measure” to the annals of bad idea history soon. Otherwise, things are going to get ugly. Or rather, uglier.