• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

You now need to be 19+ to play Minecraft in South Korea

Bullet Club

Banned

You now need to be 19+ to play Minecraft in South Korea​


Rated M for Mature.

Minecraft is usually rated for ages 7 and up and is a hit with children all over the world. This would also be the case in South Korea, but instead you now have to be 19+ to play it there. Why? Well, Microsoft is now forcing players to sign in with their Microsoft Accounts in a strange accordance with South Korea's shutdown law, which theoretically prevents children under the age of 16 from playing games late at night and losing sleep.

A petition has been launched with SK's presidential office last Friday to officially protest this action. It has over 15,000 signatures and calls for the abolition of the law, with it saying that essentially South Korea is the only country on Earth where you have to be an adult in order to play Minecraft.

The regulation was first put into action all the way back in 2011, but it hasn't been an issue until December 2020 because Microsoft now requires an Xbox Live account--which requires users to certify if they're 19 years or older--to play Minecraft Java Edition. Before the change, users didn't have to verify their ages and could then play as long as they wanted.

The game is actually rated for 12+ in South Korea, but when the policy was created in 2011, Microsoft changed their policy to mandate users be at least 19 years old to play games on Xbox Live.

“Any responsible game company should make adjustments to different systems of different countries when it makes a policy change and make investments to protect its users,” a South Korean ministry official said to The Korea Herald.

This isn't just a South Korean phenomenon either. Yesterday, the company Tencent has recently launched facial recognition to stop minors from gaming at night in China, where children are forbidden by law to game past 10pm.

Source: Tech Raptor
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Yesterday, the company Tencent has recently launched facial recognition to stop minors from gaming at night in China, where children are forbidden by law to game past 10pm.

Source: Tech Raptor
Them’s some bad nihongos.

Benny Hill What GIF
 

MrA

Member
Grinding schoolwork for 20 hours a day under extreme stress though, government-approved.
Come on, they only go to school for 14 hours , gives them 2 for home study, bam healthy school life balance,
I miss teaching in korea, but man those kids (well, I guess everyone ) just were pushed too hard.
I swear they were all convinced if they relaxed for 5 minutes they would instantly become the poorest country on earth again
I think it was only like 10 years ago they stopped 6 day school weeks
 

Moonjt9

No Silksong? = Delivering the pain.
Typical SK government blaming someone else for the unforeseen consequences of shortsighted laws.

Can’t have kids having fun and enjoying their childhood, that would be silly.
 

Fbh

Gold Member
I doubt those kids, when grown up, will regret not playing enough videogames in their childhood.

I regret spending too much time on games as a teen.
But as a kid? No way, so many good memories with games.
It's only really bad when parents don't set limit and let their kids sit inside playing games all day.
 
Last edited:
I regret playing spending too much time on games as a teen.
But as a kid? No way, so many good memories with games.
It's only really bad when parents don't set limit and let their kids sit inside playing games all day.

Don't regret things, every second you spend regretting something from the past that can't be changed is time wasted. Then you'll end up regretting that and waste even more time. The cycle will never break and you'll go to your grave regretting having wasted all that time regretting.

I regret having the time it took me to post about regrets.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
they should also add forknife EA games and Ubisoft
 
Last edited:

Jigsaah

Gold Member

You now need to be 19+ to play Minecraft in South Korea​


Rated M for Mature.

Minecraft is usually rated for ages 7 and up and is a hit with children all over the world. This would also be the case in South Korea, but instead you now have to be 19+ to play it there. Why? Well, Microsoft is now forcing players to sign in with their Microsoft Accounts in a strange accordance with South Korea's shutdown law, which theoretically prevents children under the age of 16 from playing games late at night and losing sleep.

A petition has been launched with SK's presidential office last Friday to officially protest this action. It has over 15,000 signatures and calls for the abolition of the law, with it saying that essentially South Korea is the only country on Earth where you have to be an adult in order to play Minecraft.

The regulation was first put into action all the way back in 2011, but it hasn't been an issue until December 2020 because Microsoft now requires an Xbox Live account--which requires users to certify if they're 19 years or older--to play Minecraft Java Edition. Before the change, users didn't have to verify their ages and could then play as long as they wanted.

The game is actually rated for 12+ in South Korea, but when the policy was created in 2011, Microsoft changed their policy to mandate users be at least 19 years old to play games on Xbox Live.

“Any responsible game company should make adjustments to different systems of different countries when it makes a policy change and make investments to protect its users,” a South Korean ministry official said to The Korea Herald.

This isn't just a South Korean phenomenon either. Yesterday, the company Tencent has recently launched facial recognition to stop minors from gaming at night in China, where children are forbidden by law to game past 10pm.

Source: Tech Raptor
Kids can miss out on sleep for other reasons you know?

I would imagine being glued to a Samsung phone watching tik tok for hours on end may be a bigger culprit.
 
Top Bottom