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Comment by josephcsible | Hacker News Reader

> South Korea has similar types of restrictions, by the way. No gaming for minors (under 16) between midnight and 6am.

I'm disappointed but not surprised that China makes rules like this, but I always thought South Korea was basically a free country and never expected this sort of rule from them.

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So, generally, I really dislike this kind of paternalism. This rule in particular doesn't seem that crazy, but enforcement just seems completely unrealistic without major privacy violations.

Maybe that's why I dislike this kind of paternalism.

South Korea was ruled by military rule until the mid 90s. Now instead of military leaders it's ruled by the chaebols, the large industrial conglomerates.

Don't forget the literal cult a few years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_South_Korean_political_sc...

It's been long since I talked to a SK guy, but around 2010 it was pretty obvious that SK was half western half eastern, and much more free than china (no SK person ever expressed anxiety or fear of speaking on internet, chinese people did so very rapidly)

that said .. i'm surprised about their laws, especially since SK a bit land-of-gaming

As a South Korean, I can confidently say that nobody actually gives a shit about these rules, there are too many ways to circumvent around it, and as a result people don't think they're that "oppressed" from it. (Read my parent comment about getting around gaming restrictions)

That's a problem though. Rules that don't get enforced (or can't be) can then be abused to target anyone those in power don't like. Their very existence itself is an affront to freedom.

My impression of South Korea (as someone living in Japan and sometimes talking to people who have moved back and forth) is that it's closer to Singapore on the free/authoritarian scale.

E.g. for many years they had a law where to sign up for any large chat forum (like a Korean Hacker News) you'd have to enter your government ID numbers so they could effectively ban you for harassment/slander etc.

Porn is also illegal in South Korea.

Like young people in America aged 16-21 who cannot buy alcohol legally in the US? That seems pretty totalitarian and paternalistic from outside the US

In a car centric environment such as the US, there is a large burden society pays for when it comes to under age drunk driving. The harm from a car related fatality is felt immediately. It’s hard to compare that to the delayed and difficult to measure societal impact when kids play too much video games.

It's delayed, and difficult to measure precisely, but there's a substantial cohort of people who cannot and may never be able to support themselves due to the combination of gaming all night and cultural expectations around hiring.

Perhaps it would be free-er for the government to intervene and force everyone to have a different cultural expectation, but both are very substantial interferences.

Data? There have been really flawed studies to bash video game playing (just like there was for playing chess...look it up), but I've yet to see any that withstand scrutiny.

> government to intervene and force everyone

Going to go ahead and recommend against those words in that order.

Definitely going to need you to back this one up, I’m highly skeptical of your claim.

Would make more sense to also not be able to drive until 18/21

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age

Most places restrict the age at which you can buy alcohol and most places seem to restrict it to at least 18. 21 is higher than the average but legal age laws seem to be pretty standard.

And as mentioned in the article the restriction to gaming is being implemented not only in China but in SK and Vietnam, what it is normal and what is totalitarian seems only to reside on who implements it. Usual tribalism dressed-up in sophisms.

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