The dangers of online games

"Maple Story" is an online game made by Nexon. If a character kills a monster, his or her grade and experience level go up. The characters include adventurer, Signus knight, Aran, resistance fighter and cannon shooter. The highest level is 200. My son, who is an elementary school student, said his level is 113 as an Aran and 43 as a resistance fighter, and he recently began acting as a cannon shooter. Though he explained the story of the game with excitement, I simply could not understand.

The suicide of a middle school student in Daegu is related to this game. The boy killed himself after being picked on and victimized by violence at school. One of the students who prompted his suicide forced the victim to raise his game level after losing due to a hacking attack. For fear of violence and threats, the victim played the game several times a day and even stayed up all night to do so. According to police, most of the text messages they exchanged were about forcing the victim to play the game. Online games are thus indirectly driving children toward death and violence.

In March, a high school student in Busan who fought with his parents over an online game jumped to his death from the roof of an apartment building. In November last year, a middle school student in the same city killed his mother, who scolded him for his game addiction, and then himself. This has led to a system prohibiting those under age 16 from logging onto game sites. In the U.S., a 20-something man who dropped out of a prestigious university got excited after playing an Internet game and left his home saying, "I will kill the first person I see." He carried out his threat.

According to a Korean government survey on Internet addiction in 2010, teenagers accounted for the largest portion of addicts at 12.4 percent, more than double the figure for adults (5.8 percent). Online games are blamed for more than 80 percent of Internet addiction, the study found. On the latest incident, game developers are refusing to take responsibility. One game industry source said, "`Maple Story` is not so violent that even women enjoy the game," adding, "This is not game addiction as the perpetrator didn`t play the game himself." The source, however, probably would not say this had his child committed suicide due to an Internet game.

Editorial Writer Chung Sung-hee (shchung@donga.com)