Thailand is to impose a night curfew on online gaming to curb rising rates of addiction by young players, Information and Communications Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said on Tuesday.
Game servers, both local and overseas, will be blocked from 10.00pm to 6.00am daily from July 15 to Sept 30, while Internet cafes will also have their hours curbed to those times, Mr Surapong told reporters.
Advertisement. Under particular attack is Korean role-playing game Ragnarok, which was introduced to Thailand seven months ago and reportedly now has more than 600,000 registered players here. Of particular concern is that children are becoming addicted to the game.
The minister said the effectiveness of the curfew would be evaluated after Sept 30. Additional measures will be considered if it is not effective. Other restrictions in the pipeline, according to the Nation newspaper, include mandatory player breaks every two hours and identification cards to ensure that players do not make profits from the games.