South Korean government’s proposed revision in the gaming law to toughen regulations and raise adult age has stoked strong protest from the industry fearing weakening in competitiveness against foreign players especially from China.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency on Tuesday released a draft on revising game law, reflecting changes in the game industry landscape from 2006 when the related law was enacted.

The proposed revision includes removing terms with negative connotations such as addiction, gambling as well as defining youth under 19 and obligating game publishers to disclose lucky-draw in-game items.

The industry complains the revisions mostly centered to protect users and would weaken competitiveness of game companies, placing them unfavorably against foreign players who do not have to follow the domestic law.

The most controversial topic is mandatory publishing of lucky-draw items, which have been criticized as gambling because buyers do not know without actually paying for the in-game item. The lucky-draw item is one of the most lucrative profit sources for online game companies. Currently, the disclosure of lucky-draw item is left under self-regulation by each company. According to Game Self-Governance Organization of Korea, 22 out of 23 violators of the voluntary control on lucky-draw items were Chinese game titles.

Local game players also complain of the unfairness in the age rating system as the youth is defined as those younger than 18 for other creative content industry such as movies.

“The proposed revision on the game law is only a draft,” said a government official. “The government will gather feedback from the game industry and make changes accordingly.”

By Lim Young-sin, Hong Sung-yong, and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]