OpticalShot Profile Blog Joined October 2009 Canada 6290 Posts Last Edited: 2011-10-26 13:27:46 #1 UPDATE 2011-10-26:

2011-10-26: On October 26 2011 21:16 zeehar wrote:

yep, news today from the fwc that they plan to exclude bw from the shutdown law as



1. it is a cd based game



2. the bnet system is too old to determine player information



Feel free to link me to sources of information and I'll update the OP accordingly.



Also, requesting a moderator to determine whether this thread should now be closed or kept up with a different title.



-----



Original post on 2011-10-24:

Translated article from Daily E-Sports.

Source:

Original article by Reporter Gyungbae Gwok

Special thanks to Ryo for the notification.



Due to the new "Shutdown Regulation," not even adults will be able to use Battle.net during night time in Korea



Feel free to link me to sources of information and I'll update the OP accordingly.Also, requesting a moderator to determine whether this thread should now be closed or kept up with a different title.-----Original post on 2011-10-24:Translated article from Daily E-Sports.Source: DES Original article by Reporter Gyungbae GwokSpecial thanks to Ryo for the notification. <blizzard guy picture goes here but who cares about this>



Rob Bridenbecker, Vice President of Online Technologies at Blizzard, stated that Battle.net will be shut down [in Korea] nightly in order to comply with the new Shutdown Regulation. [During the hours of 12:00AM to 6:00AM, all Battle.net services will be shut down in Korea.]



As a result, all users including adults will not be able to play popular Blizzard games such as Starcraft, Diablo 2, and Warcraft 3. These games use Battle.net which was first developed 10 years ago, and did not implement personal identification for user sign-ups - which means that the user's age cannot be identified. Blizzard, in order to fully comply with the Shutdown Regulation, will shut down Battle.net every night in Korea.



In an interview held on October 21st at the Blizzcon site, VP Rob Bridenbecker said that "to comply with the new Shutdown Regulation set to be in effect starting next month, there is no choice for us but to shut down the old Battle.net [in Korea] during the night." He added that "although it is unfortunate, we will have to use IP blocking or similar measures to block Korean users from using Battle.net during that time."



The "Shutdown Regulation" is a new regulation that was proposed by the Family Women's Council [T/N: the literal translation would be Female Family Group, but whatever] that will ban youths under 16 years old from playing online games during the night hours of 12:00AM to 6:00AM. The old Battle.net allows anybody to sign-up as a member with just a username and an email address. That email address is not verified by Battle.net. Therefore, it is impossible to find whether a specific user on Battle.net falls under the Shutdown Regulation.



Blizzard does not plan on putting forth resources to upgrade the old Battle.net. VP Bridenbecker said that "we're running short on resources for research and development on our newer titles. We cannot invest any more resources for the old Battle.net only for the sake of Korean gamers, and even if we wanted to, we simply don't have the manpower for such a thing right now."



If the above are to be implemented as stated, the impact in the Korean gaming market is estimated to be devastating. PC Cafe's will take a direct hit, and the eSports scene will feel the impact as well.



VP Bridenbecker closed with his opinions that "this is an unfortunate but necessary decision," and that "it is deeply regrettable that because of the Shutdown Regulation, even adults will not be able to enjoy [Blizzard's] popular games during the night."



-----



Clarification: this does NOT affect Battle.net 2.0 (for WoW and SC2) if the user is 16 years or older. In other words, if you're 16 years or older (and verified so), you will not be affected by this new regulation. However, if you are less than 16 years old, you may not be able to log into WoW or SC2 from Korea from 12:00AM to 6:00AM (local time) starting November 20th, 2011.



Additional information:



Similar Article on Fomos

- Basically says the same thing as the translated article.

- Specifically mentions that Blizzard's games will fall under the category of "addicting games" and will therefore be affected by the new regulation



TIG Article 1

- Online gaming companies are confused as to how to react to this Shutdown Regulation

- No specific standards or definitions set out yet (ex: what is "online/addicting game"?)

- Shutdown Regulation to be in effect as a part of the new amendments to the Youth Protection Act on November 20, 2011

- Some gaming companies already preparing to appeal



TIG Article 2

- Members of the Legislature express their opinions on the Shutdown Regulation on the 29th [of September]

- Some are for, some are against (as it is in every government)



Community Screenshot and Information

On October 24 2011 14:20 MildCocoA wrote:

this article fail..

Korean shut down law is only korean online game..

http://bbs2.ruliweb.daum.net/gaia/do/ruliweb/default/pc/33/read?articleId=602569&bbsId=G003&itemId=7&pageIndex=1 this article fail..Korean shut down law is only korean online game..

- for now, all games that can be installed from CDs are exempted from the Shutdown Regulation

- some notable titles included and to be under effect: MapleStory, DFO, Lineage 1 and 2, Aion, Dragon Nest, DBZ Online, Atlantica, Aika Online, Hellgate London, Mabinogi, Legend of Mir 2. GG NEXON LOL

- netizens sneering at how government is too scared to mess with foreign companies



GameMeca Article

- Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism estimates that the Shutdown Regulation will incur approximately 300 million Wons (approximately 28 million USD) as direct costs for system construction and implementation.

- Youths can still play online games on foreign servers

- Minister Lee recommends that the above regulation be excluded from the upcoming amendments to the Youth Protection Act

- Minister Lee comments that it will be more efficient to launch programs/projects to guide youths into spending their time responsibly and wisely



MT Article

- Companies preparing for this by updating their systems/servers

- Users under 16 years old will be given a warning message before midnight and forcibly disconnected at midnight (and blocked from re-logging until 6:00AM)

- Still unclear how to deal with pay-to-play systems, as some users have already paid for fees without time limitations



Incruit Article

- 5 analysts specializing in the gaming industry interviewed

- most major companies will not take a major hit, as the stocks already reflect the effects (the regulation passed back in April, implementation is in the upcoming November)

- 4 out of 5 analysts picked Nexon to be the most negatively impacted company



-----



Personal opinion: I don't agree with this regulation. Do the politicians and advocacy groups in favour of this actually believe this will solve youth internet addiction problems? Kids will steal their parents' ID's to register as adults for many games (as they already do in Korea). For those that don't/can't, they will do their share of playing before midnight. This is just going to raise more anger and opposition among all gamers in Korea. For eSports, well, this is a major step backwards, as all teams may be required to put their players to sleep at midnight (but they won't anyways and let their players practice on LAN). It's not really the Battle.net shutdown that hurts the players, it's the fact that a law will be in place that is fundamentally hostile towards gaming.



As for Blizzard, with the clarification link, they will probably revert their statement if they are not required to shut down under the Shutdown Regulation. Who knows though, it's not fully defined yet, and we'll know for sure when it's made official on November 20th. As far as I can observe, Blizzard is "preparing" to shut down if necessary, but they won't if they don't have to.



Blah. Well, let's not try to make this into a flame war, I'm depressed enough already. I will update the OP periodically as I find newer sources of information, this seems to be on-going and I think more article will pop up. Rob Bridenbecker, Vice President of Online Technologies at Blizzard, stated that Battle.net will be shut down [in Korea] nightly in order to comply with the new Shutdown Regulation. [During the hours of 12:00AM to 6:00AM, all Battle.net services will be shut down in Korea.]As a result, all users including adults will not be able to play popular Blizzard games such as Starcraft, Diablo 2, and Warcraft 3. These games use Battle.net which was first developed 10 years ago, and did not implement personal identification for user sign-ups - which means that the user's age cannot be identified. Blizzard, in order to fully comply with the Shutdown Regulation, will shut down Battle.net every night in Korea.In an interview held on October 21st at the Blizzcon site, VP Rob Bridenbecker said that "to comply with the new Shutdown Regulation set to be in effect starting next month, there is no choice for us but to shut down the old Battle.net [in Korea] during the night." He added that "although it is unfortunate, we will have to use IP blocking or similar measures to block Korean users from using Battle.net during that time."The "Shutdown Regulation" is a new regulation that was proposed by the Family Women's Council [T/N: the literal translation would be Female Family Group, but whatever] that will ban youths under 16 years old from playing online games during the night hours of 12:00AM to 6:00AM. The old Battle.net allows anybody to sign-up as a member with just a username and an email address. That email address is not verified by Battle.net. Therefore, it is impossible to find whether a specific user on Battle.net falls under the Shutdown Regulation.Blizzard does not plan on putting forth resources to upgrade the old Battle.net. VP Bridenbecker said that "we're running short on resources for research and development on our newer titles. We cannot invest any more resources for the old Battle.net only for the sake of Korean gamers, and even if we wanted to, we simply don't have the manpower for such a thing right now."If the above are to be implemented as stated, the impact in the Korean gaming market is estimated to be devastating. PC Cafe's will take a direct hit, and the eSports scene will feel the impact as well.VP Bridenbecker closed with his opinions that "this is an unfortunate but necessary decision," and that "it is deeply regrettable that because of the Shutdown Regulation, even adults will not be able to enjoy [Blizzard's] popular games during the night."-----Clarification: this does NOT affect Battle.net 2.0 (for WoW and SC2) if the user is 16 years or older. In other words, if you're 16 years or older (and verified so), you will not be affected by this new regulation. However, if you are less than 16 years old, you may not be able to log into WoW or SC2 from Korea from 12:00AM to 6:00AM (local time) starting November 20th, 2011.Additional information:- Basically says the same thing as the translated article.- Specifically mentions that Blizzard's games will fall under the category of "addicting games" and will therefore be affected by the new regulation- Online gaming companies are confused as to how to react to this Shutdown Regulation- No specific standards or definitions set out yet (ex: what is "online/addicting game"?)- Shutdown Regulation to be in effect as a part of the new amendments to the Youth Protection Act on November 20, 2011- Some gaming companies already preparing to appeal- Members of the Legislature express their opinions on the Shutdown Regulation on the 29th [of September]- Some are for, some are against (as it is in every government)- for now, all games that can be installed from CDs are exempted from the Shutdown Regulation- some notable titles included and to be under effect: MapleStory, DFO, Lineage 1 and 2, Aion, Dragon Nest, DBZ Online, Atlantica, Aika Online, Hellgate London, Mabinogi, Legend of Mir 2. GG NEXON LOL- netizens sneering at how government is too scared to mess with foreign companies- Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism estimates that the Shutdown Regulation will incur approximately 300 million Wons (approximately 28 million USD) as direct costs for system construction and implementation.- Youths can still play online games on foreign servers- Minister Lee recommends that the above regulation be excluded from the upcoming amendments to the Youth Protection Act- Minister Lee comments that it will be more efficient to launch programs/projects to guide youths into spending their time responsibly and wisely- Companies preparing for this by updating their systems/servers- Users under 16 years old will be given a warning message before midnight and forcibly disconnected at midnight (and blocked from re-logging until 6:00AM)- Still unclear how to deal with pay-to-play systems, as some users have already paid for fees without time limitations- 5 analysts specializing in the gaming industry interviewed- most major companies will not take a major hit, as the stocks already reflect the effects (the regulation passed back in April, implementation is in the upcoming November)- 4 out of 5 analysts picked Nexon to be the most negatively impacted company-----Personal opinion: I don't agree with this regulation. Do the politicians and advocacy groups in favour of this actually believe this will solve youth internet addiction problems? Kids will steal their parents' ID's to register as adults for many games (as they already do in Korea). For those that don't/can't, they will do their share of playing before midnight. This is just going to raise more anger and opposition among all gamers in Korea. For eSports, well, this is a major step backwards, as all teams may be required to put their players to sleep at midnight (but they won't anyways and let their players practice on LAN). It's not really the Battle.net shutdown that hurts the players, it's the fact that a law will be in place that is fundamentally hostile towards gaming.As for Blizzard, with the clarification link, they will probably revert their statement if they are not required to shut down under the Shutdown Regulation. Who knows though, it's not fully defined yet, and we'll know for sure when it's made official on November 20th. As far as I can observe, Blizzard is "preparing" to shut down if necessary, but they won't if they don't have to.Blah. Well, let's not try to make this into a flame war, I'm depressed enough already. I will update the OP periodically as I find newer sources of information, this seems to be on-going and I think more article will pop up. [TLMS] REBOOT