November 18th, 2007

Internet Rescue Camp – game addiction clinic

Game addiction has become a serious issue over the past few years and no people on earth are more serious about gaming than the Koreans. New York Times delivers a story about a Korean compound which is part boot camp and part rehabilitation center for teenagers with a gaming problem. Drill instructors push the lot through obstacle courses pretty much like the army does, counselors lead group sessions, and there are even therapeutic workshops on pottery and drumming. Concerned with the mental and physical safety of their offspring, parents send them here to spend some time out of the online based world.

Completing a three year government-financed survey, psychiatrists believe that up to 30% of South Korean youth are at risk of internet addiction. These particular teenagers spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting, but numbers ramp up in a quarter of all cases, showing signs of actual addiction. Symptoms show the inability to stop oneself from using computers due to the rising levels of tolerance. In order to get the same pleasure from daily gaming, they seek longer sessions online while ignoring sleep, normal eating habits and a healthy social life. When prevented to log in, anger and craving become withdrawal symptoms.

In addition to treatment programs in over 100 hospitals, the South Korean government built a network of 140 Internet-addiction counseling centers, and recently this initiated the Internet Rescue camp which started this summer. Teenagers rarely come here by their own accord, but most of them firmly believe that spending up to 18 hours online is the norm.

Compulsive Internet use has been identified as a mental health issue in other countries too. It has been a standard procedure for professional gamers throughout the world to exercise trips or even move to South Korea just to experience another level of gaming in their own right. The scene has grown to the point where most US or European players don’t even begin to understand its proportions. The combination of high stake contests, LAN meetings and the national gaming hype is heavily supported by dedicated media channels like several gaming TV stations that broadcast and comment series from various professional gaming leagues.