South Korea to ban trade of online game items
South Korea has decided to ban trade for commercial game items from the second half of this year, to discourage students from wasting time, according to a report.
In an article Wednesday, The Korea Times noted that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that it planned to halt all virtual item trades with a new law, which would be announced sometime next month.
"The main purpose of the games is for entertainment and should be used for academic and other good purposes," said Kim Kap-soo, head of the ministry's content policy division, according to the news daily.
He added that item collecting for commercial use was a serious hindrance to creating a healthy game culture.
Korea Times noted that for online role-playing games, the law will prohibit users from using programs that allow in-game characters to hunt and collect items on autopilot.
It pointed out that according to the ministry, over 60 percent of items exchanged on the market were estimated to be obtained by the use of automatic programs.
Under the new law, the maximum penalty will be a fine of 50 million won (US$42,848) and five years in jail.