To Boost or not to Boost: South Korea Looking to Make "Game Boosting" Illegal

[Raevenlord]

Game Boosting refers to the practice of gamers to pay other, more skilled players to "boost them up" to higher ranks, mainly in competitive multiplayer games. The practice sometimes takes the form of paid partnership with a team of skilled players (where the player that's receiving the boost is of much lower skill, but gets pulled along with the remaining members of the team's efforts) or by actually giving a player access to your account, to play as if he/her was you, and cashing in on his/her better "skillz". This practice, it goes without saying, goes against the competitive nature of certain games, and if you know your South Koreans, you know they take competitive gaming very, very (really, very) seriously.

This is why the country is seemingly looking to put an "illegal" tag on game boosting, as in, illegal enough to warrant prosecution and an actual sentence to jail (a maximum prison sentence of two years and a fine of 20 million won ($18,000). This isn't something that has been cooked up overnight: an amendment to the "Law on Game Business Development" bill was first proposed earlier this summer, and has now passed the National Assembly Legislation Review Committee, bringing it one step closer to becoming law.



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[Eric3988]

What a load of crap! Who cares if somebody has enough money to boost? It's bad form, but what business does the government have in regulating how people play games? It's not hurting anyone and shouldn't be illegal.

 

[_UV_]

What a load of crap! Who cares if somebody has enough money to boost? It's bad form, but what business does the government have in regulating how people play games? It's not hurting anyone and shouldn't be illegal.

They don't care about people, that is a business decision. Unskilled players should pay to game publisher, not to poor neighbors skilled enough to play for them. And unskilled players pay more then twice to get same level in progress compared to "PROs".

If we compare pure skill based games (without grinding), well it must be done in other ways: hardware identification keys (like in software protection), harder networking policy with account freeze (not ban), different leagues without ability to get to them from low skill domain (you may register and try your skill in any and decide where you actually competitive with others).

 

[Bjørgersson]

I will never get the point of being boosted. You're still gonna suck even if you're in higher rank.

 

[_UV_]

I will never get the point of being boosted. You're still gonna suck even if you're in higher rank.

Where 2 forms of boosting: grinding and ranking. And after all of this you gonna suck if it was done not buy you. But, many people want to play in "champions league", computer games make it possible for "cheaters".

Ranking must be harder, you may send your child to a football school, but he will never play in top teams until he really can.

 

[bonehead123]

"sucky is as sucky does"

 

[ReconNyko]

I am South Korean.
A company that mass-produced garbage games in South Korea
Do you want to make the ultimate items with various gambling?
If you have a lot of money, you become the server's best ruler.

Powerful influence of capitalism

NEXON
Link
NC Soft
Link

Link

http://cafe.daum.net/dotax/FGFP/910...%C1%EE%20%BF%C0%BA%EA%20%B4%F5%20%C5%B9%BD%BA


We thought of watching steam games.
" Wow, steam is not a garbage game! "
" Let's go crazy !! This is my skill !! "

And I think and I see other Korean online game users
There is no difference between Chinese and personality.​

 

[windwhirl]

While I'd hate someone beating me in a game because I played with my own skills while my "foe" was boosted, I don't think that could be called illegal. Dishonorable, yes.

 

[Prima.Vera]

This is pathetic either way... That's why I don't play online games anymore. Full of cheaters, hackers, there no longer the "FUN" factor involved.

 

[Eric3988]

They don't care about people, that is a business decision. Unskilled players should pay to game publisher, not to poor neighbors skilled enough to play for them. And unskilled players pay more then twice to get same level in progress compared to "PROs".

If we compare pure skill based games (without grinding), well it must be done in other ways: hardware identification keys (like in software protection), harder networking policy with account freeze (not ban), different leagues without ability to get to them from low skill domain (you may register and try your skill in any and decide where you actually competitive with others).

You make decent points, but you don't address my concern of the government telling people how to play games. If the publisher forbids boosting on their terms of service and bans people that's one thing, but games are one area where the government can't tell me sh!t and I want to keep it that way.

 

[hat]

Boosting is only okay when you pay the publisher for goodies, rather than some dude to rank you up or whatever.

 

[ReconNyko]

And .. when a user receives a beginner bonus
How do control the game balance?
Do you play survival games?

If so, pro is fights the Beginner hacker.
Manipulated skill is include in your skills?

 

[Keullo-e]

I hate if someone even touches my characters/savefiles. Hell, I've even removed all my progress and started over the beginning in few cases.

And someone pays for that, lame.

 

[eidairaman1]

This aint like using aimbots, its Level Grinding, to me which is legitimate

 

[Vayra86]

You make decent points, but you don't address my concern of the government telling people how to play games. If the publisher forbids boosting on their terms of service and bans people that's one thing, but games are one area where the government can't tell me sh!t and I want to keep it that way.

What are you talking about. Ever heard of ESRB and PEGI? Games abide by all sorts of legislation and regulation. And online games that much more, because they're online.

The problem with boosting is that there is a whole business surrounding it and that business also infects the 'fair' playerbase. Not just with the proposition of boosts, but also by destabilizing a community. Its the same mechanism as pay-to-win with lootboxes and boosters: it creates an uneven playing field. In the long run that will go wrong in two ways: players waste money on shady sweat shops where people are 'grinding for money', its a serious industry with very low standards; and the online communities of games tend to break down over time. By making it illegal, the government is giving the publishers more power to fight these things.

Games, like people, need rules and boundaries and the government is the only actor that can set those boundaries. You can see what happens if they don't: power and greed corrupts everything in varying degrees. And the free market has no mechanism to counter that either. You may not like government telling people anything, but the fact remains, everyone benefits from a fair playing field and I think that is exactly what a government should be guarding - not just in gaming but in many things. Along with the fight against lootboxes and the community backlash on pay-to-win, this is another victory for gaming.

 

[Isaac_Clark]

What a load of crap! Who cares if somebody has enough money to boost? It's bad form, but what business does the government have in regulating how people play games? It's not hurting anyone and shouldn't be illegal.

Yeah, and the only difference was that previously, we asked our friends/family members/classmates to help us to pass the level we stuck on in the single-player game. Now, in terms of multiplayer -- some people may consider this as illegal or just as "cheating".

I remember how my friend gave his account in the Arma 2 server with 2+ million of humanity so that the friend would receive access to cool weapon loadouts. Or how I have obtained some mounts in bfa for my girlfriend so she would not spend a lot of time on farming/grinding and doing quests, but could play on her own. And then give some of "special" attention to mee too.

Everything depends on the point of view I would say.

 

[Cheese_On_tsaot]

I agree to it becoming law, it should everywhere. But lets not punish them as bad as the actual cheating scum.
Hard times create stronger people, toughen up little soldier.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Wow are they extraditing teen Brits yet, write better net code FFS, I mean this is absolutely going to go wrong for a few people running afterburner or some such while gaming etc, ball's, and I never cheat btw.

 

[Isaac_Clark]

Wow are they extraditing teen Brits yet, write better net code FFS, I mean this is absolutely going to go wrong for a few people running afterburner or some such while gaming etc, ball's, and I never cheat btw.

It's cool, that you have never cheated :3

Personally, I've cheated only in minecraft