Vietnamese Gov't Puts Curfew On Online Gaming

Starting March 3, gamers in Vietnam might be forced to get a bit more sleep -- a government ministry has asked internet service providers to block access to all online games between the hours of 10 PM and 8 AM. According to a report in Viet Nam News, the Ministry of Information and Communication is concerned about the impact of online activity on the nation, particularly when it comes to young people and online games. The government group will be monitoring online game activities during the prohibited hours and could cancel services that allow people to play, according to the ministry's Deputy Minister, Le Nam Thang. Service providers argue that the access block is unfair to their customers who've paid for access to entertainment, and also have argued that it makes the maintenance of online games more difficult for the region's operators. The report pegs Vietnam's number of internet users at about 23 million, or 23 percent of the total population. Southeast Asia in general is a hotbed for MMO growth; Pearl Research has projected that the Vietnamese and Indian online gaming populations together will reach 25 million by 2014. Research firm Niko Partners also recently forecast that Southeast Asia's online games market revenues could more than double from an estimated $405.7 million in 2010 to $833.7 million by 2014.