Soundwaves to Cure Game Addiction?
Korean Company Claims to Have a Healthy Cure for Game Addicts
A new Korean company says they have the solution for online video game addiction: subliminal messages
"It's time to turn off the game, Raiden."
Fans of the Metal Gear Solid series will get the above reference, but a new Korean company says those words, spoken subliminally, will actually work.
According to an article in the Korea Times, Xtive, a start-up in Korea, has managed to create acoustic sound waves that tell the player it's time to stop playing between 10,000 and 20,000 times per second.
In theory, subliminal messages cannot be picked up by the conscious mind but the subconscious reacts to them.
"Game users can’t recognize the sounds. But their subconscious is aware of them and the chances are high they will quit playing," Xtive president Yun Yun-hae told the newspaper.
Video game addiction is a severe problem in South Korea, which climaxed in 2005 when a 28-year-old man was found dead in an internet cafe.
He'd been playing Starcraft for 50 straight hours with no breaks.
Yun-hae told the Times his company's solution is healthier than "forceful measures," since it gets the gamers to stop playing on their own.
"We think this can make a real difference in the war against obsessive game play,’’ he told the paper.
He plans to work with the government and game developers to implement the system.
However, it could hit a few snags. First of all, subliminal messages are banned in most countries to avoid abuse.
Second of all, there's a the question as whether or not it works.
The article makes no mention of live tests and many skeptics claim subliminal messages don't work.
In fact, there are no conclusive studies that show its effectiveness.
Xtive started-up in 2005 and has applied for a domestic patent on their system.
Video game addiction has been receiving a lot of attention as of late, especially since a clinic that provides more conventional therapy for game addicts opened in Amsterdam.
