Korea Blocks Facebook Game Apps

Korea Blocks Facebook Games

The Game Rating Board (게임물등급위원회 Geimmul Deung-Geub-Wiwonhoe) (GRB) has blocked Facebook games in Korea. While I’m not much of a game player, this seems a heavy handed tactic. A game developer must hope through some pretty demanding, Byzantine hoops to get a game evaluated by the reviewers so I wouldn’t anticipate much relief if you live in Korea and enjoy games on Facebook. It is especially vexing as I am not aware of any game apps on Facebook which would be blocked if they were evaluated. What would the rating be for games like Candy Crush? Perhaps Facebook will negotiate to get their games cleared en masse on behalf of the individual developers, or perhaps they will just write Korea off. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

To Facebook’s credit they have been refunding people who live in Korea who spent money in a game, retroactive to 15 July:

We’ve noticed you’ve recently made in-game purchases in Korea. Unfortunately, unrated games are no longer available in Korea. As a result, we’ve refunded all in-game purchases you’ve made since July 15.

Since the refunds will go back to the payment method you used to make your purchases, you won’t need to take any action if you used a credit/debit Card or PayPal.

If you no longer have access to the payment method you used, or if you made your payment using a mobile phone or alternate payment method, please contact us for additional support.

We understand that this is frustrating and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Thanks,

The Facebook Payments Team

From the GRB English website:

GRB has been independently administered for the classification of game contents which are manufactured and distributed in Korea. Also, the Rating Board reviews illegally distributed game websites, arcade game machines and gambling games to protect the public from negative influences such as illegal gambling, excessive violence and nudity.

I’m not aware of any Facebook games which contain illegal gambling, excessive violence, or nudity.” Good luck, Korean Netizens – better invest in a good VPN. Of course all this reminds me of the Tipper Gore PMRC debacle the US went through in the 80′s.

Korea Blocks Facebook Game Apps