Have you ever directly experienced the impact of online game addiction? And if the online game addict is a member of your family, how could you solve this problem?
A boy was sent from Bangkok's Prawet district to live upcountry because he was severely addicted to online games. Golf (not his real name) even stole money from his parents to visit an Internet cafe where he usually played such games. He spent some of the stolen money paying for his friends, who were also online game addicts.
He became an online game addict when he was only 11 years old and studied at a school in the district.
Wan, 23, a distant relative and her parents who took care of Golf in Bangkok, said she flogged him when she came to know about Golf's addiction to online games.
But punishment could not stop him. He still sneaked away from home to play the games.
Eventually, she said her parents cracked down on his addiction by sending him to live in Nakhon Ratchasima in an area without Internet cafes. It proved to be an effective longterm solution and ended the problem.
They also forced him to change his ways by telling him repeatedly that if he continued to be addicted to online games, nobody would love him, and if he came home late, he would not be allowed to enter the house.
Currently, Golf, now 15, has given up his studies. He lives with his grandma in Nakhon Ratchasima and works in her fruit plantation and raises her animals.
Another game addict died, though his online game addiction was not the main cause. The games he played online led him to become a road racer, and he got killed in an accident, said Sunee, 56 an Internet cafe owner in Bang Na district.
She said the boy's parents flogged him at an Internet cafe, so he stopped playing the games but turned to road racing instead, which proved to be fatal.
As the children's school summer vacation lasts about three months, they have enough free time to spend playing online games, unlike when the school is open.
Tar, 15, said he went to the Internet cafe every day and sometimes spent 24 hours playing online games. His monthly expense on games was Bt2,000Bt3,000.
James, 13, said he usually spent at least 10 hours at an Internet cafe and has done so for the past four years. He said not finding any other interesting activity was the primary reason he was lured by the Net games.
James is another game addict who steals his parents' money and skips classes in order to play games.
"If my parents don't allow me to play the games, I will get angry and destroy things," James added.
But it is not only boys who are becoming game addicts. Nom, an eightyearold girl, accompanies her elder brother to an Internet cafe. She said she sneaked away from home to play online games there every day.
Turk, 10, said what persuaded him to play online games was a feeling of loneliness as no one stayed at home during day time. Therefore, he used online games to entertain himself.
A Nation survey of Internet cafes located in Bang Na district found that they offered attractive promotions in the summer time to lure more child customers, such as playing online games from 10pm7 am for only Bt50 instead of Bt90.
Tum, an Internet cafe owner said his shop had already registered with the Culture Ministry and obeyed its regulations. He did not allow youths aged under 15 to enter his cafe before 2pm.
Sunee, an Internet cafe owner, advised as a mother that parents should allow their children to play games only about 12 hours a day.
It was estimated that in the next two years the average age of online game addicts would decline from 11 years old to 5.59 years old, according to the Thai Health Promotion Foundation's website.
Wallop Tangkananurak said the online gameaddiction problem had become serious.
"Nowadays, online games have become a part of children's lives," he added.
Wallop urged that the ministry's regulations be placed in a prominent place at each Internet cafe, so as to be easily seen and read. People should be given a reward if they informed police about cafes that did not display or follow the regulations.
