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HBO documentary on gaming addiction, Love Child, airs tonight
HBO takes a sobering look at the consequences of gaming addiction tonight with the premiere of Love Child, a documentary film that explores the tragic circumstances behind the death of an infant girl as her parents battled MMORPG addiction. The death of three-month old Sarang ("Love" in Korean) made national headlines when it was revealed that her malnutrition was a direct result of her parents' gaming habits. Sarang's parents, living in poverty, spent the majority of their waking hours gold farming in the now-shuttered MMORPG Prius Online as their primary source of income, caring for in-game children while their own daughter starved. Love Child speaks to detectives, game developers, and psychiatrists for their perspective on gaming addiction in South Korea and worldwide. The Sundance-featured documentary makes its HBO debut tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST. [Image: HBO / Love Child]
Gaming addiction documentary 'Love Child' premieres at Sundance
The ongoing Sundance Film Festival recently saw the debut of Love Child, a film that explores South Korea's prominent, widespread online culture and the aftereffects of what can happen when gaming addiction causes irreparable harm. In 2010 South Korean gamers Kim Yoo-chul and Choi Mi-sun were partially absolved of blame in the starving death of their infant daughter due to a court's ruling that both were intractably addicted to an online roleplaying game called "Prius." Documentarian Valerie Veatch traveled to South Korea to examine the couple's story following the incident, and discovered that while the two parents have seemingly recovered - they no longer play games and are now raising two additional children - South Korea maintains a deep, cultural fascination with online gaming. "Korean culture is all about collective organization in groups, and online gaming is the best example of such group activities," the film's producer, Dong Hyun Kim, told IndieWire. "Most people prefer playing online games with their existing real-world friends in PC bangs." "The gaming industry has such a complex economy and is based on this immersion," stated Veatch. "We're not trying to induce fear, but we're trying to open up a conversation. The Korean government itself isn't hoping to be a killjoy. They, amongst others, realize that we do need to think about these issues."
