South Korea Makes The Creation And Distribution Of Game Hacks Illegal

The parliament over in South Korea has amended a game industry law that makes the creation and distribution of gaming hacks illegal, according to PVPLive. The amendment is a little more general: anything that violates a game's Terms of Service is illegal.

My first reaction was to laugh. Maybe we should throw people who cheat at Checkers in jail too? My brother should be serving a life sentence for the shenanigans he pulled.

What' the punishment? Apparently either a fine of $43,000 or up to 5 years in jail. Seems pretty harsh to me.

I can't read Korean—if you can take a look below and let me know if we're wrong about this one—but I wonder just how slippery this slope could be. Terms of Service can be pretty vague sometimes: Is South Korea's SWAT going to bust through someone's windows and put an M4 to back of a greasy neck for running a private Ragnarok Online server? Will someone be sharing a jail cell with a homicidal maniac named Big Teddy because they used DPS charts in Final Fantasy XIV?

Unless you're in South Korea I wouldn't be too worried. This isn't setting a precedent for other countries. But you can guarantee we'll be talking at length about the ruling in the MMOs.com podcast, so stay tuned.