As a whole, video games have been causing worry for governments across the world, especially in Asian countries where internet cafes are a much more common sight than they are within these shores. 

While over here, parents may wonder if their children are spending too much time indoors in front of their computers and televisions, Thanh Nien Daily is reporting a more serious situation in Vietnam.

The first scenario is of an internet cafe in Ho Chi Minh City that smells of tobacco and sweat, crowded with mostly teenagers who should be going to school or studying for exams. 

The boys interviewed gave anonymous names, such as "H.", who has a back pack of spare clothes with him and plays more than he sleeps.  When a friend asks him about taking his graduation exams, he jokes that he "want[s] to make good use of this time to earn more money [fake currency used in the game] then sell it for real money," which will pay for the food he needs to energize him while he is studying.

College students are not exempt from this growing trend of video game addiction, with a steady access to the Internet in their dorm rooms.  T. takes advantage of his situation by playing games all night when the Internet is faster due to less traffic, sleeping during the day instead of going to classes and often skipping meals.  In order to pay for his online addiction, he uses money his parents send for tuition and borrows the rest.  Needless to say, his academic progress is gradually failing.

The Vietnamese government has tried to fix the issue with prohibition laws, but we know from experience how well that usually works.  Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications attempts to limit the amount of time gamers can play online by setting a five hour limit on their accounts, which will automatically log out after the limit is up.  It hardly needs to be said that there are ways around this posted all over gaming websites, such as how to restart the account, making the time limit moot.

Now before you start blaming the parents, first realize that this is not the United States, and methods of disciplining a child generally do not consist of sending him to his room or grounding him for a week without privileges. 

The article includes the tale of one couple who has been struggling to control their child for some time, like many parents in the countryside whose children disappear from home for weeks at a time to play games at internet cafes.

Pham Huy Lu laments over his son's addiction and other situations much like theirs, "We’re worried because they cut class, steal money and ignore meals and sleep to play online games.  But we don’t know what to do.  We prohibit game playing and we punish our kids, but it has no effect.”

Pham's son has been kicked out of school, and his parents have caught him stealing rice and helmets to sell for gaming money; Pham still has no idea where his son is.