South Korean Man Sentenced For Refusing Military Service, In Part Because He Plays PUBG

Culture

from the virtually-insane dept

Well, this is a new one for me. In all the stories we’ve done over the years on concerns over real life violence and violent video games, one point we’ve made over and over again is that people certainly can tell the difference between video games and real life. I, for one, abhor guns in real life. I also very much enjoy playing games in which I wield some of most vicious firearms known to virtual mankind as I save the day or some such nonsense. Those two stances are not remotely in conflict with one another, as should be obvious.

And, yet, in South Korea, one man has been sentenced to prison for refusing mandatory military service as a conscientious objector. Why? Well, part of the reason as outlined by the Supreme Court’s ruling is that he never really evangelized those beliefs anywhere, or joined pro-peace or non-violence organizations. And, hey, maybe some of that is valid, depending on how you feel about conscientious objectors generally. But what most certainly is not valid is that part of the logic behind the sentence rests on the fact that this man also played PUBG: Battlegrounds, a game about war.

“The defendant admitted that he frequently enjoyed playing the game ‘Battlegrounds,’ which is about killing characters with guns in a virtual reality,” the court added. “The video game is different from reality. But the fact that the defendant — who says he is rejecting military service based on his beliefs to oppose violence and war — enjoys such game makes the court question whether his conscientious objection is authentic.”

Try to map this reality anywhere else in the video game world and you will quickly see just how idiotic it is. I am terrified of space and would never get on a space ship. There’s simply too many ways to die out there. I also play Mass Effect and Starfield. How am I able to pull off such a complicated pretzel of logic? Well, it turns out that I can’t die in real life by playing those games. I don’t hate turtles. In fact, I quite like them. But I will stomp the shit out of every koopa troopa I meet in the Mario Bros. games I play with my children?

Is all of this hypocrisy? Only if you don’t understand either the meaning of that word or lack some understanding about the difference between entertainment and real life. And, yet…

The Supreme Court recently confirmed a sentence of one year and six months in prison for a South Korean man who refused his mandatory military service, after the court dismissed his claims of “being against all war and violence,” partly based on his avid playing of the battle royale game “PUBG: Battlegrounds.”

A year and a half in prison in part because someone likes to play video games in which war happens? It doesn’t seem like much can be done here, given that this is coming from South Korea’s Supreme Court, but it would at least be nice to see PUBG Studios come out with a statement criticizing this ruling.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have aliens I have lay down in front of because I don’t like real life violence.

Filed Under: conscientious objector, military service, pubg: battlegrounds, south korea, video games, violence