Subliminal Messages against Obsessive Game Play
The Korea Times reports that the Korean venture start-up Xtive has developed an inaudible sound sequence, that is incorporated in games and tells gamers after a certain time to stop playing on their own. The messages are told 10,000 to 20,000 times per second,” Xtive President Yun Yun-hae said. “Game users can’t recognize the sounds. But their subconscious is aware of them and the chances are high they will quit playing. Tests tell us the sounds work.”Â
Korea Times says: “Experts point out roughly 10 to 20 percent of high school students can be categorized as Web junkies who need treatment. And many believe that is a conservative perspective.”
Xtive has applied for a patent for the phonogram and wants to use the technology in other sectors, too: “We can easily change the messages. In this sense, the potential for this technology is exponential.”
Many teenagers spend too much time playing computer games, not only in Korea – I have two of these at home… Sound is very powerful and is used in spiritual techniques, as you can read in Basics of Spiritual Life on The Power of Sound. However, using subliminal messages to manipulate people, even “for their good” infringes free will – even if the will isn’t that free with game addicts. If people voluntarily submit themselves to these influences, why not. But using them, pre-installed, in games or in other contexts – just imagine shops – is violating our human identity.
