I mean, seriously, these couple of little brats running around this internet cafe are really, really annoying me. :fume: Playing online games and chattering like little monkeys LOUDLY. It’s in the middle of the afternoon and they look like they’ve been here since the morning - they look about 8 years old, shouldn’t they be in school? This is not an isolated sighting of underage kids in the mornings/afternoons running loose like wild dogs when they should be sitting in the classroom learning. I suppose the authorities just don’t care and won’t enforce the law, or there is no law in Taiwan mandating that kids attend school?
There are laws concerning this issue. I’ve been told internet cafes are not allowed to open within a certain distance from schools. Minors are also not allowed after a certain hour (nine I think. If they are allowed int he places at all). I’m not sure about daytime, but I’ve been in a net cafe at night when a cop has come in (of course home internet has done away with the need to visit such places anymore). The place was just full of kids playing Counterstrike when, suddenly, the place began to clear out in a hurry. A cop had walked in and was standing there, arms folded, watching the kids scramble for the doors. He cornered a couple, asked if their mothers knew they were here and threatened to phone their homes. Quite a sight to see, really.
TS - Ditto. I have internet at home now, but when I didn’t I used to go to the local internet cafe.
Kids used to go ther and play counterstrike and Grand Theft auto.
The police used come in on occaisions and clear the palce out. They would always catch about 5 or 6 and threaten to call their parents. I dont know if they ever did.
For a few days after a bust the internet cafe used to be nice and peaceful. After about a week though they would sneak back in, running around knocking my chair, screaming at the top of thier voices and crowding themselves around the computer next to me causing maximum disturbance.
And smoking. 8 year olds shouldn’t smoke.
They may have such zoning ordinances in Taipei, but not in Tainan. I know of at least one internet cafe, on Changrong Road, directly across the street from a highschool. Kids pour in there all through the afternoon, coming directly from school.
But back to the original question. I’ve been sitting here for over an hour by now and these kids are still here, at 1:30 P.M., wasting their entire afternoon playing video games. There are about six underage kids now.
[quote=“mod lang”]I mean, seriously, these couple of little brats running around this internet cafe are really, really annoying me. :fume: Playing online games and chattering like little monkeys LOUDLY. It’s in the middle of the afternoon and they look like they’ve been here since the morning - they look about 8 years old, shouldn’t they be in school? This is not an isolated sighting of underage kids in the mornings/afternoons running loose like wild dogs when they should be sitting in the classroom learning. I suppose the authorities just don’t care and won’t enforce the law, or there is no law in Taiwan mandating that kids attend school?
…But back to the original question. I’ve been sitting here for over an hour by now and these kids are still here, at 1:30 P.M., wasting their entire afternoon playing video games. There are about six underage kids now.
[/quote]
As usual we look for legislation to enforce good parenting…the real question is - where are the parents? 
dangermouse
How do you know they are 8? Most 21 year olds I’ve seen look 12. 
wow - brings back the days spent in the arcade 500 meters from my senior high in vancouver … only the cops rarely (never) visited, we had the pleasure of the vice-principal coming up behind us in the middle of an epic street fighter battle and ending it prematurely. the money spent, the trouble later, but it was all better than sitting through some horrible physics lesson. and now a teacher … although i think students can relate a little when you tell them that education isn’t the “end all be all” of existence that it is made out to be here - life is more than a textbook, it’s also running from the vp with your best friends. 
the really smart guy was the one who opened another arcade down the road … needed to drive there - the vp never made it that far 
I believe mandatory education is junior high in Taiwan, could have changed by now. But in Taipei with night classes for highschoolers and trade school students. Kind of hard to crack down unless they are obviously 12 or something.
Well, I’m just glad somebody gets to run free for a while.