In Ulaanbaatar, most centers are licensed to open from 9am-10pm, but most work all night. There is no enforcement of the license hours, which many game-center owners treat like a normal occurrence.

“We don’t push the children to play,” said Sh. Gankhuu, who owns a games center in Bayanzurkh district. “They want to play it themselves. Almost all game centers work all night. Who would give it up when people want to give us money? No one knows that we’re working all night.”

A. Naiman, a Khaan-Uul game center owner, agreed: “Few game centers have got a license to work all night, but all PC centers work in the nights. It’s not that big a thing. There aren’t any children who are playing too much. Not here.”

Department of Professional Inspection auditor J. Tserenjamts said there were about 300 computer-game centers in Ulaanbaatar.

“Maybe some of them are not working now. But about 300 PC game centers have got a license.”

He said auditors needed information about the games centers.

“We need more information from the citizens. If some one knows about a PC game center that is operating working illegally, give the information to us.”

A look at five game centers in different districts around Ulaanbaatar last week revealed many similarities between them: each had from eight to 12 computers, the rooms were very small, there was no air-conditioning, and there was little available light. Two didn’t have a toilet.

Each night, the centers were filled with children aged from 10-18, who, given the speed and skill at which they played, were obviously experienced gamers.

The gaming center owners know the children, who spend most of their time there. Some let the children run up playing debts if they have no money with which to play. Others get money from their parents.

“My Mom and Dad give me money to buy food at school. I collect it and then I play all night in a game center. I tell them that I’m with my friend at his home,“ said B. Nomun, 11, a student in the fourth grade at school Number 60.

It was 9.20pm and his parents didn’t know he was at the game center.

“I’ll stay here tonight,” he said.

Nomun is just one of many children filling Ulaanbaatar’s computer game centers. The younger ones said they played before and after school.

“Sometimes, when I stay overnight in the game center, I miss class. It’s very nice to go school in the afternoon; when that happens we can play and go to school,” said G. Badruugan, 10, a third-grade student at school Number 52.

School Number 52 social worker and math teacher N. Nandinbinderya said that children who played computer games often saw their school results suffer.

“If the parents don’t know that their children are playing, the pupil becomes bad at their lessons. The students who are especially bad at their lessons always play computer games,” she said.

School marks aren’t the only thing to suffer with computer-game addiction. The most damaging effect can be on children’s psychological health.

Two years ago, game-addicted children were regularly admitted to Shar Khad psychiatric hospital. Although that number had fallen in the past year, Shar Khad physician Dr L. Tumurkhuu said children were still experiencing behavioral changes as a result of games addiction.

“When the computer game called ‘Counterstrike’ was new, many children became hooked on it, but nowadays we aren’t seeing many addicted children. Sometimes parents come to us with their children to find out how to change their child’s character back to the way it was. In the first stage of addiction, a child becomes tempestuous. If children play a long time, they do change.”

Shar Khad pediatrician Dr S.Erdnee said that three children were currently in the hospital as a result of games addiction.

“Two years ago, we cured more than 10 children in two weeks. Now there are just three children in hospital.”

Some parents don’t mind their children frequenting computer-games centers.

“We know that our children play all night in a nearby game center,” said S. Damba of Sukhbaatar district and father of a 10-year-old son. “But we don’t think that it’s wrong. It’s encouraging our children not to become street children. There’s no change in my boy’s character.”

Such tacit acceptance is not encouraged by Dr L. Tumurkhuu and N. Nandinbinderya, who urged parents to care more about their game-playing children’s welfare.