South Korea and Online Gaming
South Korea has arguably been the market that all massively multiplayer online (MMO) publishers want to crack, with dominance in many online gaming tournaments. In a country where the population is roughly 49 million, roughly 1 in 20 have played MMO games. This is a proportion that Western countries in particular cannot match at all. Video game competitions - especially those made by the gaming company Blizzard (most famously StarCraft) - air on multiple cabel channels and draw audiences that can pack stadiums while "e-sports" announcers call the action. Fan clubs for the top StarCraft players have hundreds of thousands of members. How did this all happen?
Well, this is certainly interesting for a political science/history junkie, and perhaps even the average gamer as well. Looking back at history, several cultural and economic factors helped establish Korea's current position. As of 2007, the country has the highest population of PC gamers in the world, and is the gaming platform of choice, much more so than consoles. In part, this was because animosity towards Japan after World War II led to a long lasting post-war embargo on Japanese goods. Because of this, the major Japanese gaming companies (Sega, Nintendo, Sony) of the 80s and 90s were unable to penetrate the market. Instead of growing up playing with the Nintendo, Koreans were playing computer games with a keyboard instead.
In addition, economic factors cannot be overlooked. The East Asian Financial Crisis hit Korea very hard, perhaps even more so than Japan and Taiwan. Government policies aimed at economic recovery included installing high-speed broadband Internet access to almost every building in the country. Because South Korea is a relatively small country with a densely packed population, this happened relatively quickly. The capital city of Seoul has nearly 100% broadband access. Many who lost their jobs during the economic crisis began to start small businesses called PC Baangs (pronounced "bong") - perhaps more commonly known to the rest of the world as internet cafes which are fairly common in several East Asian countries. During high school, a weekly trip down the mountain to the local internet cafe for a afternoon of gaming was a strong tradition.
Generally, most East Asian homes are relatively small and crowded - Korean apartments are no exception. When computers were still expensive or otherwise inconvenient to have at home, a internet cafe offers a much more convenient choice. In addition, South Koreans rarely purchase games. Korea has more than 200,000 online games, many developed indigenously. Stores like GameStop or EBGames are still comparatively hard to find. Users simply go to the Baangs, whose owners have the most popular games installed.
StarCraft: Korea's National Sport?
Some self-proclaimed RTS experts have been decrying news releases regarding new units in StarCraft 2, complaining how a lot of it just seems to be the same as StarCraft, without innovation, just in 3D. In Blizzard's defense, they have to consider the Korean market, and for good reason. StarCraft was released in 1998, at the perfect time. South Korea had just recovered from its economic recession, and it was attracting customers to internet cafes. Even though the game is now nearly 10 years old, it's still the most-played online competitive game in Korea. The fact that most games don't last more than 30 minutes also makes it convenient for TV. Professional StarCraft gamers attract lucrative contracts and endorsements from major companies such as Samsung. Even the South Korean Air Force has its own team, composed of former progamers.
On the other hand, some games don't work in Korea. Strict government censorship laws made Grand Theft Auto illegal. Because of the many restrictions, most companies simply give up on trying to break into the online gaming scene, save for Blizzard, NCsoft, and Webzen. (The latter two are Korean companies) Games like Half-Life 2 which sold record amounts of copies in the West only sold an average amount in Korea. Unlike in Taiwan, Counter-Strike had a hard time getting into internet cafes, so few Koreans excel at playing it. (In contrast, Koreans dominate the World Cyber Games in StarCraft)
Taiwan is in a somewhat similar situation, though obviously not as extreme. From what I've read, internet cafes in Korea are fairly similar to those in Taiwan. Oftentimes there's always the tint of cigarette smoke, with rows of PCs in a room, and several refrigerators filled with cheap drinks, some shelves of junk food, and a bored teenaged kid sitting at the front desk. It seems that more and more kids are playing games at home though, now that computers and broadband internet connections are getting faster and cheaper. From a nostalgic perspective, I would hate to see internet cafes go completely out of fashion.
Well, this is certainly interesting for a political science/history junkie, and perhaps even the average gamer as well. Looking back at history, several cultural and economic factors helped establish Korea's current position. As of 2007, the country has the highest population of PC gamers in the world, and is the gaming platform of choice, much more so than consoles. In part, this was because animosity towards Japan after World War II led to a long lasting post-war embargo on Japanese goods. Because of this, the major Japanese gaming companies (Sega, Nintendo, Sony) of the 80s and 90s were unable to penetrate the market. Instead of growing up playing with the Nintendo, Koreans were playing computer games with a keyboard instead.
In addition, economic factors cannot be overlooked. The East Asian Financial Crisis hit Korea very hard, perhaps even more so than Japan and Taiwan. Government policies aimed at economic recovery included installing high-speed broadband Internet access to almost every building in the country. Because South Korea is a relatively small country with a densely packed population, this happened relatively quickly. The capital city of Seoul has nearly 100% broadband access. Many who lost their jobs during the economic crisis began to start small businesses called PC Baangs (pronounced "bong") - perhaps more commonly known to the rest of the world as internet cafes which are fairly common in several East Asian countries. During high school, a weekly trip down the mountain to the local internet cafe for a afternoon of gaming was a strong tradition.
Generally, most East Asian homes are relatively small and crowded - Korean apartments are no exception. When computers were still expensive or otherwise inconvenient to have at home, a internet cafe offers a much more convenient choice. In addition, South Koreans rarely purchase games. Korea has more than 200,000 online games, many developed indigenously. Stores like GameStop or EBGames are still comparatively hard to find. Users simply go to the Baangs, whose owners have the most popular games installed.
StarCraft: Korea's National Sport?
Some self-proclaimed RTS experts have been decrying news releases regarding new units in StarCraft 2, complaining how a lot of it just seems to be the same as StarCraft, without innovation, just in 3D. In Blizzard's defense, they have to consider the Korean market, and for good reason. StarCraft was released in 1998, at the perfect time. South Korea had just recovered from its economic recession, and it was attracting customers to internet cafes. Even though the game is now nearly 10 years old, it's still the most-played online competitive game in Korea. The fact that most games don't last more than 30 minutes also makes it convenient for TV. Professional StarCraft gamers attract lucrative contracts and endorsements from major companies such as Samsung. Even the South Korean Air Force has its own team, composed of former progamers.
On the other hand, some games don't work in Korea. Strict government censorship laws made Grand Theft Auto illegal. Because of the many restrictions, most companies simply give up on trying to break into the online gaming scene, save for Blizzard, NCsoft, and Webzen. (The latter two are Korean companies) Games like Half-Life 2 which sold record amounts of copies in the West only sold an average amount in Korea. Unlike in Taiwan, Counter-Strike had a hard time getting into internet cafes, so few Koreans excel at playing it. (In contrast, Koreans dominate the World Cyber Games in StarCraft)
Taiwan is in a somewhat similar situation, though obviously not as extreme. From what I've read, internet cafes in Korea are fairly similar to those in Taiwan. Oftentimes there's always the tint of cigarette smoke, with rows of PCs in a room, and several refrigerators filled with cheap drinks, some shelves of junk food, and a bored teenaged kid sitting at the front desk. It seems that more and more kids are playing games at home though, now that computers and broadband internet connections are getting faster and cheaper. From a nostalgic perspective, I would hate to see internet cafes go completely out of fashion.
would you mind updating your blog with extra information? It is extremely helpful for me.
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Hi John! Is there anything specific you're interested in? I basically stopped following E-Sports after Brood War, but I imagine the dynamics of progaming are completely different than they were when I was first writing. It's now a global theme, but also strongly affected by the mobile gaming world as well! I just don't really know enough to comment about it yet!
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