The New York Times has a nice presentation on their website about gaming in South Korea narrated by the NYT's World of Warcraft-loving Seth Schiesel, who while reporting on what he saw manages to plug the upcoming Burning Crusade expansion by dropping in a picture of a Blood Elf. The piece does a fantastic job in giving a Cliff's Notes version of gaming culture in South Korea.An interesting statistic is that Korea has 25.4 broadband subscriptions per 100 residents, the only country with more is Iceland at 26.7. So, why doesn't Iceland have major video game championships? The NYT explains Korean parents actually encourage their children to game as an outlet for the society's emphasis on education. Park Youngmok, Blizzard's Korean communications director says, "In Korea it's all study, study, study, learn, learn, learn."
(Page 1) Reader Comments
Even the small about the country being damn near anti-console is true.
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But, we do have a LAN party regularly which is called Skjálfti, or quake. There we have a little tourney in some games like CS;S, BF2 and some more. But, it´s nothing big.
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I just returned from studying abroad in Seoul and I noticed that there are PC Bangs (Bang is room in Korean) everywhere! At Co-EX Mall in Samseong Station there is actually a TV studio where they air LIVE gaming sessions on television!! It's crazy! However, the craziest story I've ever heard is a kid playing a game for 4 straight days and dieing from not eating and drinking. Now that's HARDCORE!
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They do, with the exception of power required for essential services. Apparently lighting doesn't fall under that category.
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Yeah it's very sad. When you think about it, there's no real reason for it to be that way. (Yeah I know Kim Chong-il a big one) But really, look at the south and what they are today.
The entire region has so much potential.
It's just sad...
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