Why Are Video Games So Popular In South Korea?

Well there’s several reasons. I mean, we know video games/online gaming culture is huge right now and not likely to stop anytime soon. The industry is only growing upward and outward.

But why is it particularly popular in South Korea? How popular is gaming there?

I have friends who used to play World of Warcraft. It’s an MMORG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game). That basically means, and I mean very basically, it’s a game that is played online where you interact with other players and the immersive environment. As you complete missions or quests, you “level up.” Well, they used to joke that they would hire a kid in South Korea to level for them while they went to work or school during the day.

That should indicate to you the notoriety of South Korean gamers. It’s so popular there that it’s become a stereotype!

It’s even where the World Cyber Games originated. It now travels around the world (although it did stop altogether for a few years). The WCG gets a massive turnout and the prize money has always been in the six figures.

So how and why did it get that way?

Internet Speed

South Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world, if not the most wired. Their broadband internet access is widespread and extremely fast. It’s so fast that in previous World Cyber Games and other championships where non-South Korean gamers lost against South Korean gamers, they blamed ping rate (basically, internet speed). South Korean gamers trained using a faster internet and therefore were used to making more moves within the game than those gamers who had trained using slower internet connections.

This might not be making sense if you aren’t into video games whatsoever. So here’s how I think of it….Let’s say you grew up learning how to drive using highways. Then there’s this other person who learned how to drive using residential streets. Now, let’s say you and that other person drive on the German autobahn. Well, the autobahn is infamous for drivers going at ridiculously high speeds because there’s no speed limits. You, as the person who learned how to deal with lots of sensory input from driving on highways probably have a much fast reaction time than the person who has only driven on residential streets. And thus, you would likely handle driving on the autobahn better.

It’s the same with internet speed. Someone who is used to a fast internet connection has been conditioned to react to what’s going on in the game better than the person who had, albeit only slightly, a slower internet connection.

Sense of Community

There’s a camaraderie among gamers because it’s a common language. It’s like talking about any other interest, whether it’s sports or shopping.

But it goes deeper than that because video games themselves are another world. Yes there are those games that are highly immersive like World of Warcraft. However, I’m referring more to it as an alter ego.

No matter where you are in the world, you may be surrounded by non-gamers whom you cannot relate to, but you can get online and there’s a massive community of people with your shared interest.

But imagine if you lived in a country where you were actually surrounded by that massive community of people in real life and not just online? That’s what I’m referring to.

You get to play with this community online but then they continue to be your buddies offline as well. You go to school or work with the same people and get to talk strategy about how to beat this boss, how do get the best gear, etc.

Here in the States you’d still get made fun of by the majority of your friends, especially if you’re an adult, if you talked about your video gaming hobby. But not so in South Korea.

Last time I heard, around 30% of South Koreans were registered for online gaming! (Apparently, you have to register there.) Talk about a big community!

In Hopes of Going Pro

I mentioned earlier how the World Cyber Games were started in South Korea. Well, gaming was and is so popular there that they churn out professional gamers who make six figures a year from sponsorships and winnings. Yeah, that’s right….They earn that much from playing a game!

They even have camps where players live in dormitories and train to become pro gamers. This is the world of eSports!

I don’t know what I would do if my kid came to me one day and said “I’m going to South Korea to become a pro gamer!” How do handle that??

But there are people who have gone to do just that. And they’re just teenagers to boot! Because twenty somethings and older are considered over the hill in the gaming world! So it is that the life span of a career as a pro gamer is quite short. Younger upstarts usurp crowns and games change.

It’s an Addiction

Unfortunately, there’s an ugly side to gaming as well. I mean besides not getting enough sunlight and eating too much junk food. 😆

Back in 2005, a 28 year old man died in a PC bang after having played a marathon session spanning days. He had been fired from his job for not showing up due to his gaming addiction. (I have no idea what game he was playing but it was probably Starcraft. That was all the rage at the time.)

A PC bang is a PC room, aka internet cafe but less cafe like and more computer cubicle. It’s dirt cheap to play for an hour and they sell snacks, instant noodles, and canned coffee to fuel gamers. These PC rooms have become the new arcades.

The South Korean government thought that it was such a problem with their youth that they instituted a “Cinderella” law in 2011. It doesn’t allow children under 16 to play between midnight and 6AM. Although they can get their parents permission to play during those hours. And this is only for online gaming. If they have console games at home, they can play that all they want or are allowed to by their parent or guardian.

Although video games are rather addictive anywhere in the world, given the culture and large gaming community in South Korea, it seems much more prevalent there.

As someone who has dabbled in a video game here and there, I totally get it. If I had had a bunch of friend and better eye-hand coordination, I probably would’ve played Mario Bros. for more than a month! 😂

How about you? What games are you or your kids in to? Share in the comments!