StarCraft in South Korea

"Professional gaming in South Korea is an example of how e-sports can attain a social status

similar to physical sports"

The fame of StarCraft online games in South Korea shows how online games can effect the real lives and in South Korea, there are many proffessional online-gamers

who are treated as celebrity often appear on news and reports. I am also from South Korea but at first I couldnt understand the fact that such a childish game can be treated as 'culture' and the proffessional gamers? >.< and quite often people die in internet cafes, playing online-games day and night due to not sleeping or eating properly.

There are so many internet clubs and cafes and StarCraft syndrom created so many new jobs. There is a special television cable channels on StarCraft mania who enjoys the live competition between the proffessional gamers.

There are people doubt about how long the StarCraft will last in this fast growing game industry, yet the realease of StarCraft 2 and the clip which Kevin showed us how the StarCraft manias went mad with the new graphics and structures of the game.

The seemingly overnight emergence of online gaming serves as a successful case study in South Korea's drive to strengthen its flagging economy with new technologies. An unprecedented program to build a national broadband network has provided the fast Internet connections required for online gaming to thrive. The digital pastime has, in turn, created new businesses looking to meet the demand for more products.
More than 28,000 gaming parlors operate throughout the country, according to various estimates--one for every 1,700 residents. Three cable TV channels are dedicated exclusively to covering tournaments and how-to shows on games like Blizzard Entertainment's "StarCraft," a real-time strategy game not unlike the Milton Bradley analog classic "Stratego."

The gaming boom also shows how quickly a relatively new technology can inspire widespread cultural changes. In just a few years, online games have become serious competition to movies for mass entertainment in South Korea, despite the stereotypical images of game parlors as ill-lit rooms filled with cigarette smoke and budding criminals.
"PC baangs," as the parlors are known, are usually clean and wholesome places where teenagers often go for dates. Last year, Webzen invited gamers and their families to an event to help dissipate some of the negative reputations of online gaming in downtown Seoul. Around 30,000 people showed up.

http://www.news.com/Consumers-Gaming-their-way-to-growth---Part-3-of-South-Koreas-Digital-Dynasty/2009-1040_3-5239555.html