Online Gaming in South Korea Essay examples -- Asia Technology Essays

Online Gaming in South KoreaThe rise of online gaming in South Korea has brought improved economic prospects and notoriety, but at what price?Beginning in the late 1990s South Korea has quickly become the undisputed might of the online gaming world. Gaming and the culture that has grown up around it are now the defining aspects of the lives of many South Korea youths. While this eruption of online gaming has created taxation for the country and made South Korea a global hotspot for international gamers it has also been a cause of concern in much the same modal value excessive television viewing and game playing has in the U.S. A number of factors contribute to the huge percentage of online-gamers in South Korea. A flying internet connection is a necessity and South Korea is, per capita, the most wired country in the world. Over 60% of households have broadband compared to 20% in the United States (Kim 2). South Koreas small geographical size and high population density make runni ng the required cabling an easier task than it would be in the U.S. Broadband access in South Korea is, furthermore, the cheapest in the world at $25 per month (Kim 2). Additionally, in South Korea console gaming isnt about as popular as it is in the U.S. and elsewhere. Console systems Playstation, Nintendo, Sega are by and large of Japanese origin. Due to past discord between the two countries Korean being a colony under the rather, at the time, iron-fisted Japanese Japanese imports have been both officially and culturally unpopular (Herz 3). Without consoles to take away from the tooth root of game players, in South Korea unlike the U.S., online computer gaming is the dominant form of electronic gaming.Though more than half the homes in South Korea a... ...bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2499957.stm)Fulford, Benjamin. Koreas Weird Wired World Forbes Online 21 July 2003. October 28, 2003. (http//www.forbes.com/technology/free_forbes/2003/0721/092.html?partner=newscom)Kim, Jin David. Lucrative Lessons from Online Game Players International Herald Tribune 12 prove 2002. October 28, 2003. (http//www.iht.com/articles/89432.html)Ihlwan, Moon. The Champs in Online Games Business Week Online 23 July 2001. October 28, 2003. (http//www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_30/b3742142.htm)Electro Lobby. E-Sport Gaming Goes Pro Interview. Unknown. October 28, 2003(http//www.tnc.net/el/el01/progaming.html)Related Linkshttp//www.worldcybergames.com/ - home site of the World Cyber Gameshttp//www.ncsoft.net/ - NCsoft, makers of derivinghttp//www.blizzard.com/ - Blizzard Inc., makers of Starcraft