MMOGs in South Korea And The Future For Us?

Opusthepenguin writes "There's an interesting article from the AP via Excite about the popularity of massively multiplayer games in Korea. There are 2.2 million people in S. Korea playing MMOGs in a country of 48 million, versus 700,000 in a country of 300 million for the US. Are the social ills discussed in the piece specific to Korea, or is this something other regions of the world should be concerned about as MMOGs grow in popularity?" We also recently ran a story on how far ahead Korea is in terms of broadband infrastructure compared to the US.

Comments

Re:Like MUD

[Neck_of_the_Woods]

Well now, I would have to say that this has to do with having an addictive personality.

I played MUD all though college, but was able to drop it at will. I played 2 years worth of UO, and just upped and stoped playing. As I get older it takes more and more to keep me interested in a game...and that damn wakeboard boat just keeps calling my name......

I know first hand how much fun they are and if you get in with the right group it can take on a life of it's own. It is all about finding something and being good at it. I have seen people get addicted to almost anything they are good at. Golf, tennis, wakeboard, surfing, computer games, hell even learning. It is all about rewards and these games are built around levels and rewards. The only time that these games ever had a real hold on me was when there was nothing better for me to do. Once there is something you would rather do other than the game it becomes very easy to just drop them.

That is the key I think. Rewards system, level building, and nothing better to do. Something with that wide a swath of people can do together, do well and have fun. Fun, socialization, and a crack like rewards system. It is the same with anything else. All sports are based on rewards systems, they are just harder in many ways and less rewarding in the now.

Human nature is to continue doing something that is fun, or stimulating. They are prefecting the art of addiction...is this really bad or just anouther form of entertainment that needs to be taken in moderation?

Hard call.

Cross-Pollination

[Angry Monkey]

Kind of interesting in terms of cross-cultural cross-pollination, too. The fantasy world so gripping the Koreans in the article rests upon a fantastic European feudal mythology -- not something more "homegrown."

South Korean Culture Different from US

[jgardn]

I've lived in South Korea for more than three years. My wife is a Korean. Let me explain why these MMORPGs are so popular.

When a kid comes home from school, he doesn't go straight home. He has to go to after school classes. Sometimes, he has some spare time, and he spends these few hours in the game rooms. Today, that means he is spending his time in a "PC Bang" which literally means a "PC Room". A decade ago it was a video game room.

What are these places? They are a small part in a building with anywhere from 10 to 50 complete PC systems. It costs about a buck an hour, depending on the quality of the system, and the cost of living of the neighborhood, so it is pretty cheap.

The games that are available are pretty much what's available here, with quite a few home-brew one. Starcraft and Diablo are pretty popular. However, the most popular games are the ones where you interact with other people online. Since these rooms have excellent internet connections, these games run flawlessly, compared to your average AOL user.

The most popular game for a long time was a Korean-made one that was pretty much like Ultima Online, but far more cheesier. It was something like "Land of the Wind" -- in Korean, "Param ae Nara" -- or something like that.

Why do these games get so popular? Because the kids have nothing better to do, and they certainly don't want to spend the time doing homework. You got to admit, if you had a couple hours every day you had to kill, and you had limited options and a couple of bucks, you would waste it on something like Everquest or Ultima Online if it were available. That's what I did when I was waiting for a train or an airplane when I was there.