The Extremes of Internet Gaming In South Korea

Rick Zeman writes "CNN has an expose showing that in South Korea, the world's most wired country, Internet gaming breeds two extremes: elite 'athletes' who earn fame and six figures, and addicts who literally play until they die and tells the stories of players on both sides of that real-life divide. From the article: 'The first thing you notice about the professional video game players are their fingers — spindly creatures that seem to flail about at their own will, banging at the computer keyboard with such frequency and ferocity that to visit their live-in training centers in South Korea is to be treated to a maddening drum roll of clicks and clacks.'"

Comments

Typical of their culture

[buk110]

"To impress his father, he wanted to be the world's best." Swap out gaming with piano and would the media be so concerned?

Re:Typical of their culture

[Baloroth]

Bad analogy. The piano is an instrument that has been around for centuries and one that you can measure yourself by players of past/future generations, we are talking about being the best at manipulating a computer program that won't be around in five years.

The piano has only been around for centuries because someone started mastering it when it hadn't been around for centuries.

Re:Typical of their culture

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm guessing that, at very least, the pianist would get a more... pleasant... description of his likely-equally-active freakish horror fingers.

"The first thing you notice about the professional video game players are their fingers -- spindly creatures that seem to flail about at their own will, banging at the computer keyboard with such frequency and ferocity that to visit their live-in training centers in South Korea is to be treated to a maddening drum roll of clicks and clacks."

Seriously guys? Are you going to mention their horrid, bulbous, glassy eyes, or their vile inhuman mandibles next?

Re:Typical of their culture

[circletimessquare]

no, the underarm B.O.

Re:Typical of their culture

[RogueyWon]

Well... up to a point.

There are skills involved in competitive Starcraft play that will be transferable to other games. If you were a world-class Starcraft player at the point when Starcraft 2 was released and you decided to move to the new platform, then you'd be at a pretty big advantage compared to somebody like me, who played Starcraft for a few months at release, for the campaign and a bit of LAN multiplayer then moved onto other things.

I've known a few people over the years who have gotten deeply into the hardcore competitive gaming scene (though I've never had the talent, time or inclination to go that way myself). They are an incredibly conservative bunch of people when it comes to their games. These are not people who will pick up the latest releases and mess around with them for fun. They have their game, they play it, and they do not want it to change. They might speculate about when the sequel is coming out, but unless it's nothing more than a direct graphical uplift of the original, then it's highly possible that they'll angrily reject a sequel when it does appear.

I remember when Quake 3 appeared. Here was a game that had been designed by id for - and with the co-operation of - players from the hardcore QuakeWorld and Quake 2 scenes. And yet I also remember that, at release, most of the hardcore community from those games refused to make the transition for as long as possible (or in some cases, ever). I've always got the feeling that id were a bit bruised by Quake 3's reception - certainly, it was the last time they put multiplayer at the heart of their game design.

Why the ultra-conservatism? In part, it's driven by ego and a desire to protect their position. These people are among a tiny elite in a game and their self-esteem and (if they've gone professional) their income depends on remaining part of that scene. Change - particularly transition to a new game - represents a risk to that. What if they fall behind the curve?

But there's also a broader point, which gets to the difference between professional video gaming and more traditional games and sports. Now, some sports do evolve over time - but they do so slowly. In some extreme cases such as Chess and Go, while the tactics people use at the top levels have evolved, the rules of the games themselves have been constant for centuries. Video games, on the other hand, are a fast evolving medium. Technological advances don't just mean better graphics - they make it practical to realise entirely new types of game. And at the same time, games are developed to make a profit, so they will evolve to chase whatever the marketing men believe is the new big-selling trend (currently modern military shooters with objective-based competitive multiplayer).

I suspect that what will happen in the end is that a couple of defined "standard" professional-level video games will emerge, with largely fixed game mechanics. Quite plausibly, this will mean one core RTS, one core FPS and one core MOBA. These will receive occasional graphical uplifts to reflect technological advances, but gameplay mechanics, balance etc will become much more locked than they are now. So if, hypothetically, Starcraft should become that RTS "standard", the hitpoints of a Zergling would basically become set more or less in stone, perhaps being reviewed in 20 years time. Meanwhile, "normal" commercial games development will separate further away from these games, continuing more or less as it is at the moment. So Blizzard might put out Starcrafts 3, 4 and 5, with new storyline, units and balance changes, but with no expectation of these becoming the new hardcore professional standard.

Is any of the above an argument that there is any worth in becoming a professional gamer, other than the money you can make from it during the fairly brief window where you can stay at the top? Absolutely not. But then, I'd say that the same goes for professional sports.

Re:Typical of their culture

[CowTipperGore]

Want to talk about some crazy fingers, watch a banjo player. Bela Fleck is considered one of the world's premier banjo players, spanning genres as diverse as traditional bluegrass, jazz, classical, and pop. As a kid, he practiced 8+ hours a day, every day. He attended New York City's High School of Music and Art. FFS, his parents named him Béla Anton Leo Fleck, after composers Béla Bartók, Anton Dvorak, and Leo Janáek.

Re:Typical of their culture

[Anonymous Coward]

There's actually a lot of study going into RTS games like starcraft right now and whether or not it trains a person to be a better multitasker, whether or not it builds general skills like being able to count a large number of objects on a screen in less than a second (Most people fail for numbers > 7) and a number of other general skills that make a player better at these kinds of games.

Not surprisingly, the best SC2 players right now were SC Brood War and Warcraft 3 players. While yes, SC2 will have a very limited shelf life compared to something like becoming a concert pianist, it is not a fair comparison. Nobody is replacing the piano with piano 2. The piano does not rely on updated presentation or a need to benefit from new technology. There will be more RTS games that will eventually replace SC2 as it becomes more dated and the players who commited themselves to that game with have a transferable skill set.

Besides, Usain Bolt will not be running in his thirties, NBA players do not play into their forties. After they cannot maintain their actions per second and fall behind they have a much more transferable skill set than any other athlete does.

Re:Typical of their culture

[ackthpt]

Exactly, and how many pianists out of all those who dedicate themselves make 6 figure incomes.

Wanting your child to be the best, or for your child to want to make their parents proud is only a natural need for a parent/child relationship.

To honor your parents (and ancestors) is a rather deep rooted thing in East and South Asian cultures. Parents need to define what is and isn't honoring - being a slave to online gaming is hardly something to aspire to.

Re:Typical of their culture

[Nadaka]

We don't really know that for certain yet. The original starcraft doesn't have the same DRM restrictions infecting modern games. It is entirely possible the original starcraft will be around in 50 more years even if the drm laden later blizzard titles crumble to dust.

Re:Typical of their culture

[pla]

I don't see too many people paying to sit around a gamer.

So, didn't bother to read TFA, eh?

In South Korea, these games mean BIG money. High-end corporate sponsorships, huge live audiences, nationally televised competitions... Every bit as serious (take that as a positive or negative, as you wish) as professional athletes in the US - Who also won't keep playing into their 60s, as another poster pointed out.

And y'know, if I could make over 100k a year playing video games - I'd drop my 9-to-5 in a frickin' heartbeat. "Meaningful" work? Hey, if you think getting accounting system A to talk to POS system B has any deeply satisfying "meaning" to it after 20 years, I have a few seats left I can sell you, to watch the paint dry on my patio.

Re:Typical of their culture

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly, and how many pianists out of all those who dedicate themselves make 6 figure incomes.

Probably a few orders of magnitude more than the number of Starcraft players making 6 figure incomes.

Re:Typical of their culture

[betterunixthanunix]

Neither did anyone come along one day and say, "Hey, it would be awesome if we could have a game with three alien species that are nearly evenly matched, where the players command the species in epic battles." Starcraft was based on Warcraft; Warcraft was inspired by earlier RTS games, and those games were inspired by Chess and by RPGs, etc.

Chess, Go, and Poker have world championships as well; why should those games receive more respect than Starcraft?

Re:Typical of their culture

[neonKow]

Exactly, and how many pianists out of all those who dedicate themselves make 6 figure incomes.

Wanting your child to be the best, or for your child to want to make their parents proud is only a natural need for a parent/child relationship.

To honor your parents (and ancestors) is a rather deep rooted thing in East and South Asian cultures. Parents need to define what is and isn't honoring - being a slave to online gaming is hardly something to aspire to.

Bold claim. What's your reasoning?

Re:Typical of their culture

[neonKow]

You can't swim or play basketball competitively and get paid enough to last your entire life, but that doesn't mean that people don't still take those as their career early on and still end up doing quite well and being happy after it ends. And most professional sports players are super-stars in the majors getting paid millions.

You can't live your entire life only thinking about what happens after you job ends.

Re:Typical of their culture

[GodfatherofSoul]

Sounds like you're getting tired of me pwning your noob ass in Battlefield 3. Don't worry, I'll start using lube next round.

Re:Typical of their culture

[CFTM]

This is a blizzard game. They have ridiculously long (for computer games) playable lifespans

You obviously have not played Diablo 3...

Re:Typical of their culture

[DreadPiratePizz]

The difference is that if you are a player in say, the NFL, you will make a ton of money, and after 8-12 years retire and draw a pension from the NFL. Bench warmers make 150K+ a year, so if you're even halfway decent you will be making good money.

But in E-Sports, the 150K figure is for the very best. The very best are making less than a bench warmer in the NFL. Being the very best means practicing in your team house for 10-12 hours per day. Many top Starcraft players have needed surgery for RSI injuries.So even if you're the best in the world, you're going to get 10 years at best. You think 150K a year is a lot, but after your career is over what do you do? What skills do you have? All you can do is play a video game. You're hostage to it. Former top players have gone on to become coaches, and this is the only real progression left. If you are near the middle or bottom of the pack, your situation is even worse since you have less money.

This is not a long term career like traditional professional sports is.

Re:Typical of their culture

[BigSes]

I don't recall any of your /. posts, but I love this one. I'm setting you to fan immediately. More to my point, people from the Quake generation, as I was from the Doom generation, always talk about their prowess at gaming....but they always seem to leave out modern titles. I would agree with you 100% that MW3, MW2 or CoD games ARENT the same as Quake, as they arent the same as Doom, but why havent gamers in our generation evolved (I know that answer actually: job, kids, wife, bills)? We always talk about our own accomplishments and never appreciate what others have done. StarCraft 2 might be this guy's Doom 2. There is something totally satisfying about dominating a game against others. I used to win LAN matches on our old PS/2 token-ring network in high school (where people who knew and played Doom religously) where I was in the 100s in frags and the others were in negatives.

Now, we get to modern gaming, and everyone bitches about the "tea-bagging" Halo tweens, as if snotty brats ruined gaming. We were snotty brats too, we just didnt have voice chat! LOL! I had a guy call me a hacker piece of shit for beating him 5 times in a row on Virtua Fighter 5 on PS3 the other day. I never knew a hack to any fighting game, EVER, that pressed buttons for you. I seriously had to block him from my PSN account because the messages kept coming. There are always haters to success, always, no matter your occupation or talent. I get frustrated when I play MW2, MW3, Battlefield 3, because my skills just arent there anymore, but I dont dedicate my time to one game. I can usually hit middle of the pack on end rankings. These kids have what we used to have, love and moxy to put yourself into something that gives you joy, completely. Sometimes it so happens that in the nerd world, maybe you arent good at anything else. I really think these guys are amazing, and most importantly, they are truly doing something they love. Its not for the money, its for the emotional reward. Technology was always so cool to me, and I grew up poor with a single mother who worked two jobs, I know how gaming can fill a void in your life. Some people are just a no go for sports, acting, modeling, what have you....its better to be known for something than nothing. I'd rather be have the highest score at anything than die unknown making $45k a year at some mindless job. These guys are young yet, I think we should celebrate what they can do because we never had the chance to do so with such monetary compensation, and I'm positive there are more than a handful of people on /. who would have been unbeatable in their day at their game of choice. Kudos to these guys, and I honestly do hope their love of gaming brings them success, not ridicule as it used to be!

Lots of professional athletes die because of their profession, they push their bodies too hard. Drug addicts are trying to fill a void in their lives and push their bodies too hard as well. If you are so dedicated to one thing, anything, and it costs you your life, sometime people just wouldnt mind going out that way. I remain impressed, and I think we all should be as well. I'd rather almost reach Mt. Everest and die climbing at 32, if I loved climbing, than die at 70 after 50 years of rewardless drudgery in a cubicle. Everyone, think about it.

Re:Typical of their culture

[Harvey Manfrenjenson]

"To impress his father, he wanted to be the world's best."

Swap out gaming with piano and would the media be so concerned?

Funny you should ask.

I've known a few South Koreans socially, and many of them had a very odd relationship with music. They had achieved great technical proficiency at an early age and they had had the stereotypical "dragon lady" mothers who forced them to practice and to take part in high-pressure competitive events. Here's how technically-obsessed their training had been: one of them commented that she "would have been laughed at" if she had played a Mozart piano sonata in public, since these works were considered insufficiently challenging and were thought of as pieces "for children".

The funny part is, most of them were simply indifferent to playing music as adults. They liked listening to music but got no particular enjoyment out of playing it. In one particular case, sitting down at a piano evoked nausea and panic attacks.

That being said... I've also known a couple of South Koreans who were quite happily and successfully employed as professional musicians. I don't know whether those folks were subjected to similar training regimens or not... I never asked.

Re:Typical of their culture

[CountBrass]

Four big differences between SC and SC2:

1. DRM. You won't be able to play SC when Blizz goes bust.
2. You can't be banned from playing SC.
3. SC has LAN play.
4. SC was innovative, SC2 is just SC with a pretty face.

SC will still be played when SC2 is dead and forgotten.

They are true zealots

[Iniamyen]

These gamers want to be immortal. They would rather die gaming than get stuck being a drone with some queen and 2 screaming zerglings to take care of. Their ghosts will live on as overseers of the gaming world. /hydralisk

Re:The truth is plain to see, folks

[Moheeheeko]

First, you must construct additional pylons.

Re:The truth is plain to see, folks

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/north_south_korea

It's Called Entertainment

[eldavojohn]

Virtuoso violinist practices night and day to perfect their art and everybody applauds their performance at Carnegie Hall. Talented athlete spends night and day on the field, even alters their diet to tune their body for better athletic performance and everyone applauds their super bowl pass.

From a utilitarian standpoint, I don't see a whole lot of different between these entertainers and the entertainers in this story. They are sacrificing everything and taking one risky gamble to do what they love for a little chunk of change that only the 0.01% enjoy. Why does society apply stigmas to people trying to do what they love? If you're going to rip on pro-gamers about job security, get ready to rip on pro-entertainers. Comedian jokes get old much faster than Starcraft I. A professional football players body lasts far shorter than the run of Starcraft I. Music seems to only enjoy popularity for about two weeks considering what you hear on popular radio stations. Hell, Olympic gymnasts are left with hip problems if their career lasts too long. Everything fades, even computer languages. If that's not true of your field, you're in a dead and boring field anyway. Even framing houses has become a different ballgame since I did it as a kid.

Instead of lecturing them about transient skills, you'd be better off pointing off that putting all your eggs in this basket means that their is a very high chance you're going to live the life of the starving artist. There's a small percentage you could rake in massive endorsements and if they do, they should take a page from broke athletes and musicians who squandered that money the instant they got it. Save that money. Save it. Spend money like you're making $50k a year instead of a million a year because that income is fleeting.

People playing themselves to death is no different than that stupid high school athlete shooting up steroids in the locker room. Both are terrible actions that should be criticized but there is a point where you just have to let people do what they want if they truly love what they do.

Having your life taking over with something like becoming a scientist or learning everything there is to know about repairing internal combustion engines will last you for your whole life, probably.

Are you really saying that the useful science today is the same useful science that came out when Starcraft I came out? Everyone has to keep learning to stay relevant. Even entertainers. Or they grow old and become has-beens, the same applies to Starcraft players.

"blah" as atheletes

[John Napkintosh]

I still don't get this. If you want to call what you do a "sport", as in a structure competition or whatever gets to be a sport these days, OK then. But I thought "athlete" still implied some sort of extreme physical activity. Becoming dehydrated or mentally exhausted with a lightning quick mousing hand doesn't exactly qualify in my book.

Re:"blah" as atheletes

[Nadaka]

You must not shoot much. Holding a high ready takes strength and endurance, as does controlling recoil while maintaining precision. And depending on the gun, a day at the range can be feel like getting punched in the chest a thousand times.

Re:"blah" as atheletes

[dcw3]

Oh, you mean to discount things like drag racing, or skeet shooting, or maybe golf?

Re:"blah" as atheletes

[phantomfive]

But I thought "athlete" still implied some sort of extreme physical activity.

Then look at this. The things he does with his hands are extreme. They try different things to improve their hand speed, like punching sand, etc. Quick hands aren't something you're born with, it takes a lot of training and stamina. Getting to that level takes a lot of work, and your hands WILL be exhausted.

Re:"blah" as atheletes

[GodfatherofSoul]

There's a distinction between sports with athletes and sports with players. Athlete implies some physical prowess beyond hand-eye coordination and dexterity. That's what I took from the GP and something I agree with. NASCAR was teased years back when they started calling drivers athletes, even though drivers tend to keep themselves in very good shape.

If I start a professional sun flower seed spitting league, I'd be playing a sport but I'd hardly consider myself an athlete.

Re:$10,000 CHALLENGE to Alexander Peter Kowalski

[dyingtolive]

Timecube guy, is that you???

Re:what happens when the games fade?

[Vaphell]

how is that different from majority of sports? Do you think these teen gymnasts you see on TV have any tangible skill on hand once they reach age of 18-20?
Have you ever played hoops or football and wanted to be good at it? Do you earn millions as a sports star now?

Besides starcraft is not as flimsy career path as you think it is. RTS genre shares a lot of common on the metagame level (micro/macromanagement, combat tactics) and the best players can see through that. They can switch to another game and be competent players almost right off the bat, with training they are able to reach top levels of performance.
Once their reflexes detoriate they can move to coaching and train next generation of players and this happens a lot in korean starcraft league. They also can try their hand at casting and use their experience and insight to draw the spectators into the game.
Granted, only the best of the best have shot at the followup career, but it's the same with any other sport discipline where a significant level of physical prowess is required. Once you are too old, you are too old. Either you are famous enough to live off the fame, or you are not and you need real job.

Motivation

[roman_mir]

Seems to me that these kids need something to do, they are actually into accomplishing something (playing for the higher score I guess), it's just that their motivation is screwed up.

Of-course many people have addictive personalities, if it weren't for the games, they might have been into addictive drugs, but again, they need something to do.

I looked up the labour laws in South Korea, here is something to note

Article 62 (Minimum Age and Employment Permit)

        (1)A person under the age of 15 shall not be employed as a worker. However, this shall not apply to a person with a employment permit issued by the Minister of Labour.
        (2)The employment permit referred to in paragraph (1) may be issued at the request of the person himself only by designating the type of occupation in which he is engaged, provided that such employment will not impede compulsory education.

Article 63 (Prohibition of Employment)

Female wokers and those who are under 18 shall not be employed for any work detrimental to morality or health. The prohibited type of work shall be determined by the Presidential Decree.

Article 64 (Minor Certificate)

For each minor worker under 18, an employer shall keep at each workplace a copy of the census register testifying to his age and a written consent of his parent or guardian.

(and there is more there).

Also they have a minimum wage law there as well, it's over 4 bucks per hour.

Given that there is also compulsory education, (which I think has to do with teacher unions, that want to secure their positions) and it is a very 'heated' and competitive environment, in a way that requires very high marks to be able to get a job apparently, there is obviously too much stress.

This type of education process combined with these types of labour laws are aimed at producing workers, employees, not businessmen, not owners of business.

I think if South Korea wants to give more opportunities to its young people, to reduce this stress and increase entrepreneurship and independence, they need to allow people to opt out of the compulsory education process and to allow people to hire minors as apprentices and they need to wave all sorts of regulations, starting with the minimum wage.

There has to be a way for a business to advertise to kids younger than 15, maybe 11-12, to get kids interested in what the business is doing and to allow the kids to get experience in that business (even if this means they don't get paid much and they have to forgo the compulsory education).

I think we are creating robots, not individuals with this compulsory education and pressure to get highest scores on exams rather than allowing people to experiment with their interests in different types of businesses early on. I think the kids who are into these games are actually goal oriented and they are suppressed and depressed by the system, they could be entrepreneurs, but they are robbed of that chance.

Re:Motivation

[twmcneil]

Seems to me that these kids need something to do

Agreed. I get the same feeling every time I see a bunch of kids taking turns using a wooden stick to swat at a small leather sphere. Really, don't these kids have anything better to do with their time?

As a musician

[Stirling Newberry]

Classical music and games are going to converge, because music is about putting technology into the ear and the hand. Each new wave of technology has produced its wave of instruments to go with it, from the awl (the flute), tanning (the skin drum), through fine work tools and measurement (violin), metallurgy (the baroque organ), the factory (mass produced pianos), mechanics (valve instruments), and including electricity (rock and roll) and digital technology (sampling DJs). Gaming is merely an expression of the human need to put our hands on things and make it sing.

Deaths? Typical journalist story

[DNS-and-BIND]

What we see here is a typical product of journalism, circa 2012. Either you play video games or you die trying. How many people actually died playing games in South Korea? Just look at the writer's pathetic point of view. It's like he's never heard of video games before. "He was a conqueror -- a general who controlled sci-fi armies and determined the fate of civilization." What the FUCK? We're still hearing this garbage? This is the same crap that journalists wrote about Galaga in 1982. "One is a dead ringer for Dr. Bunsen, Beaker's sidekick on "The Muppet Show." WTF? Beaker is Dr. Bunsen's sidekick. How can we trust anyone who doesn't even bother to get basic pop culture facts right? What does that say about the rest of the "facts" in this article...about pop culture? After setting up a base in the northeast corner of the map, "MarineKing sent foot soldiers to root out his opponent's headquarters -- a glowing blue pyramid spitting out blue termites -- and blew the whole thing up before the 10-minute mark." Here we have a serious, accredited journalist - who writes for CNN - and he doesn't even know the difference between Terrans and Protoss? Come ON! Would an editor send a reporter to cover an event where he doesn't even know the difference between Republicans and Democrats? Between socialists and fascists? Between OWS and jackbooted thugs? But, as soon as the weird, incomprehensible world of "those scary video games" is entered, the reporter needs to advertise his outsider status - where in other topics being an outsider is considered a badge of ignorance and provincialism.

Over lunch his dad, who has become well-versed enough in "StarCraft" strategy to engage in lengthy conversations about troop movements, attack formations and character choices, tried to help MarineKing with his strategy against MVP.

Putting Starcraft in scare quotes? WTF? Who does that? And mixed case? It's just plain Starcraft. Yeah, I know, Blizzard calls it StarCraft, but again the reporter is advertising his outsider status. "I'm not one of these video game freakazoids," he seems to be saying. "I'm just here to report and confirm what geeks the rest of us already know that they are. They are The Other, and worthy of "

The entire article purports to show us the extremes...that's called yellow journalism, eh? And yet for all its bluster, it mentions but two deaths. How many people died in Chicago this last weekend?

It's totally obvious that this "journalist" had his article written before he even got off the plane in Seoul Incheon (renowned as being one of the world's most sleep-friendly airports, and true to its reputation). He treats his subjects as if they were among the groups CNN treats as strange objects to be examined on a laboratory slide (for example: devout Catholics, gun owners, Orthodox Jews, Texans).

20 million kids are eaten every second

[Rogerborg]

By bats.

Nice think-of-the-kids scare piece, it'll play well with Tammy Teaparty. But couldn't he at least have worked in some sinister Ender's Game reference and asked how America's cyber-soldiery will fare on the battlefield against these little yellow freak-children? (Note: All Korea is North Korea to Tammy Teaparty).