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

[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

[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?

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

[dcw3]

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

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.

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).