Why Korea?

[own3d0406]

Why is Starcraft so popular in Korea? Why no Germany or the US. For god sakes, theses people are making a living off of playing a video game!!

[U-238]

It's mainly because korea has the largest and best broadband network in the world. There's vurtualy no lag at all in korea and that's what makes games like this so popular.

[raylu]

Something like 60% of the population lives in Seoul, so it costs nothing to network the country.

[EvilEmpire]

Yeah even their chicks like it! Have you seen any videos of maches? Big crowds cheering like hell!
Oh and its a Computer game, not many ppl play SC for N64, lol.

[own3d0406]

So sc is popular in korea because its cheap and they have the best broadband network, rather than skill and the love of the game?


Oh and its a Computer game, not many ppl play SC for N64, lol.
You know what I meant lol.

[SuiCidAl-KiSmEt]

It's an issue that most South Koreans are too addictive to video games then Americans or any other country.

Knowing that, it's a no brainer why they wouldn't be so attractive to the greatest game in the world. :)

[PrestonBurke]

They were introduced to Starcraft during there cultrual revolution, thats why it was so popular in Korea. Duh.

[Siege_Commander]

Well why not korea?;)

[own3d0406]

Well why not korea?;) Thats a real headscratcher:o

[BIGSKY]

the income of korean sc players is so high

[U-238]

Hmm, after pondering it for a while it might be because that's what they're good at. Look at the united states. We've got football, baseball, basketball and nascar. That's what americans gather and cheer and celebrate over. They don't do any of those things over there in korea and they don't really accel in many physical games (except one or two in the olympics maybe). So they turn to what they can be good at. And that is gaming. Starcraft isn't the only games they play over there either it's just heard about much more often because there's more pro starcraft players in korea than there are halo players or Age of Empires players or whatnot. Also we hear about starcraft korean players alot because we play starcraft too and learn from them.

[IrishDutchman]

How much did slayers_boxer earn in a year again?

[PrestonBurke]

Slayers_Boxer makes around 78,000 dollars in THERE CURRENCY.

How old is Slayers?? Damn, if he around 14, hes getting a better deal than anybody in the NBA if you think about it.

I think its because of the time when Starcraft was being introduced. Not what sports they have.

[own3d0406]

They don't do any of those things over there in korea and they don't really accel in many physical games
They have soccer and martial arts

Slayers_Boxer makes around 78,00 dollars in THERE CURRENCY.
Thats like 7.8usdollars...

[PrestonBurke]

Oh oops, forgot about the extra 0. My bad.

[own3d0406]

Oh oops, forgot about the extra 0. My bad. The korean currency is won, 1000 won equals approxomitley $1

[IceFlare]

Thats not the real reason why. After WWII, Japanese products were sort of 'banned' from Korea which meant Nintendo products, Sony products etc.. no PS, no NES etc... So without any gaming entertainment in the form of consoles they turn to computer gaming. So Koreans got used to living without consoles and eventually SC was released by blizzard and started the pro gaming scene there.

[Siege_Commander]

Isnt it 780,000 in there currency? And isnt that only 780 dollars?

[PrestonBurke]

Erm... I have no idea about currency. Well its worth a pretty good deal for them, but compared to our money...

[Siege_Commander]

Thats like 7,800 dollars. Okay, isnt that like that average income for 4 months?

[U-238]

Actually it's the average US income for two weeks.

[Cpt.Chronic]

Something like 60% of the population lives in Seoul, so it costs nothing to network the country.
More like 20%.

But I think this is one of those questions that will never be fully answered. Kinda like why do 3 different networks simultaneously show golf tournaments on t.v. during weekends?

[Skullflower]

More like 20%.

But I think this is one of those questions that will never be fully answered. Kinda like why do 3 different networks simultaneously show golf tournaments on t.v. during weekends?

Or why do people actually watch golf?

[WickedImposter]

i heard once that slayers_boxers amde 300,000 us in a year.

[PuLsE]

well for one koreans do have this tremendous interest in strat games, RTS in particular.
americans have their own tastes suchs as quake anyway
i guess its all just a matter of the koreans' personality as a nation

[own3d0406]

Or why do people actually watch golf? Why dont you watch it? It has the same concept as many other games, get the ball in the hoop, goal, hole, etc.

[DragonPaladin]

I have no idea why you guessed 7800 US dollars...he makes 300, 000 US dollars a year.

[B.A.Baracus]

OP:
Dont you know, they got them Kim Jong ILLL skillZ son.

[coldsteel]

Slayers Boxer earns 200,000 dollars (in Korean currency, 200000000 won, which is 6 times more than average of Korean) in a year just for playing on starcraft leagues, and a lot more for some net cafes he's running. Someone said 780 dollar above. That's insulting. :-/ You may think we still starve like we did right after Korean war on 1950, but nowadays things have changed a lot. We've got 10th biggest economy in the world.

Well.. starcraft is like a sport in Korea. We have big leagues, a lot of fans, some sponsors like Samsung Electronics(world no.1 plasma tv manufacturer, also sponsors Chelsey FC in English Premier Leagues). There are about 3-4 players who earn as much as Boxer. One thing I don't like.. is that we have small warcraft league. I still don't understand why people are so crazy only for starcraft :). And a lot of people play Kartrider online racing game which is playable in Korea and China. But Kartrider league is not famous because it's interesting to play the game but not to watch. Starcraft is interesting both to watch and to play.

Do we enjoy only computer games? No way, we have soccer, baseball, basketball leagues, and some other sports. They are actually bigger than starcraft league. :)

Seoul is crowded. 1/4 of total population is in seoul. I think that's why we can make broadband network in cheap price. In my house, upload 10 megabytes per second, download same, I pay 30 dollars(30000 won) per month. That's just 5 cups of coffee.

[Cpt.Chronic]

Damn, coffee's expensive in Korea.

[WickedImposter]

why did this guy revive a 2 month old thread?

[GroG]

Why not? It was a nice little insight into Korean life.

[lammas]

Slayers Boxer earns 200,000 dollars (in Korean currency, 200000000 won, which is 6 times more than average of Korean) in a year just for playing on starcraft leagues, and a lot more for some net cafes he's running

Yes boxer iloveoov xellos nal_ra and other toplevel legends make good moneys. But then there are 200 other progamers that make something like fucking 6000 USD a year for it.

[coldsteel]

Yes boxer iloveoov xellos nal_ra and other toplevel legends make good moneys. But then there are 200 other progamers that make something like fucking 6000 USD a year for it.

Exactly, there are 322 progamers total, and 30 starcraft players who earn more than 50,000 USD per year. But as you know, progamers average income is not that high, 15,000 per year. That is smaller than a factory worker who doesn't have college degree earns in Korea. In fact, I don't recommend to be a progamer if someone doesn't have real great talent.

[GroG]

If you believe in talent. Which, I don't. Practice and time is the real factor.

[lammas]

No if it would be only practise every korean pro would equal in skill as they all do 15-20h a day.

[MatGeo]

Lol...lammas how much do you do per day?

[lammas]

4 +- 2

[MatGeo]

Well in that case grog's statement about time helping u get better is wrong since i play more than 4 hours... :D

[lammas]

nono ofc playing a lot will make you better and with a lot of practise you can surely get to top foreigner level just by playing more than other. But on the top of the sc world where everyone plays as much its pphysically possible the talent starts to make diffrence.

[Cpt.Chronic]

nono ofc playing a lot will make you better and with a lot of practise you can surely get to top foreigner level just by playing more than other. But on the top of the sc world where everyone plays as much its pphysically possible the talent starts to make diffrence.
I have to agree with this. I mean, that's why we see the same players (Nada, Boxer RIP, Nal_ra, Kingdom, go_rush, zergman, etc..) continue to make the pro leagues year after year. There are thousands of people in Korea that practice just as much as them, but will never be able to beat them in a series or become a pro. If it was as Grog says, then we wouldn't see so many returning players season after season and all these thousands of players would be interchanged each and every season. It's basically the same as how some people are just smarter than others or some people are more athletic-- in SC, some people just have a better strategical understanding (aka talent) than others.

[IceFlare]

After practicing a lot, ppl just lose motivation, but for pros money motivates anyone

[TMNightmare]

i cant believe how many people post stuff on this page
the answer is azns (like my self) (stereotypes) like to play a lot of challenging and ranking games
its kinda like playing normal sports in america
instead of a football game
a starcraft tournement

[IceFlare]

That is a pile of bs.
Physical sports is just as big as starcraft in korea just you wont see any leagues or teams competing againt american teams, cuz theyre just not as good as them.

[GroG]

Didn't the South Korea soccer team make it farther than the US team in the world cup in 2002 (I want to say top 8). That's pretty good, and better than the US team.

[WickedImposter]

im pretty sure they did lol. ok, USA has bball, canadas got hockey, and the rest split soccer lol.

[own3d0406]

Didn't the South Korea soccer team make it farther than the US team in the world cup in 2002 (I want to say top 8). That's pretty good, and better than the US team.

It was 4th place, and US soccer team sucks :P

[WickedImposter]

exactl.y but USA has basketball. unforunately, they lost to argentina in olympics >.<

[darkjedilarry]

'course they dont have american football in the olympics. XD.

[WickedImposter]

ll. too bad for you americans out there.

[bobboy]

U guys are telling ME. Im Krn and it is NOT EVEN FUNNY how many channels are dedicated to SC. There are like 7. And PC rooms (or internet cafes with video games) Go for about $1 an hour, have about 3 of these per street corner, and STILL make a living out of running these places. You can get FRIGGIN RECHARGABLE CARDS FOR THESE PLACES! I love my korean culture ^^ They make me proud. Btw for anyone interested we are also obsessed with Counter Strike and something else..... But SC is huge there. All of yall will make easy friends there besides the language barrier/prejudice lol.

[gregleo2]

This is hilarious.
I'm Korean, and StarCraft doesn't seem like the whole "huge deal" for me to practice 24 hours a day.
Of course I was born in America...
Okay, forget I said anything.