Thanks for covering this topic, as a South Korean, I can safely say that you've hit the nail on most of the points. One more point is that in 1995, the South Korean government initiated the Korean Information Infrastructure project, which worked on creating a very strong and connected Internet infrastructure. This was a major push that allowed PC bangs to pop up everywhere and have good connection to play multiplayer games. This, combined with the rise of Starcraft: Brood War on national TV channels (OnGameNet and MBCGame), made PC bangs a true part of South Korean culture. PC bangs also have a ton of service, such as the sale of instant noodles, drinks and even hot cooked meals in some places, as well as discounts for long term booking. They have a software that lets you order food straight from your PC, and the staff will deliver hot dogs, instant noodles topped up with hot water, and whatever else you ordered straight to your seat. And every night (or in some cases, every time when you end your session and a new user takes over your seat), the data in the PC resets, so you don't really have to worry about leaving personal data behind and whatnot. I remember going to PC bangs and playing Starcraft and Diablo 2 for almost ten hours a day in PC bangs, only paying around $8 back then around 2004 for the whole day. It was such an amazing childhood.
Yet again you make a video about a (at least to me) obscure but interesting topic. It baffles me how diverse these topics are and how you're able to make such amazing videos about them
This is what a lot of governments, keen to tap into the esports hype, don't understand. They are investing millions in big arenas (which will go unused most of the year), or pushing for gaming to be included in multi-sports events (even though the audience isn't there). What it actually takes to foster a growing gaming culture is robust internet infrastructure and access to decent quality PCs and equipment. The former should have been done decades ago, but at least they could learn from South Korea today by replicating and modernizing the PC bang concept.
Curious thing that the rise of PC gaming in Korea shares similar reasons to the rise in China: the ban on importing gaming consoles plus the cheap cost and accessibility of internet cafés.
I did a solid double take at the intro song. An absolutely perfect choice when looking into 90s Korea, and likely not too well known outside of Korea and those that watched reply 88.
2 года назад
You have no idea how helpful your videos are to me. Thanks to your channel I'm starting to understand and enjoy competitive gaming. This is really great content.
Whoa, $1.20 an hour at most? That's actually not a bad deal. I wonder why internet cafes and similar establishments died elsewhere? It's apparently profitable, and there are definitely people who would pay to, essentially, short term rent high end PCs.
I can take some guesses but I think it's a combo of these and others: net cafes in Korea sell food and drinks, they're open all day usually also all night, there is a gaming culture in Korea, they act as communal spaces for some groups, it's cheaper to spend a lot of time in one than it is to own the same PC rig, net cafes let you do PC gaming without the rig taking up space in what is usually a small apartment, net cafes often have deals and memberships... Thing is, I'm writing this without considering the circumstances of net cafes in other countries. This is just why I think they succeeded in Korea.
@MangoTaro yeah.. Don't forget mobile games too. I've remembered there was A LOT of PC Bang ( it's called Warung Internet here) around my area, but now most of 'em are closed, due to the rising of Mobile gaming.
This was done because the government wanted an IT powerhouse. I remember at school researching a friend who didn't have a personal computer. The low-income friend got a free personal computer from the government. Anyway your insight is really good.
Wow I always kinda assumed it was simply the work of StarCraft- this was so much more interesting. And to be honest, I'm a little jealous of that gaming culture. Excellent video.
Me too, I'm a big PC Gamer. I have been playing on PC since I was a kid and grew up on a lot of comp shooters. I wish we had a culture like this growing up... probably could have made a lot of great memories and good friendships.
This is one of the most informative channels i've ever come across, i mean we learning about gaming, politics and economy at the same time? Damn son!! Keep the amazing work going on pls! This is fantastic!
I'd really like to see a more detailed look on the economics of PC bangs to explain how is it possible that they're so profitable while being ridiculously cheap, looking at the only remaining gaming PC cafe in my city I see that they charge 2 euros an hour, which might be cheap to someone with a job but definitely expensive for students.
A lot of them sell food which is where a lot of profit can come from because why leave your game when you can have food delivered to you, plus the surplus of customers due to the culture
Cheap electric bill plus food and drink sale. They also build centrailize PC, meaning their pc are mostly a screen connect to a big server, which lower the cost since they don't have to build each pc individually
PC Cafe these days in Korea have a huge kitchen with many staffs. They not only boil some ramyun but have a long list of a variety of food. Although they are mostly instant foods. You have hundreds choices including beverages. It is common that you have a meal and drinks there once you go to the PC Cafe. You spend some hours then you pay only few dollars for the hourly fee but you 10~20 dollars more for foods. Of course if depends how much you are willing to spend but most people are with friends here and in the mood of partying. I recommend visiting Portal PC near Gangnam and Shinonhyeon station. It was by far the best PC place I’d seen in my life until very recently I stayed in S Korea
this situation is more or less same as indonesia. We do have japanese products tho, but the price of console game is not really affordable for most indonesian, so pc cafe (and arcade. before that era) is the way to go. Sadly we never got an in-game exclusive deals like korean pc bang, with the only exception when certain pc cafe get lucky enough to receive promotion package from local game publisher when they localize (mostly korean) MMO game.
It's not surprise that these days PC Cafes were still exist, especially to some cities that was on lower profits, even though not many location got the arcades available.
I’ve been to League Park when I was taking a vacation in South Korea and visiting my Sister. Even though I don’t play League anymore, it was still nice to visit it and witness the heart of PC banks. I played one game of League which didn’t go so well due to me lagging a lot, but played three games together with my sister’s Korean boyfriend at another place.
great video, really well done and beyond what I expected. love the stylization too. edit - I love Starcraft and have for years which is the only reason I know about this as a westerner but this video gives a huge expansion and background to that knowledge. I also didn't realize they were still so huge! thank you!
Indonesia is good example of declining internet cafe, and rise of mobile gaming. Not just the number of internet cafe decline, but also in eSports scene mobile game is bigger and have more regeneration, compare to a lot of pc game
great video. growing up in Korea then moving out to NA at young age is still why despite every consoles and games coming out, I still stick with PC for video game choices.
If we're talking about South Korea and gaming, you can't miss the Maplestory BGM. Nexon is an absolute monster over there, MS being their golden egg laying hen.
There were a brief ps2 room boom during 2000s due to rise of popularity of PES series(winning eleven in Japan/Korea market). But competitive games need online multiplayer support to truly stand test of time. Which PS2 lacked behind PC
Pretty much any country outside Japan and USA prefers PC if it is wealthy enough, or mobile if PC gaming becomes too expensive. Consoles hardly sell outside certain countries.
hello akshon, the first week of overwatch league 1 has ended and I noticed that the highlights were not posted in the shared channel named "overwatch league highlights official". i wanted to ask you why, and if that means you will not cover overwatch league anymore?
