What's this thing about Koreans?

[Kogarian]

Most of the reason people like to pick on Korea for being a country of unwashed game nerds is that Korea was developing very quickly and until recently hasn't really bothered with world opinion. Most people know about as much about South Korea as I do about Madagascar (it's an island right?). Fifty years ago the place I am typing this from was a pile of rubble. That's quite the achievement for a once third world nation.

The same people who claim Korea is a nation of super gamers are the same people who call Americans "fat rednecks", Canadians "Eskimos", Irish "drunks", and New Zealanders "sheep humpers" (though to be fair my Kiwi roommate DID have a sheep calendar on his wall). It's a convenient comparison when trying to be funny, but it has about as much basis in reality as assuming all Germans are Nazis.

Wow. You actually explained that quite well.

 

[WarpZone]

I've heard of those "gaming cafes," where there booths people can rent for PC gaming. It's not a bad idea, someone could probably cash in on that in the U.S. The place would just have to serve alcohol or something..

Wouldn't work out. American drunks want Shitty Bar Games(tm), not interesting games with any actual gameplay. Cuz, see, they're drunk. Their reflexes are shot. If you don't believe me, just go into a bar and look around for a video game. If you spot one, it'll probably be some ancient quarter-munching jobbie with 16-color graphics, gambling themes and tits.

You could probably come pretty close to a game cafe though using existing business models. Just do an internet cafe and install some games. I think I heard somewhere that Valve or somebody offered special bulk rates on game liscences for internet cafe owners, but I have no idea if there were any takers or not.

I have no firsthand info, unfortunately. I do live in America, but I do my gaming at home, anti-socially, as god intended!

I would immagine if Americans tried to start a "gamer cafe" of some sort it would end up looking a lot like a typical American LAN party, except you'd rent the machines and pay for the food and drinks (caffine or alcohol, whatever's your poison.) I don't see it becoming the same type of national phenomenon as in South Korea, though, because America's teen/college crowd largely regards gaming as a geeky pasttime.

Sure, plenty of teen/collegers DO play games, but they don't like to be seen doing it unless it's something like DDR they can pass off as regular partying. Gamers aren't heavy socializers. Heavy socializers don't play games very much. It's just the way things are.

The hardcore gamers seem content to stratify into their own subculture rather than integrate with the mainstream. When they do gather, they tend to gather at their own gamer gatherings, cons and LAN parties and such. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's crossover between the set of gamers and the set of hip young people, it's just that the two groups are not anolagous like they are in South Korea. Maybe the success of PAX and Child's Play will help beat that social stigma, but we'll have to wait and see.

There are exceptions, of course. I'm sure if a South-Korean-style gaming cafe opened, it would attract ~some~ interest. Just probably not enough to support an entire franchine of gaming parlors.

And sadly, in this country, if it ain't a franchise, you don't hear about it. I'd immagine New York and L.A. might have one or two small hole-in-the-wall cybercafes with dedicated gaming systems. But if they exist, they're not big enough to attract national attention.