So after learning about how dying in internet cafes through out South Korea isn't really that unheard of, I decided to do a little more research on the whole video gaming craze currently taking place in such countries. I found an article in the San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/18/GAMERS.TMP) which discusses the video gaming phenomenon. The article specifically looks at the idea of the elite video gamers becoming instant celebrities. These teenage men and women are revered as local gods by their gaming peers. One gamer, Choi Yeon-sung, has 90,000 followers in his fan club. He also makes approximately $190,000 a year in winnings, when the annual average income in South Korea is around $16,000.
The article also reviews how not only are there are countless gaming cafes, but there are also places where people can go to watch these games being played live on huge screens. These viewings can easily bring in hundreds of thousands of viewers. Although, if you don't feel like leaving your house to watch a game, the article reveals that you could just watch the game at home on one of the TV channels that plays games live 24/7. Clearly, this craze is something that is not going to go away any time soon. The level of this addiction to gaming makes it feel like the whole country needs to be sent to an video gaming rehab clinic. I really wonder if this will ever become a problem here in the United States. I already thought that the younger generation was having enough complications with not wanting to go play outside and instead sitting at the computer and watching TV, but after watching the "Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier" I suppose that it could always get worse from here.
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