Video Games Are Dividing South Korea (technologyreview.com) 48
When StarCraft first came on the scene in 1998, the real-time science fiction strategy game wasn't just a hit -- it was an awakening. Out of 11 million copies sold worldwide, 4.5 million were in South Korea, despite it not being localized into Korean. "PC bangs," pay-as-you-go gaming cafes stocked with food and drinks, grew from just 100 to 23,000 in three years. But as the mania took the country by storm, hospital check-ins involving computer games also dramatically rose. Young people were playing until their bodily functions began breaking down, occasionally even to the point of death.
In May of this year, after years of advocacy from medical experts and lawmakers, members of the 72nd assembly of the World Health Organization unanimously voted to recognize video game addiction as a disorder. The categorization, however, remains controversial. Despite years of concern and study about the effects of video games, conclusive evidence that they cause addiction or violence has been hard to come by. And in the numerous parliamentary forums, televised debates, and academic symposia convened, the same question looms large: Has a culture of intensive gaming really brought about a public health crisis, or is excessive gaming just a symptom of other problems?
In May of this year, after years of advocacy from medical experts and lawmakers, members of the 72nd assembly of the World Health Organization unanimously voted to recognize video game addiction as a disorder. The categorization, however, remains controversial. Despite years of concern and study about the effects of video games, conclusive evidence that they cause addiction or violence has been hard to come by. And in the numerous parliamentary forums, televised debates, and academic symposia convened, the same question looms large: Has a culture of intensive gaming really brought about a public health crisis, or is excessive gaming just a symptom of other problems?
Is it Really a Mystery? (Score:3)
I'm not sure why this is still being talked about. We have the capability of producing something that people find fun, engaging, and entertaining. And we pour billions of dollars and effort into it. Naturally we're getting better and better at it. With everything that is mind-blowingly awesome, people will need to apply some self restraint. And some won't or won't be able to.
The "video games are bad", "no, video games are good" argument is getting pretty tiring. Video games are a thing that people need to manage like they manage everything else in their lives (food is bad/good, exercise is bad/good, alcohol is bad/good, etc).
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It is not stimulation that creates the addiction it is escaping negative socio-economic interactions. What is worse than gaming, modern targeted advertising is far worse than gaming, that constant psychological attack, you are a loser unless you buy this, buy it now or be a human zero. Day in and day out, the constant marketing barrage, the constant messaging, you are a loser, a failure unless you buy what ever they are trying to sell. That is what they are escaping, the negative greed and ego driven messag
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producing something that people find fun, engaging, and entertaining
Heroin, for example. And if we strap you into an fMRI machine while you play games, it turns out that many of the reward centers being triggered are the same ones that support addiction.
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Wait, was that the point you just argued?
That the government has an interest in regulating activities that have a social cost.
But as the mania took the country by storm, hospital check-ins involving computer games also dramatically rose. Young people were playing until their bodily functions began breaking down, occasionally even to the point of death.
I don't know what sort of national healthcare system South Korea has. But in this country, where we have public hospitals, Medic One and the ACA, these costs are borne by the public. If you want self-funded healthcare, then you are free to do with yourself what you want. Just remember the guy pushing the cart calling out "Bring out your dead!" only comes by on Thursdays. So you might end up stinking up your parents' basemen
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That the government has an interest in regulating activities that have a social cost.
The problem is that we haven't really established that gaming has a net social cost. There was pretty much the same reaction to pretty much every new pop culture thing. Comic books and rock music being prime examples.
Each thing has costs and benefits. They can come up with anecdotal evidence about how some people were harmed by either comic books, rock music culture or games. However, the meat is in statistical analysis. For example, the analysis says that when a violent game is released, teen violence goes
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The problem is that we haven't really established that gaming has a net social cost.
South Korea did. Of course, if we drop the requirements for nationalized healthcare then it is no longer a social cost. People can just die in the local flophouse.
but it might be a case that some kids are high-stimulus / ADHD and they could either be getting that stimulus from video games or they're out on the street getting drunk and in fights
Bring back mental institutions. And toss people in who 'get drunk and in fights' uncontrollably. I'll bet the whole self diagnosis of ADHD by people who just have a tantrum when they don't get their way will drop dramatically.
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I've given all my reward centers over to kpop.
I don't know I'm having fun unless I'm listening to AOA.
Join the Korean Wave, accept that live-action fan service is real, find your Ultimate Bias, and join a fan collective.
As a reward you'll get Furry Love https://youtu.be/sYmuYf73UzQ [youtu.be]
They call this the sparkling version, but it is more about spanking than sparkling. https://youtu.be/7SYpj56zv08 [youtu.be]
You even get to go on a dream date with Hyejeong. Are you man enough to survive her karaoke attack?! https://youtu.be/ [youtu.be]
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That still isn't really proof. Those reward centers are responsible for pretty much all human motivation. There's a case possibly, but you need better proof than it lights up reward centers in the brain. Without those reward centers you'd probably stop eating and just lie there until you die.
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Guess what: Those same parts of your brain will light up if we give you hot chocolate, a hug from a loved one, or a puppy to snuggle with.
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As a personal observation, I have found people native from east Asia to have a really competitive. Much like how Americans are focused on Work, Asians are focused on Competing.
Are their exceptions to this? Yes
Should I assume a person will follow this stereotype? No
I see this on how they handle school and classes.
Americans: How can I apply this lesson my my life, what type of job can I do with this info.
Asians: What exactly will be on the test and I will study for these topics to I can get the best grade pos
Re: Is it Really a Mystery? (Score:2)
Re:Is it Really a Mystery? (Score:4, Insightful)
Rock climbing is fun. Mountain biking is fun. Social dancing is fun. Mixed martial arts is fun.
What's different about the kind of fun offered by gaming is that it's *convenient*. You don't have to adjust your schedule around it, mark things on the calendar, or haul your ass to the gym, you can do it any time anywhere with a few swipes or clicks. Even the process of acquiring mastery is carefully engineered to administer just the precise amount of frustration to keep you hooked, unlike, say, chess, where learning means enduring humiliating defeat.
There are plenty of things that are as or perhaps more fun than video games, but there has never been a source of fun so *frictionless*. That's a good thing, but like most good things it's also a bad thing for some people. Same thing goes for social media, except that social media provides a form of interaction that is impoverished compared to the real thing. Like a packet of instant gravy, the *only* virtue of social media is convenience.
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I dunno if it's actually that frictionless in South Korea though, given how many people actually seem to go out to PC bangs to play games. I get your point though, certainly for me the frictionless nature of it is a huge driver. But in South Korea they seem to be leaving their homes and actually going out to engage in it!
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Dude, have you played Starcraft on the ladder? It's like chess where learning also means enduring humiliating defeat. There's always someone out there better than you,
Dividing how? (Score:2)
Exactly how is this dividing South Korea? Will there be a Southeast and Southwest Korea? Or a South-South Korea and South-North Korea?
Re:Dividing how? (Score:5, Funny)
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... and the Zerg players who are talentless hacks that just fucking 5-pool every game because they're shit human beings that delight from the misery of others.
You know you can defend that... if you scout early. You are scouting early, right?
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My concerns exactly. This must be stopped, it will be far to confusing. The US will end up bombing the wrong Korea.
Re: Dividing how? (Score:2)
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it will be far to confusing. The US will ...
If you're from the US, you can't actually go much further to be confused than Korea, it's the other side of the planet.
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criminally underrated.
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That'll be Appalachian-South Korea, and Midwest-South Korea.
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Of course not! North-South Korea and South-South Korea, maybe....
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In the first Korean War, Seoul was both North South Korea and South North Korea.
75 year old Korean: "Oh no, not again!" (Score:2)
*nt*
Why SK? (Score:2)
The real question is why has SK been impacted by StarCraft and others? Seriously, it's a game people loved elsewhere but what factor(s) caused it to have such insanely deep impact in SK? When you sufficiently address this question it will likely shed light on gaming disorder issue.
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Division? (Score:2)
Korea has already been divided once.
I guess now we will have North Korea, North South Korea and South South Korea, with the Starcraft players in the North South Korea part.
Re: Division? (Score:2)
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with the Starcraft players in the North South Korea part.
I would suspect that the side that are still holding down jobs would end up with Seoul. ;)
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with the Starcraft players in the North South Korea part.
I would suspect that the side that are still holding down jobs would end up with Seoul. ;)
You've Seould me on that idea.
Damn commies! (Score:2)
Re: Damn commies! (Score:2)
Medium is irrelevant for addiction. (Score:3)
The excessive use, aka addiction, is the problem. The medium -- be it TV, Movies, social media, drugs (alcohol, caffeine, sugar, etc.) -- is irrelevant.
Live life in balance.
When you start to prioritize your hobby as more important then responsibilities that's when the problem starts.
This isn't fucking rocket science.
Excess of video games is a symptom (Score:2)
But it's easy to blame it as the cause, so let's just go the easy path.
Also let's just stop vaccinating people with flu shots and just use make up to hide the red noses and the problem will completely go away.
SC2 Zerg Imba? (Score:3)
I just came here to say that I watched a ton of Starcraft 2 games recently... hadn't in a while. And... are Zerg imba? :) Normally you just see Koreans winning everything, at least a few years back. Now the recent big tourney WCS I think had the top three players all Zerg, and two were no Koreans. SHOCKING!
I know this falls on deaf ears, blind eyes, and unbeating hearts... but it was fun to type about. As it is slightly on topic, slightly.
On topic: are video games unhealthy? Yeah, but it's just more of the the entire unhealhty modern life in suburbia, cities, "developed nations" where they teach people they can only survive and be happy in an urban environment.
Sit still at school.
Sit still at church.
Sit still at the office.
Sit still at home.
We are becoming very lethargic and naturally all the health issues from being non-moving is coming back to haunt us. At least video games give you some fun in your dreary life. But do these things with moderation. Played 2 hours today? Maybe go ride a bike for an hour.
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Possibly, there was a series of nerfs delivered to zerg after the last WCS.
I had it explained to me like this, which I think makes sense. When it comes to learning curves, Terran starts out easy, and then ends up difficult. The builds are pretty simple to execute, you just continuously produce units and then push with them and win games. In higher leagues, you're required to really micro hard and bunker down and play the defensive long game. Zerg is kind of the opposite. It starts out hard and then gets eas
Of course video games *can* be addictive (Score:2)
I know this will be an unpopular opinion on Slashdot, but of course video games can be addictive, and of course the underlying problem is something else. Addictive things are things that can quickly make a shitty feeling go away without changing the underlying situation. That's what made heroin so addictive in Vietnam, and why so many of those addictions disappeared once soldiers got back to America - once the underlying situation actually goes away, the need for the addictive thing goes away.
Addiction