June 14th, 2006
1 Million South Koreans Suffer From Game Addiction
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Why is everything an addiction? Now I can add video games to my list of afflictions, along with one million South Koreans between the ages of 9 and 39 who are considered to be deeply addicted to online gaming. To date, South Korea is the most wired country in the world - 78% of the population has a high-speed connection and Internet cafes are everywhere filled with people playing online games. Last year 7 people died from gaming themselves to death.
Six out of 10 South Koreans aged 9 to 39 consider themselves frequent online game players, according to a government-funded survey published this year. An estimated one million South Korean gamers suffer symptoms of serious addiction, experts say. These people are so obsessed with online gaming that they neglect eating and bathing, skip school or quit jobs, playing the games for hours or days at a stretch - and in several cases a year, until they drop dead. Source: NewLaunches.com
We Say: I thought this study was a bogus bit of anti-gaaming backlash, until you get to the people who quit jobs and drop dead. That’s pretty messed up. Now, back to my PSP.
David says:
I actually live in Korea and this is not too far off the mark. There are PC rooms on almost every corner (literally) and when I’m on the subway, everybody is staring at their cell phones watching TV (available over your cell here), playing video games or fooling with their PSP or the Samsung equivilent. If you think Korean electronics are cheap in North America, they are even cheaper in the country that makes them, so everybody has them.
June 14th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Zrowkewl says:
and to think we were worried about communism taking over South Korea ?
June 14th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Alice says:
Wow David, that is good to know. I am a HUGE Samsung fan and would probably go broke there and then die……
June 14th, 2006 at 11:54 am
textually.org says:
KTF generates lot of interest for mobile role-playing game
KTF launched the first phone-based online role-playing game on June called The World of Magic, reports Mobile Korea.
“The company said more than 42,000 mobile users have downloaded the game with the number of peak-time users exceeding 1,000, only aft…
June 26th, 2006 at 12:52 am
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July 26th, 2006 at 6:53 am