Today's
New York Times has an article in the Arts & Leisure section called
The Land of the Video Geek, about pro video gamers in Korea. (NYT site requires free registration to read most articles) Quote:
All in all it was a typical night in South Korea, a country of almost 50 million people and home to the world’s most advanced video game culture: Where more than 20,000 public PC gaming rooms, or “bangs,” attract more than a million people a day. Where competitive gaming is one of the top televised sports. Where some parents actually encourage their children to play as a release from unrelenting academic pressure. Where the federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism has established a game development institute, and where not having heard of StarCraft is like not having heard of the Dallas Cowboys. The finals of top StarCraft tournaments are held in stadiums, with tens of thousands of fans in attendance.
The article mentions that there are fan clubs for top pro gamers that have over 700,000 members, and top players have to disguise themselves when going out in public to prevent being swarmed by fans. It also says:
“The total number of people who go spectate pro basketball, baseball and soccer put together is the same as the number of people who go watch pro game leagues.”
All in all, it sounds like a much bigger gaming culture than we have here in America.