Why is StarCraft So Popular in Korea?

If you did a word association with the word StarCraft, one of the first responses you would probably get from anyone that knows games is "Korea." The popularity of the Blizzard real-time strategy game is unprecedented in that country. What better way to find out why than to ask a Korean.

The Ask a Korean blog tackled the issue in a recent post, going in-depth into the phenomenon, while analyzing the popularity of CGI movies such as Avatar, as well as the emergence of PC bangs in the country. A few tidbits:

The most recent development would be the establishment of pro gaming leagues and cable televisions. Once these institutions came to being, the popularity of StarCraft became a self-sustaining force. People talk about it because it is on television, and television keeps on showing it because people talk about it. People practice the game because the gaming league pays well, and the gaming league pays well because people watch the games, again because the games are on TV.

On PC Bangs:

The result is that StarCraft became a standard rather than a choice. There have been other worthy real-time simulation (RTS) games that were just as entertaining as StarCraft. (EA Game’s Command & Conquer series comes to mind.) But once StarCraft was chosen to be the standard for PC Bangs, there was no turning back. The fun of an online game multiply with more players even though the original merits of that game may have fallen below those of a later game. So StarCraft lives on in Korea, even though it has been 12 years since the game came out.

On the game itself:

The wonderfully balanced three races of StarCraft was a revelation at that time. So were its imaginative, multi-stage units and unusual camera angle, which were presaged in Blizzard’s WarCraft series. StarCraft’s storyline was about as good as its competitors, but the voice acting was far superior and convincing.

But the advantage that truly vaulted StarCraft over its competitors was Battle.net, Blizzard’s ambition online multiplayer platform that came pre-packaged with its games. This is an important distinction, because other online games at the time required an external interface. Battle.net for StarCraft also had other attractive features such as ladder ranking, level-matching, and lack of any fees to join.

It is an interesting look at the StarCraft phenomenon from a cultural perspective, particularly given the fact that Blizzard has just started handing out keys to the closed beta of StarCraft 2. We will have to keep an eye on whether Korean gamers will accept the sequel with as much fervor as the original.

(The South Korean PC Bang image is courtesy of the MTV blog from 2007)