So, as I said in my last post, I finally moved over to Korea just outside of Seoul.

It's entirely true: living in Eastern Asia is a totally different culture than America. For starters, there's really no such thing as "rural" South Korea. Everywhere I've seen is just packed with skyscrapers, light-up signs and TONS of restaurants. But that's not really why I came here. What's truly amazing is the gaming culture. In America, it's generally a physically solitary experience, with everyone joining up via the internet rather than in person. For Korea, that's crazy talk.

Many people may have heard of the famous PC rooms (or bangs in Korean). They are basically large rooms filled with powerful computers, comfy chairs, and plenty of people. They come stocked with plenty of food and drinks that you can buy while you're playing. Some of them even have a console lounge where people can gather around some Street Fighter or whatever and just socialize on couches. What I'm telling you is that these are the gamers' paradise. Constant LAN party? Tons of food at your disposal? Solid machines complete with a chair that won't murder your back? They got it all. The cost? on average, it's about 1 dollar an hour, which is laughable. If you sign up for the PC room with a membership, which is free, they'll discount it even further. Why does this fantastic plan NOT exist in America? probably because the gaming society in America isn't the type to put forth effort and money for something they can do at home. But where's the fun in that?

Anyways, this would be my new home had it not been for the fact that all accounts made in America, sans Diablo 3, have been completely scrapped. I didn't do it, but as it turns out, every game and account ever has regional restrictions that don't allow it to be played halfway across the Earth. Even games like LoL, which you'd think since it's entirely online and you should just be able to change regions, are made impossible to use with my old accounts. I would be totally crushed because I owned 90% of the champs in LoL, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. See, the PC room isn't just a big LAN party. Gaming companies have taken notice of these entities and decided that they'd prefer people in these public settings to be playing their games. How do they do that? special deals, and pretty sizable deals at that. For instance, from what I understand, LoL offers possibly the most fantastic deal of them all: while playing in a PC room, you get to unlock every champ in the game and you get 20% extra IP.

Now, I do have to point out that I haven't been able to test any of this. What they don't tell you about PC rooms is that you must be a Korean citizen or registered as an alien, which takes about a month -.- so, I'm stuck with waiting for that card to come in so I can make all new accounts. Needless to say, I'm excited.

Til next time,

Brian Stas