Euphorio

ha thanks guys I really appreciate the support. I plan on writing a ton about this just because its such an insane change from the regular western world. It's tons of fun, so I'll keep you posted

So I've been living the life in Korea. It's pretty amazing. I've also been closely following the LoL World Championships Season 2, and I can safely say that Korea is again making a name for itself through their elite eSports gamers. But what is it about Korea that makes them so fantastic at these things? Why can the create fantastic players in any game they try to master? As I've been living here, it's become quite apparent as to how Korean gamers work. And the differences and atmosphere all work together to create a paradise for people like me.

So let's first discuss the types of games Koreans play. In later posts, I'll talk about the group of people who play, and finally we'll discuss how gaming fits into society.

It's rather interesting to note that Koreans don't actually play very many console games, other than the ones they get on their phones, and that doesn't really count. Those games are summed up with Minecraft and some small games that go with their group chat app known as Kakao Talk. Other than that, it's all PC, all day. The reason for this is because of the PC rooms I mentioned in my former post. It is actually these very rooms that allow PC games to be the main form of gaming in Korea. Think about this: in America, PC gaming is only a small portion of the overall market. There are a ton of gamers who dedicate to the newest console or handheld generations, and they generally see PC gaming as a total waste because of the constantly evolving hardware situation. This is true. When you have to keep up on the newest specs for the PC market, it can get tiring and downright expensive. Therefore, many people don't even try to keep up with the newest PC games. They'd rather stick with the guarantee that their console can play any game for that system without the need to buy a new gfx card.

In Korea it's a different story. Because of these PC rooms, it eliminates the hassle of keeping your computer up to date. They do it for you. This allows for anyone to be capable of playing the newest MMO or the best shooter. Now, there is a limited selection of games on these computers, and almost all of them are multiplayer oriented. They have all of the latest MMOs, a healthy quantity of online shooters that look a lot like Korean knockoffs of the most popular shooters in the US (because they are), and FIFA. Yes, FIFA. These people love themselves some FIFA. Now you can download any game you want onto these computers. However, they will be deleted as soon as the computer shuts down, so don't get too attached.

A couple of quick notes about the games on these computers. Roughly 50% of them don't even exist in the Western Market. Now, they may be available, but no one really plays them. One such game is based off of Gundam SEED. It's actually one of the cooler games I've watched over someone's shoulder. It's all Actiony and packed with Gundams, which is awesome. Regardless, there is one concept that is devilishly common in Korean games. The gamers love to level up and better their characters all the time, so it's become a common mechanic to have microtransaction systems. That's nothing special, of course. What is special is the idea that many items you purchase actually disappear after a set amount of time. For instance, I play a game called Sudden Attack 2. Think Counter Strike, but with more outfits and guns. Oh, and there's more than one play type. As you play, you accrue points that you use to buy new gear, skins, and such. I decided I would go for the one-shot sniper rifle first. I bought it, used it a ton and owned faces. However, after a week the gun was gone for good, and I'd have to repurchase it to continue using it. It's rather tedious and annoying.

Also, Korean MMOs are notorious for being grindfests, and I come here to tell you that that's entirely accurate. Another interesting development comes from Starcraft. They may have come out with Starcraft 2, but Koreans really just don't care. You always see people playing the original Starcraft. I have yet to see one person even open up SC2. Also, I have seen all of 1 person playing WoW, and I go to the PC rooms almost daily. It just isn't a thing. I do, however, see tons of people playing Blade & Soul. The game is extremely pretty, so it takes a good computer to play it. Of course, the PC rooms all have these, so people come there to get their fill in a day.

League of Legends has also caught on like wildfire. They've had the game less than a year in Korea, but everyone loves it. A ton of people play it, and many Koreans will friend English players on Korean servers just so they may practice their English. Therefore, I have plenty of friends on the game even though I'm on a second account in a country with a language I can't yet speak. Also, the caliber of these players is rather high. I have been levelling from 1 for a long while now, and I have yet to play a game where someone doesn't understand what to do, how to play, where to ward, how to leash or any other more advanced concepts. Though I'm still levelling in blind pick, every game feels like a level 30 epic struggle. These people are just good at games.

Anyways, in my next post I will break down the people you see playing games, how many people play games, and where each group spends the most time.

Thanks for reading! I hope you got something out of this post!

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

you bet it was. Best giant robot game ever.

Ok, so I've been on a long hiatus from my blogging because I am moving to Korea for a year to teach English in about....oh....2 days. SO, I've been running around preparing to ship out my life (quite literally) halfway across the world. When you are planning such a life change, it's hard to do much of anything fun. BUT I've come back because I've been reminiscing recently about the games of old. Specifically, I've been thinking about my favorite games from the early days of the 360. Though there are plenty of big names that I could throw down (here's to you, first Modern Warfare), I was really drawn to remembering the good times on the sometimes overlooked titles.

First off, this is just my opinions on these games and, though they have huge flaws, I was reminiscing. That means I remembered the good times, not the bad. Now the first game that came to mind was Chromehounds. I don't actually know how many people played Chromehounds, but it was at least enough to make it feel very active. So many things about Chromehounds just fascinated the hell out of me. For starters, the multiplayer was utterly brilliant. It first forced you to pick a faction to be a part of. Each one had unique perks and downsides, all competing for the complete control of the overworld. The multiplayer hinged on a constant war, where the factions would battle it out to take over different sectors. Once a country dominated, the game started all over and began again. Of course, you could change sides eventually, but it was the immediate division that caught my attention. That wasn't even the best part, though.

Once you picked a side, though, you had to find a guild to join. That's right, you couldn't fight in the war unless you were a part of a team. This is where Chromehounds did things right. It forces you to socialize with others if you want to fully enjoy the multiplayer experience. I made quite a few immediate friends just because I played some Chromehounds MP. So, once you are in the guild, you can then group up and participate in some territory battles. This is where the interesting part begins.

First, you picked which mech to bring in. They were fully customizable, but you generally tried to fit into one of the 5 unique roles. The map was split up into a grid so that you could call out positions and locations as necessary. This is my favorite part: you could never see any of the map at first. You had to capture comm towers so that you could have an actual view around that tower. Also, you had to have a person be the designated Commander. He carried a mobile comm tower that gave him view of the map, and he was responsible for calling out the enemies as they appeared. As soon as he'd call someone out, you'd see your heavy gunners just launch a barrage of shells and missiles that would rain down upon that block and devastate anyone caught in the fire, including yourself. The game actually forced you, by way of well-planned mechanics, to play tactically. You just couldn't win by going out alone, so everyone constantly worked together to win. I've never played a game where success fully hinged on successful team work. The feeling of victory was simply magical.

Whew, long segment there, but bare with me because now we're going to delve into the often underrated Shadowrun.

Now, Shadowrun got a fiercely terrible reputation almost as soon as it hit the shelves. It was supposed to be this major stepping stone in the FPS genre because you could actually play with computer players. That's all well and good, except they forgot to mention that you HAD to be running the almighty Windows Vista. That pretty much shut the door on 99% of pc gamers. It was a huge tragedy. To make matters worse, the company that created Shadowrun shut its doors very soon after its release, and no one was left to support the online community. Needless to say, the game died off quickly, but I don't give a damn because the time I had to play it was worth every penny.

For starters, they actually had the now-obsolete bot match. There is no better practice that won't get you trolled than playing against bots. It means there will always be 15 other people ready to dive back into Shadowrun if you ever get bored. I think bots are awesome, but some will disagree. It was no substitute for real people, but it did allow me to try out different builds and spells without completely embarrassing myself. This actually leads me perfectly into my next point.

The best thing about Shadowrun was the innovation. It took the per-life purchasing system of Counter Strike, mixed in some crazy spells and technology, and the end product was a place where first-person shooters had never gone. There were thousands of combinations of races, guns, spells, and technology that made every round completely different from the one before. I just remember running around with my rifle, coming around a corner to see a massive firefight, launching out a seed that bloomed into the Tree of Life, diving off the ledge and opening up my glider to gracefully land behind the tree for some makeshift cover, and just unloading on the enemy as my team healed back up from my Tree. It just brought me joy to have all these possible skills and weapons and spells so that I could play how I saw fit. It was just such a great concept and system that it depresses me to think that no one has tried to create an experience based on this game,but raised to the next level.

There are just certain games that do a few things so perfectly. I wish that someone would reiterate the positives of Chromehounds so that we could have a game where positive teamwork was a necessity to win. I wish that someone would take note of the amazing powers and techs in Shadowrun, so that another FPS could come out where I can do more than just shoot a gun.

Both of these games have shut down now, but I'll still always remember the good times. Anyways, epic rant is complete. Til next time.

Brian Stas

To make a rather dated reference, I always think about the first 2 major Kingdom Hearts games.

In Kingdom Hearts 1, though not really an open world experience, you could travel anywhere and there were plenty of side activities with a ton of rewards for exploration and such. It was a lot of fun and was very rewarding to me.

Kingdom hearts 2 was much more linear. All of the "collecting" was done through the main story line, there was no incentive to retrace your steps or explore. The actual game play was just too focused and it took away from the fun of the first game.

That said, I think theres a good balance that needs to be found between open world and linear play. If there isn't some guidance, that open world can really bite you in the ass. For example, Morrowind was arguably too open world. People got dropped by the now-infamous mud crab more than they should because there was no guidance. On the contrary, people tend to get dreadfully bored when the game holds your hand through the entire experience.

Long Story short: there's a balance that I enjoy. It isn't a black-and-white idea

Yeah No dont go play Dota 2...ive played a TON of LoL, and thats where the public is....Dota 2 is still so intensely niche that even with all of my LoL experience, Dota 2 overwhelms me....its just Dota1 with its own skin, so people who know it can play well...but if you dont, it'll easily overwhelm you with all of the mechanics and items and things to learn....stick with lol....most of the world of MOBA is there

Ok so I'm sure this topic's been discussed a billion times on these forums....buuut I'm relatively new, so I haven't gotten to hear a word. And it's my blog so I do what I want!

The game market is a sort of anomaly in the structured economic retail world that we live in. For starters, it sells a product that is easily transferable from one party to another. What I mean is that once one person buys a game, then they can easily finish that game and then allow all of their friends to borrow it so that they may finish the game. This isn't a unique quality, of course, because books are the same way, but it is an important concept.

Second, and possibly most important, is the used games section of every game store. Used games are what drive your local Gamestop, or what have you. When a person buys a new game, the game publisher gets a cut of the price, and the store gets a fraction of what is being charged. However, when a person buys a used game, 100% of that sale goes to the store. Now, they do have to buy back the game in the first place, but when it's a brand new title, the most you can generally hope for is $35. So, they then get to collect pretty much full price on that game, which makes up for the buyback.

"Gee, Brian, this is all pretty basic information. Who actually cares?" No one really....but I have a minor in economics, so this kind of stuff FASCINATES me. I told you all this to lead up to today's market. Game companies are trying a new strategy: they've decided that multiplayer games can actually turn more of a profit for them if they actually attach an activation code to play multiplayer features online. This is free if you buy that game new, but if that game is used, you are going to have to muscle out an extra $15 just to experience the online world. "Yes, Brian, we all know this. Get to the point!" OK FINE.

Doing this, game companies have essentially devalued their own games. With that new lawsuit that took hold in California, Gamestop needs to not only warn the customers of the added expense, but they are forced to lower the prices that they charge on these games just so that people will still have a reason to buy used copies. Remember, that's what drives most of their business, so they need to keep the used market going. However, that means that when a person trades in a brand new multiplayer game, Gamestop will almost assuredly give you at most $20 for it. So what this all amounts to is that the game you bought is now losing a hefty portion of its value right out of the box. This, in turn, decreases the income of Gamestops across the board. Why is this, you ask?

Let's relate back to my first point: games are easily transferable. When it comes to single player games, people can easily just trade them off and beat it one by one. This is the case for me and Skyrim. I have yet to buy, and probably never will buy, Skyrim. This is because there is no rush to get through Skyrim. Regardless if I pick that game up immediately when it comes out or 10 years down the road, it will essentially still be the same experience. I can wait for my friend's disc. If I figure out that a multiplayer game is awesome later on, though, I can't just wait for my friend's copy. I have to play it now, so that people will still be having fun in the multiplayer and that experience will be a positive one. As of now, that means that I go to gamestop, find the used copies of the people who only wanted the single player, and get that game for 10 bucks off.

With this new code system, though, they can't discount me on the code. I'll essentially still pay for the entire game either way, so why would I waste my time with a used copy when I could get a brand-spankin-new copy with the same cash? Because of the necessity for everyone to have their own copy of a multiplayer game, these are the ones that really sell in massive quantities. People are constantly wanting used copies so that they may get into the fun. Single player games could ideally be enjoyed by the masses with just a few copies. If you take away the used multiplayer market from your Game store, all they'll be able to rely on is single player games and subscriptions to magazines; hardly a constant cashflow there.

Whew, epic rant. this will never be read. But I'm ok with that because I just like to release my thoughts from time to time. I won't pretend to be an expert on the game market, and this only pertains to hard copies, which is also slowly losing relevance. There are probably flaws in my logic, but I'll of course listen to criticisms with an open ear. If you have the courage to muscle through this, then I sincerely thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Brian Stas

yo screw close range! thatll get you bitten so quick...i want to be a solid 10 yards from zombies at least...gettin up there to smack one is just askin to get bit in the ass...I'd prefer large clip to precision cuz we all know it's how long it goes...not always where it goes...but an AK will do for now

Yeah gotta say I prefer the ranged DPS...not that it's what I end up playing, but it's what I prefer. They're just generally the most visually gratifying...and there's nothing like a good glass cannon in a fight