Students to present research on gaming culture in South Korea, China

The online game industry exploded in East Asia in 1997 and the phenomenon has attracted the attention of two SIUC researchers as the same industry gains popularity in the United States.

Video game production in the United States has become a $7 billion industry, according to the Entertainment Software Association, and now, just like in East Asia, Americans are changing their focus to online video gaming, with popularity rising 12 percent in the last two years.

This new avenue of mass communication is the topic of tonight's presentation by Kwang Woo Noh and Yong Cao. The doctoral students in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts will present segments of their ongoing research, which explores some of the psychological attachments and historical backgrounds to popular gaming concepts in East Asia.

Last semester, John Downing, director of the Global Media Research Center, assigned Noh and Cao to research the widespread culture of gaming. "What I try to do is assign people work which they're particularly adapted to," Downing said. "This is a hot topic. It's huge."

According to the Entertainment Software Association, one-half of America plays video games, and more than 40 percent play massive multiplayer online role-playing games such as "World of Warcraft" and "Everquest," but games are played mostly on systems such as the Nintendo Gamecube and Sony's Playstation 2. But in China and South Korea, Internet and mobile device gaming are the most popular.

"It's a community where people assume different roles," Cao said. "It's going to be a new field for mass communication to study."

Noh, a native of South Korea, and Cao, a native of China, decided the best way to research a topic with such international popularity was to compare the different cultures of gaming.

Japanese game systems didn't make it to South Korea until 2002 because of hostility regarding Japan's occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. This led the way for South Korea to develop its own type of games.

"That vacancy was filled by online games," Noh said. "Many of the young people who wanted to have fun went to the Internet cafes." China, much like South Korea, has a booming gaming industry, but many of the systems popular in the United States are also not big there. Cao said this is mainly due to local companies who develop similar games and sell them at a cheaper price.

Cao, who is a gamer himself, thinks background experience on a topic, the topic of gaming especially, is important.

"Many researchers don't play games themselves," Cao said. "You have to know some terms, how they communicate, how they behave, so I think probably some researchers should have some personal experience."

Yong Cao and Kwang Woo Noh will present their gaming research tonight from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Room 1032 in the MCMA building.