For my creative project, I created an online magazine. At first, I was trying to make a video with my voice over it. However, I came up with a magazine because I thought this is better way to deliver the information I’m trying to pass to the audience. My goal was to explain PC-bangs of South Korea, which I believe is a crucial factor that enabled South Korea to be a leading figure of the field of esports. PC bangs allowed people to be friendly to gaming and provided best environment for young gamers before they go professional (and also consider $1/hour fare- countless young students visit PC bangs to play games with friends after school).  PC bang (or PC Cafe) business was booming in late 90s, when Starcraft and Warcraft by Blizzard co. gained enormous popularity among young Korean population. Also stuffed with Korean online games such as Lineage by NC Soft and Kingdom of the Winds by Nexon, countless Koreans were attracted to gaming- even relatively elderly people, who are 45+ years old, were attracted to various online games including MMORPGs and online version of Hanafuda, a Japanese origin card game. Since the late 90s, gaming became a popular choice of hobbit to people of all ages in South Korea. Now, PC bangs are literally everywhere if you live in a city. In Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, there are a couple of PC bangs in every block, no matter where you go. Because of the omnipresence of PC bangs and their unique system of operating, major game distributing companies not only local but also international including Steam came up with business models designed just for PC bangs. Also, the abundance of PC bangs forced themselves to evolve into a better system, for they had to compete against each other all the time: for better equipment, for better environment, for better service, et cetera. Here I present you the culture of PC bang!

Link to the magazine