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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:20 am Post subject: The Death of PC Bangs? |
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I left Korea in 2004, but I get to return every year or two. On my most recent visit, I was startled by how few PC bangs there are these days. They're not gone, but the concentration of them in the popular areas is way down from five or ten years ago.
Maybe it's a decline in gaming. Maybe it's demographics- are there fewer 13 year old boys? Maybe it's an inevitable result of very cheap, very high speed 3g/4g services in everyone's pockets through their Android-powered smartphones.
Anyone else notice this? |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:50 am Post subject: |
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no decline in gaming, but an increase in common sense!
Why pay 2-3 bucks an hr when you (or someone else) already pay for it at home? |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 11:00 pm Post subject: |
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| It is a way to sneak out of the house and pretend you are studying at the library when in fact you are not. (Very popular among middle school boys.) But other than that, the points mentioned above are correct. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| It is a way to sneak out of the house and pretend you are studying at the library when in fact you are not. (Very popular among middle school boys.) But other than that, the points mentioned above are correct. |
Yeh, about half the pc bangs in my town are boarded up, but the remaining ones do steady business, even maxed out at times. Very popular also among Korean army conscripts on day passes. |
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Norn Iron
Joined: 06 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Still plenty around, although, as said, not like 10 years ago when you couldn't look at the 2nd floor of a building without seeing a PC Bang.
I was even puzzled why they existed at all when I first came to Korea circa 2000. I thought every Korean had a computer with broadband at home. Which they probably did.
Then the social rather than technological reasons came to light. As said, they're a refuge. A sanctuary. An escape hole for those who want to get away from something.
Girls used to use them to smoke their heads off for an hour or two....I wonder if they still do. I haven't been in a PC Bang for 10 years! |
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Jyang486
Joined: 25 Nov 2011
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| Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
no decline in gaming, but an increase in common sense!
Why pay 2-3 bucks an hr when you (or someone else) already pay for it at home? |
2-3 bucks an hour? Where did you go? Everywhere I've been has been like a dollar an hour at most.
The reason I think why PC cafes are popular is because even though they could play at home, they'd much rather play at the cafes with friends. That social factor where in Korea you rarely see people doing anything alone, i.e. eating, drinking coffee, or shopping. Also, because you can play games without the scolding of a spouse/parent and freedom to smoke while playing, something most can't do at home.
And I'm guessing the reason there isn't as many it has to do with what Koreans love to do in business. Over saturate the market until most of them go out of business leaving a few to run a decent section of town. |
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chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:28 am Post subject: Re: The Death of PC Bangs? |
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| The Lemon wrote: |
I left Korea in 2004, but I get to return every year or two. On my most recent visit, I was startled by how few PC bangs there are these days. They're not gone, but the concentration of them in the popular areas is way down from five or ten years ago.
Maybe it's a decline in gaming. Maybe it's demographics- are there fewer 13 year old boys? Maybe it's an inevitable result of very cheap, very high speed 3g/4g services in everyone's pockets through their Android-powered smartphones.
Anyone else notice this? |
Quad core tablet with Super-IPS level resolution and 12core graphics processor is $209. Thick cloud of smoke is not included, though.
Also, there's been a lot of anti-gaming laws passed against teenagers. You enter your national ID and are prohibited from gaming at certain hours and I also believe for a certain number of hours in a day. |
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Swampfox10mm
Joined: 24 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:11 am Post subject: |
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I don't know much about gaming, but aren't the better games now going to a subscription-type service? You can't just pirate the software as before, right?
Also, rent prices for business locations are sky-high. I don't think they can make money any more. |
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