Korean Moms Grind Games For Kids
Some concerned Korean mothers are power-leveling their kids' characters in games like Maple Story, according to GameStudy.org, a group blog exploring Korean gaming culture. Contributor Jun Sok Huhh discusses how online gaming has become a universal language among Korean children, particularly those aged 6 to 13, who play Maple Story.
Youngsters not involved in the game risk being ostracized, so mothers are helping out for several hours a day in order to maintain a respectable virtual-world status for their offspring, and to ensure they have time to attend to real-world duties such as schoolwork.
But the lure of the game isn't limited to kids. Jun Sok Huhh cites a Korean news article mentioning how some parents have actually become obsessed with playing the game: "a mother who did a game for her kid had a big trouble with husband for game engrossment." Perhaps in this case, the husband could power-level for his wife...
Your word of the day is "level No-ga-da," which, according to GameStudy.org, means "power-leveling."
Comments
It may be strange to us Stateside, but think about it on the flipside: wouldn't it be cool to live in a country where gaming is viewed as a common, normal, healthy part of society?
You can't get any more mainstream when your mom packs your lunches, ships you off to school, then powerlevels your mmog chars. The redefinition of soccer mom.
Posted by: hikaru | April 20, 2006 12:05 PM
Man... sometimes I wonder whether we aren't better off being called "geeks" and with those old sexless politicians saying that games will turn us all into pervert sociopaths.
Posted by: Nibelungvalesti | April 20, 2006 1:49 PM