As the League of Legends Worlds Finals has come to an end, many viewers from all around the globe were once again reminded that Korea is, by far, the strongest region in the world. Western teams, and even Chinese and Taiwanese teams didn’ t even come close to the likes of SKT, ROX and SSG, which made up three out of the four semifinalists. If a fourth Korean team would’ ve been allowed to compete at Worlds, even the semifinals would’ ve been all Korean teams, realistically. So what makes Asians so damn good at videogames? They don’ t just dominate at League, but at Starcraft or Dota as well. It’ s a question that many have wondered about for many years. Here’ s your answer.
First of all, no, it’ s not genetic. Certainly, good reflexes are a trait that can be given to you by birth, but it’ s not a trait that the majority of the Asian population will have. Besides, if the genetic abilities of Asian players would overcome those of Western ones, why don’ t they dominate in all eSports? There practically are little to no Asian Pros playing Counterstrike or FIFA, games that very much rely on fast reflexes but have no popular following in the Asian regions. When a game isn’ t popular and you can’ t train against good players, you won’ t become a World class player.
There’ s one thing we need to set straight here: The notion that“ Asians” are better at videogames is already false. When’ s the last time you’ ve seen a professional League or Starcraft player from Japan, one of the videogames’ industry home countries? It’ s not“ Asian” players who are better than videogames but, usually, Koreans and Chinese. This is due to one major reason: Cultural differences.
Cultural differences is the main reason for certain regions being stronger than others, because they dictate the three categories that define the strength of a region: Amount of overall players, monetary compensation for professional play and amount of time played.
Believe it or not, cultural differences are the deciding factor between the West and the East. eSport has been accepted in South Korea for more than a decade, whereas in Europe and America people are still debating whether games like Counterstrike should be banned due to excessive violence. While players in the West still have to break the stereotype of being nerds, videogames have been part of Koreas social norm for years now. While the average Western teenager tends to go out drinking and clubbing during the weekend, it’ s not uncommon for Koreans to spend their time in PC Bangs. This cultural difference is due to several political and economical reasons- such as the forced technical revolution of South Korea in the 1960s under the dictatorship rule of Park Chung-hee, which led to the rise of companies like Samsung- but for now, let’ s focus on the impact of the cultural differences, rather than its origins.
First of all we have PC Bangs: Internet Cafes specifically designed for Gamers. You might know one or two within your broad region, but in Korea, you can find these everywhere. Not only will you be able to find other gamers to play and meddle with, but you’ ll also receive PC Bang rewards: In the case of League of Legends, you’ ll find that at a PC bang all champions are already unlocked, and you have a 20 % EXP boost activated. Overwatch fans playing the game at a PC bang don’ t have to pay the minimum price of 40 $, and also have all Origin skins unlocked, in addition to a 20 % EXP boost as well. Besides the social aspect and the in-game rewards, there also are PC bang-exclusive tournaments. The sad result of this can be found when looking at the number of addicted players: Internet & video game addicition is at an all time high in South Korea, and more than 100 specific treatment facilities have been built to target this issue. In comparison, in both Europe and North America together, you’ ll find that there are a few dozens of these specific treatment facilities.
Let’ s look at a different game than League of Legends: Overwatch. The Overwatch World Cup also recently came to an end, and of course the Korean team came out as victorious. Right off the bat, that can be explained by the already mentioned PC Bangs: Whilst Western players have to pay at least 40 $ in order to play Overwatch, Blizzard similarly to Riot made a deal with Korean PC Bangs, so that Koreans could enjoy the game for free whilst playing at their beloved PC Bangs. This not only led to Overwatch dethroning League of Legends as the most popular game in Korea for several weeks, but to a much bigger sample size of potential Korean professionals. Again, the bigger the sample size, the more likely you’ ll be able to find extraordinary players. For a long time, Westeners liked to believe that they were the superior FPS-players due