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Background information
In the late 1990’s Blizzard Entertainment introduced a video game called StarCraft Broodwar in the United States. The game became a hit and expanded worldwide but the greatest interest and impact of the game happened in South Korea. Why would an American game become the national game of South Korea and why would Korean players become the premier professional gamers dominating the entire world in StarCraft tournaments and winnings? Does Korean society encourage this excellence?
Why this is important?
Psychologists and sociologists can examine why players in the United States and Korea play this game and how the cognitive and or sociocultural approaches in each country compare and contrast in the players themselves. Learning about this small group might let us extrapolate important differences and similarities in the entire populations of both nations.
Sociocultural approach definition
This approach says the reason people do what they do comes from the group of people you associate with including your family, friends or society. Lev Vygotsky, who founded the Social Development Theory, believes that while young kids are curious and active in their own learning, more emphasis should be placed on how society impacts a kid’s learning and development. For example, Korean society demands kids to achieve excellence through hard work. This could explain why Korean players devote fourteen hours a day to StarCraft performance. (Simple Psychology)
Cognitive approach definition
Simply put this approach means “I think, therefore I am.” It is based on wanting to know what makes people think and act and how they process things within their own mind. (Simple Psychology). The cognitive approach examines the variables that “mediate between stimulus/input and response/output.” For example, in the United States it is very common for young children to want to become professional sports players because those pros make a great amount of money. This could explain why 400 Americans have become pro-gamers in the USA.
Cognitive USA
Americans are individuals and each person seeks to achieve success on their own. If you want to get fame and fortune, you must be motivated from within and even though you may not be sponsored groups or encouraged by other competitors. Bryce ‘Machine’ Bates said he worked “Part time construction worker, pizza delivery, student and StarCraft player [when he started out]” and shared a house with three other roommates to become a professional player. His reasoning was he could put off a full time job in order to become a pro player. His symbol and ritual from childhood is being a StarCraft player and this motivates his life. As Psychology and You says, “the higher brain takes itself seriously about such things in that it thinks symbols are real, not imaginary.” (Psychology and You, 111)
Cognitive Korea
Greg ‘Idra’ Fields, is an American who observed the Korean scene and compared it to what goes on in the US. “Koreans see [Jang][‘]MC[‘][Chul] [(the highest paid Korean champion)] as a winning god[…]who knows how much money[…] and they want to be part of that” Field expresses the Korean search for success and fame and money in simple, cognitive terms; they see success and want to be part of it.
Sociocultural USA
Individualism is a big part of American culture. People exercise that individualism. As Bryce ‘Machine’ Bates says of his life, “This house was my dream...the one big goal I had my mindset on was becoming a professional StarCraft 2 player...I put all my chips in...it was do or die” “as long as we put in the time and effort there is no reason why I could not be a top North American SC2 player” He is in a group of three other players and is impacted by them and is willing to take risks to succeed because that is the way Americans act in a culture that honors individual risk taking to achieve success. Greg Fields points out that the US scene is “a lot more fun...[,]you have more fan interaction...[and]fans are more outgoing and exuberant.” Americans have more time and money to play hobbies and games and be fans of games. This improves the climate for players in the US because of the society in the country.
Sociocultural Korea
As a nation, Korea has a profound passion for StarCraft. It is their national sport. This society stresses the importance of success and making a good living. The Koreans see an opportunity for fame and financial success through StarCraft play. They will invest many hours each day practicing the game and improving their skills because they believe this will eventually reward them. This is an opinion shared in Korean society because they have the game ingrained in their culture. Greg Fields says Koreans are ‘full time StarCraft players… completely devoted to StarCraft.” Fields sees Korean players are limited to the first rendition of the game and cannot play the newer edition, StarCraft 2, because “Starcraft 1 is still ingrained into the culture, a lot of players could not switch to SC2 because of their contract”
Comparing US and Korean StarCraft Cultures through both aspects
In order to better understand both cultures and players we need to look through both lenses; cognitive and sociocultural. In both societies the sociocultural approach demonstrates that because of the society, players are driven to excel. In the US culture you are driven by individualism and risk taking. In Korea, the society will encourage a player to hunker down and perfect the game through practice and more practice just as a Korean student is expected to work hard to achieve success in school in order to be able to continue their education.
The US thinking or cognitive approach lets people use their free will to seek success. It is like every man for himself and with many, many choices from many, many options players decided to play StarCraft. The decision a Korean player makes is influenced by following accepted working rules about hard work leading to success.
Conclusion
US players choose professional StarCraft because they can designate their own path freely. Koreans players are guided by a code of hard work that leads to financial success. They see that this path does work because StarCraft is their structured national sport. As Greg Fields says, “anyone with an inclination towards [competitive gaming] will look for a team. Anyone with talent will be picked up by a team and turned into a good player.”
Sources
BIbliography
Interview #1:
Textbook: Psychology and You
Cognitive Research: http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html
Sociocultural Research: http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Play names and info: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Main_Page
Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xensin/6390560187/ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/StarCraft_Logo.png
