BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhuanet) -- An estimated 17 million South Koreans could care less aboutreality TV or game consoles because they have online gaming. That's a huge number in a nation of 48 million people.

When the Asian financial crisis hit, the South Korean government invested much of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout on building a nationwide broadband network of wires that can transfer data at speeds up to 50 megabits per second. AT&T Yahoo!'s elite package offers download speeds up to 6.0 Mbps.

Now, nearly 70 percent of South Korean households have broadband. And the "fat pipes" mean that it's more convenient for these households to access media-rich content like games and video-on-demand, says Allison Luong, principal and managing director of San Francisco's Pearl Research.

South Korea also has a consumer culture that rivals the United States and Japan. Keeping up with new trends and technology is considered important to social status.

"If you want to move up, you have to have access to the Internet and a PC," says Luong. "And that means to access online games."

The mostpopular way to access online games areInternet cafés called PC bangs. Some are trendy watering holes withwith fancy drinks, otherssmoke-filled urban dens. There are approximately 28,000 of them in South Korea and they're everywhere.

The term "online gamer" may bring to mind images of a lone teenager playing "EverQuest," but that's not what's going on inSouth Korea. Group interaction is as strong a cultural as studying and shopping. Young people go to the PC bangs to blow off steam and to hang out.

"Community within games is really popular, as well as the ability to form groups, or guilds," says Luong. "These social aspects are a big reason why people keep playing games [in South Korea]."

Another is the outside chanceof fame and fortune. Professional gaming, or e-sports, draw millions of spectators in South Korea. The country has several cable channels dedicated to tournaments and gaming news. And pro gamers can pull down six-figure salaries playing "StarCraft" and "Warhammer."

Every year, the best of the best gather for the World Cyber Games, a sort of online-game Olympics. A field of about a million gamers is graduallynarrowed down over the course of a year to a fall finale.

In 2006, 700 players from 70 countries battled for dominance in Monza, Italy. South Korea, which lost its best overall title in 2003, recaptured their "Grand Champion" glory, winning two gold medals, one silver and one bronze. South Korean players also dominated the "StarCraft" tournament.

The gamer population isgetting much younger in South Korea. A survey by the South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication showsnearly 64 percent of 5-year-olds use the Internet. And 93 percent of preschoolers selected online games as the reason for going online.

"The popularity of gaming at such a young age helps to drive South Korea's gaming-oriented culture," says Luong.

But as important as gaming is to South Korea's economy and way of life, the dizzying growth is bound to slow. Luong predictsintense competition and increasing market saturation will slow growth by 2008.

And as in other industrialized countries, the birth rate is falling in South Korea, and the core-gamer market is aging. As gamers age, other responsibilities like jobs and family intrude on game-playing.

(Agencies)