game addiction

Every now and then there comes some sort of news article to do with the results of game addiction in Korea. People can even die as a result of game addiction. This one is horrible. I can't imagine ever even considering leaving a baby at home alone!!!! It's an older article but for some reason has been viewed a lot recently.

Infant Daughter Dies as Parents Play Online Game
June 14th, 2005 Chosun Ilbo
A thoughtless couple in their 20s who left their four-month old daughter at home while they played Internet computer games at a nearby PC café have been booked by police after the child died.
According to Incheon Police Station on Tuesday, a 29-year-old man husband identified by his family name of Yu and his wife put their four-month daughter in the bedroom of their home and went to a neighborhood PC café at around 4:00 p.m. on May 24 to play the online game "World of Warcraft.
Time flew by as the couple lost themselves in the game, and when they returned home at 9:00 p.m., their daughter was lying on her stomach, dead of suffication.
The couple told police, "We were thinking of playing for just an hour or two and returning home like usual, but the game took longer that day."
Police said an investigation turned up that the couple, who wed last year, used to play "World of Warcraft" whenever they had time.
Police said, "It's unfortunate, because the tragedy could have been averted if the couple had just left their daughter with Yu's mother-in-law, who lived upstairs from them... We booked the pair on criminal charges, judging that when you consider the situation, they were responsible for their daughter's death."
Major U.S. online game producer Blizzard, which grew famous with the game "Starcraft", produced the game to which Yu and his wife were addicted, "World of Warcraft." The game allows multiple players to form teams to fight battles and enjoy various adventures.
(Lee Yong-su, hejsue@chosun.com )

Chris's Christmas Party 2007

On the 15th I went to the eagerly anticipated party hosted by Chris. Last year's Halloween and Christmas parties, and this year's Halloween party were so great that it was hard to imagine he could make it any better. He never disappoints! Always the host with the most.His entire home was wrapped up Christmas style. Several activities were planned.First up was the tree trimming. Of course, most of the decorations were made by Chris - pictures of himself and friends.And of course, the star has to top the tree!Then there was a bit of a game of paper bag pinatas, using a small wooden sword that Chris had on display in his room. The game evolved a few times:soft ball styleT-ball styleA little later, once the mess of shattered candy was cleaned up, we played a game of pin-the-candycane-on-the-elf. Since the blindfold was no-where to be found, we had to settle for just closing our eyes. It worked well anyway.Then came the Christmas Story and carols. Every Christmas, Chris writes a story and carols for his friends.What is a Christmas party without a visit from Santa?Or a customary photo with the Man in Red.Everyone participated in the White Elephant gift exchange. There was a wide range of gifts from just plain useful to the useless, the funny to the questionable, etc.gameswinter hatsSPAM, toilet paperAnother thing that Chris always plans is a variety of contests such as naming a character or coming up with a caption for a picture. I won one of the caption contests, but won't tell you what it was.

My kids doing a froggy dance

They are soooooooooooo cute. It is a song called Keemo Kymo that is on one of the Internet sites that I use. The kids love it and always try to imitate the frog in the song.

This is one of the sites that I use. It has songs and little videos. The little picture of the cat with the 'C A B' is games. The castle is little videos. The gramophone is songs. The picture of the flash cards (apple, etc) is other things including other songs, videos and games. My kids love the "Are you okay" video/song in that link. I haven't used the other little links much but they are all kinda cool with other such things.
The site that has the frog song (Little Fox) requires a password, which I don't remember (it is saved in all of the computers at work), so I can't link you to the actual song. If you want an idea as to what the site is like... the links at the top are - bubbles left to right: videos, songs, games, stuff I don't use.
Another site I sometimes use is the Yahoo Korea kids English site. It has a bunch of songs, videos and games as well.

Baduk

Baduk is more commonly known as Go. It is a board game that is considered to be the most complex game in the world (more challenging than chess). It originated in China but is very popular in China, Korea, and Japan, as well as around the world. The game is played by two players (black and white) on a 19 by 19 board (grid). The players take turns placing their stones on vacant points/intersections (there are 361 intersections!).

What Is Go?

You can find online games of baduk, downloadable games, and there are even tv channels here that are strictly baduk (showing games and strategies and such).

Anyway, I found this article and found it very interesting. It is sort of related to my last post about hagwons (private schools/academies that the kids go to after school). I'm posting the whole article because I think it is worth reading.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before or not, but when Koreans do things, they go all out. They always play the part/dress the part/live the part/etc. (I'll save explaining that for another post.)

Becoming a Professional Player in Korea
During 60 years of professional baduk history in Korea, there have only been about 210 professional players. Only 35 of them were female. As in other sports, becoming a professional baduk player means taking a long and difficult road.
In Korea, a certified student who studies baduk at Hankuk Kiwon (Korea baduk Association) seeking to become a professional player is called a yongusaeng. At any time in the yongusaeng league, there are 120 boys divided into 10 classes and 48 girls divided into four classes, class 1 being the strongest (for both the boys and girls) and 10 the weakest (4 for girls).
A tournament among the yongusaeng takes place every month, and classes are reorganized each time according to the results. The top four players of each class will move up to the next class, while the worst four will be demoted to a lower class. When a new yongusaeng joins the league, he or she will get the lowest position in the weakest class to start with, regardless of his/her strength.
A qualification tournament to select new yongusaeng takes place every four months. To be selected, an applicant must be under the age of 18 and be in the top 12 of the hundreds of players participating in the qualification tournament.
Every month, four of these newcomers have the honor of joining the weakest yongusaeng class in place of the students cut in the monthly yongusaeng tournament. All 12 new students are incorporated into the yongusaeng classes, four at a time, over three months.
The competition among all the yongusaeng _ including the lowest ranked newcomers _ to join a higher class and not to be kicked out of the league, is incredibly intense. During week, when there are no league games, the yongusaeng spend most of their time studying baduk. They replay the professional games, review their own games from the yongusaeng league, study new joseki variations, solve life and death problems and play other yongusaeng.
Some of the yongusaeng, whose ages range from eight to 18, even give up regular education to have more time to study the game. They study baduk from morning to night, except for a little exercise during the day to keep their health.
There are about 15 private baduk academies in Korea (otherwise known as baduk tojang), with between 10 to 20 yongusaeng. Most of the teachers at these private academies are professional players, and they play teaching games and review them with their students.
Each academy also has other students who aspire to join their ranks of the yongusaeng. Their number ranges from 50 to 150. That means there are more than 1,000 students at any given time who want to become yongusaeng.
However, the number of players who are able to go professional is very small. The number of newly made professional players differs each year according to the situation of the Korean baduk scene, but it is always less than ten.
In recent years, new professional players were born in the following manner.
The three players with the highest scores in the yongusaeng tournament, and five who qualified in the annual professional qualification tournament become professional players. Since a student older than 18 cannot stay a yongusaeng, a player over that age is technically barred from becoming a professional player.
The fiercer the competition, the more miserable the students who do not succeed by the time they turn 18. Most of them develop future careers that have something to do with baduk because they love the game so much.
However, even for those few students who are able to go professional, there is still a long and difficult way to go, for the competition becomes even more cutthroat once they enter the professional baduk world.
The writer is a baduk professor at Myongji University and a professional player of the game.
[The Korea Times]