While thousands of athletes compete for Olympic glory in Pyeongchang, just blocks away hundreds of other athletes are competing for digital glory in front of computer screens.
eSports, basically the sport of playing video games, has blown up in South Korea thanks in part to the country’s fibre-optic network -- said to be the world’s best.
eSports are no joke. In August 2017, the world’s best DOTA 2 gamers competed for their share of a US$24 million prize pool at a tournament in Seattle known as The International 2017. A European team named Team Liquid ended up grabbing the US$11 million grand prize.
In South Korea, eSports athletes train for hours a day at internet cafes known as PC bangs. These cafes offer access to high-end computers and fast internet access for reasonable hourly rates and act as a meeting place for gamers.
It’s estimated 25 million South Koreans are playing video games -- more than half the country’s population.
“The speeds are very fast, so it never lags and it’s really fun to play these games," Chung Man Li, a gamer who frequents a Pyeongchang PC bang, told CTV News in Korean.
Unlike a lot of other countries known for their skills at eSports, the gaming boom has also seen South Korean women get in on the action.
"When I play, I don't feel time passing, five (or) six hours go by in minutes," She Vin Im, a female video game player who also works at a PC bang.
Im can be seen playing up to 20 hours a day when she’s not working.
Women have taken to eSports so much, that some of them are emerging as the best in the world, like Kim Chi Han who considers herself one of the best at war games.
"I like to play gun games," she said. "Oh, I love it, especially beating the boys."
Here's an immersive look inside a video game cafe in Pyeongchang. Using our app? Touch here to see.
With a report from CTV's Peter Akman in Pyeongchang, South Korea
