ProGamers

Korea is an interesting place... especially if you play StarCraft. It is unreal. These guys have like $60,000 a year (USD) salaries in Korea to play StarCraft on TV. It is like football out there (there are 50x as many StarCraft players in Korea as in the rest of the world combined).

Interview with ProGamer “Grrr...“:
http://www.war3.spb.ru/vods/GuillaumeInterview.zip

Recorded TV Match... take a look at the crowd... the stadium is filled:
http://www.war3.spb.ru/vods/olympus_final_xellos-vs-yellow-1.zip

Starcnomics:
http://www.blizzard.com/insider/017/overseasmerchandise.shtml

“Starcnomics is an academic look at the positive effects StarCraft has had on the Korean economy. A translation of the jacket summary reads:

"StarCraft Syndrome": It's more than an obsession with and devotion to the most popular game in Korea. It's the effect the game has had in generating new trends and socioeconomic changes. Economically, the syndrome created a new type of Korean industry or business that grew out of the needs of the times”