By Considering the popularity of first person shooter games in KOrea, this shouldn’t be too surprising to anyone:
Dressed in U.S. military uniforms and carrying guns that look eerily like M-16s and M-240s, they run through the woods or dart behind man-made obstacles.
The goal is simple: Shoot the enemy, and don’t get shot.
Just a few miles from the border between North and South Korea, these South Koreans stage their mock wars every weekend. Called “survival games,” they have been popular across South Korea for years, among both military buffs and city slickers from Seoul and other urban areas.
“Why do I like shooting guns?” said Kang Tae-il. “Why do women like wearing makeup or playing with dolls? It’s the same thing.”
In a country where few people have guns and talk of sending even small numbers of troops to Iraq or Afghanistan sparks outrage, playing war is a surprisingly popular pastime.
Survival games appeal to the “destructive instinct of the human being,” said Baek Kyung-yeop, a former South Korean special forces soldier and owner of CQB OPS — short for “Close Quarters Battle Operations” — one of the 171 survival game businesses in South Korea.
“You think of yourself as a real soldier,” he said. [Stars & Stripes]
Read the rest but in the above picture you can see there is a Camp Stanley soldier that plays these survival games. It just makes me wonder how long before someone comes up with the idea put these games off limits to soldiers for some obscure reason?
6:30 am on June 15th, 2009 1
If I were a
field gradegeneral or sergeant major, I’d put them off limits because of linkage to black market TA-50.Reply
7:30 am on June 15th, 2009 2
Sounds like some “fun” training. Better than hitting the bars. In other words, a good idea. I’m sure some desk bureaucrat in uniform will find a reason to shoot this down. “safety concerns — black market — whatever”
Interesting how in korea they are so against the real thing, but love to play the game. Why is it that when I think of korea, I also think of “hello kitty”. Opps, I Ramble—-
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June 15th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Just commenting…
Imo, Japan is a more anti-war nation among it’s people. Yet some people participate in such activities for recreation as well.
In fact, as I know it, Airsoft guns are created in japan and are now a popular activities in such war games, along with paintball. Japan started the airsoft craze back in the 60s-70s. Today, Tokyo Marui Co. are known as one of the best airsoft manufacturer in the world.
airsoft guns, the great kinds, are real-live replica, full metal, 1:1 scale ratio, weigh the same and even function like a real one, or so I heard.
I’m recently into airsoft, so I’m thinking about buying one in the near future.
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11:39 am on June 15th, 2009 3
They shouldn’t give toy guns to GI’s. They’ll put their eyes out.
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1:21 pm on June 15th, 2009 4
They should be put off limits because they’re stupid. There’s another adjective that I’d like to use, but I’m sure that it will be blocked.
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4:39 pm on June 15th, 2009 5
Its just for fun. the Korean people would still be playing the game if an American wasnt playing with them. There will be a game soon with some American soldiers against the ROK army soldiers maybe the first of July.
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7:09 pm on June 15th, 2009 6
That GI doesn’t look too happy. Just sayin’.
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2:07 am on June 16th, 2009 7
its a fun game, we also teach english on saturdays to Korean university students and older Korean people who want to learn. Its strictly volunteer, then we all go after to eat and drink if anyone is interested in either one contact me at clayton@who.net
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