Where playing video games is real life

 

Where playing video games is real life

 

Seo-yun Cho doesn’t have time for hobbies because she spends all her time playing video games. ‘I practise as much as I can so I will improve,’ she says. ‘This is what I really need to do.’

 

Seo-yun and her friends are members of KS Fireflies 6, a video game team. She and the other members share a flat in Seoul’s business district. Since they all left school, they have managed to make playing video games their life.

 

Every day, Seo-yun gets up after a good night’s sleep at 10 a.m. and goes for a jog for an hour, before sitting down at her computer and starting to play. She and her friends have a few breaks to eat and relax during the day and the evening, but Seo-yun thinks that after midnight is when she has more fun playing than at any other time. She usually goes to bed at 3 a.m.

 

Seo-yun and the rest of the team need to train hard and keep fit, as top players need to do about 500 mouse-clicks a minute. Video games are big business in South Korea, and the best players (like KS Firefiles 6) usually become even better known than top baseball or volleyball players.

 

Some people might get bored after playing video games for an hour or two. But these guys are actually getting paid to do something they love as a job. Many of them would even like to do it for free!

 

University of Cambridge (2019) ‘Where playing video games in real life’ in Exam Practice Test 5: Reading and Writing Part 3 in A2 Key for Schools Trainer. 2^nd edition. Cambridge University Press: UK. Pages 114 and 115.