Dal Yong Jin

Navigational Media : The Political Economy of Online Traffic

List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgments Part One: Introductory Essay 1 The Political Economies of Media and the Transformation of the Global Media Industries: An Introductory Essay 3 Dwayne Winseck, Carleton University Part Two: From the Singular to the Plural-Theorizing the Digital and Networked Media Industries in the Twenty-First Century Principal ongoing mutations of Cultural and Informational Industries Bernand Miege, Carleton University Media Ownership, Oligarchies, and Globalization: Media Concentration in South America Guillermo Mastrini and Martin Becerra, University of Buenos Aires Media as Creative Industries: Conglomeration and Globalization as Accumulation Strategies in an Age of Digital Media Terry Flew, Queensland University of Technology The Structure and Dynamics of Communications Business Networks in an Era of Convergence: Mapping the Global Networks of the Information Business Amelia Arsenault, Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania Part Three The Conquest of Capital or Creative Gales of Destruction? Hard Jobs in Hollywood: How Concentration in Distribution Affects the Production Side of the Media Entertainment Industry 123 Susan Christopherson, Cornell University Financialization and the Crisis of the Media: The Rise and Fall of (Some) Media Conglomerates in Canada Dwayne Winseck, Carleton University Deconvergence and Deconsolidation in the Global Media Industries: The Rise and Fall of (Some) Media Conglomerate(s) Dal Yong Jin, Simon Fraser University Navigational Media: The Political Economy of Online Traffic Elizabeth Van Couvering, Leicester University The Contemporary World Wide Web: Social Medium or New Space of Accumulation? Christian Fuchs, Uppsala University Part Four Communication, Conventions, and Crises Running on empty?: The Uncertain Financial Futures of Public Service Media in the Contemporary Media Policy Environment Peter A. Thompson, University of Wellington Mediation, Financialization, and the Global Financial Crisis: An Inverted Political Economy Perspective Aeron Davis, University of London The Wizards of Oz: Peering Behind the Curtain on the Relationship Between Central Banks and the Business Media Marc-Andre Pigeon, Carleton University References Suggested Subject Index Terms

Korea's Online Gaming Empire

In South Korea, online gaming is a cultural phenomenon. Games are broadcast on television, professional gamers are celebrities, and youth culture is often identified with online gaming. Uniquely in the online games market, Korea not only dominates the local market but has also made its mark globally. In Koreas Online Gaming Empire, Dal Yong Jin examines the rapid growth of this industry from a political economy perspective, discussing it in social, cultural, and economic terms. Korea has the largest percentage of broadband subscribers of any country in the world, and Koreans spend increasing amounts of time and money on Internet-based games. Online gaming has become a mode of socializinga channel for human relationships. The Korean online game industry has been a pioneer in software development and eSports (electronic sports and leagues). Jin discusses the policies of the Korean government that encouraged the development of online gaming both as a cutting-edge business and as a cultural touchstone; the impact of economic globalization; the relationship between online games and Korean society; and the future of the industry. He examines the rise of Korean online games in the global marketplace, the emergence of eSport as a youth culture phenomenon, the working conditions of professional gamers, the role of game fans as consumers, how Koreas local online game industry has become global, and whether these emerging firms have challenged the Wests dominance in global markets.