Player vs. Player becomes Person vs. Person - Hyon-P fighting in Korea

Virtual Violence Leads to Real Punch-ups


By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

When a couple of middle school students first met in an online chat room last June, nobody thought they would meet face to face. All they wanted was to have fun using the online messenger Buddy Buddy.

However, after a few talks, the students began quarreling over who was the best fighter in the area and whose school is the best. In a few minutes, the chatting room was full of netizens cheering for one party or the other.

``Why don't you guys meet and decide who really is the strong one?'' The suggestion was cheered by many watchers and in a few hours, 28 middle school students gathered at a playground in Nowon-gu, throwing fists at each other.

The police said yesterday that it has charged the 28 students without detention.

Virtual reality that has been the craze of so many Koreans is moving into the real world _ violently.

Hyon-P, a compound word derived from “hyonsil'' (reality) and an online game term ``Player Kill's P,'' is spreading among people more involved in their online lives than their real ones.

The 28 students are not the only ones who experienced Hyon-P. Two teenagers scuffled on Kangnam Boulevard, one of the most crowded areas in Seoul, last September after they got into a row on a Web site known for its members' activeness. Their punches were recorded and uploaded on numerous Web sites, and the footage became one of the most searched-for video clips on portal Web sites.

Hyon-P is becoming a more serious problem as more people learn about it online and partake, also encouraging others to do so.

On online game sites, people often threaten each other with Hyon-P. The threat of violence is sometimes used to extort money from other players.

``It is not surprising that these situations occur in Korea,'' said Choi Saet-byul, a professor of sociology at Ewha Womans University. She said that Koreans tend to relate online life with the real world. She said online community members' gathering offline is an example of the two worlds merging.

``Because it is about violence, it sounds more serious, but netizens will get to learn manners and how to deal with online arrogance,'' she said. Online assaults sometimes trigger impulsiveness, she said, and people should consider that before taking any real-world action.



bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
11-03-2006 18:06