ask teenagers around the world how they love to spend their time, and chances are they'll say video games. But no compare to South Korea for love video games! You walk around the COEX mall in Seoul on a Friday evening, and you look around. Teenagers are hanging out, people are shopping, families are eating in food courts, couples are out on dates... It's just like any other mall. And then you hear screams that are coming from the end of a corridor in the huge building. You walk in, and what do you see? Hundreds of young people, mostly women and girls, are waving sings and singing slogans. They are the fans of some of the nation's most famous sports stars, such as Lim-Yo-Hwan, Choi Yeon-Sung and Suh-Ji-Houn. Their sport is something you don’t normally find in the west. They are professional video games. People admire them for their skill in the science-fiction strategy game StarCraft . Next to these players is a panel of commentators and dozens of reporters. The players are not competing today. They are here for selection for a coming tournament. There are two full-time video game television networks in Korea, and competitive gaming is one of the top televised sports. Thousands of fans attend the StarCraft tournament final is stadiums. But public video game areas aren’t just for top players. South Korea has more than 20000 public PC gaming rooms, or “bangs,” which attract more than a million people a day. Video games are exciting and offer some real opportunities to solve problems and use strategic and critical thinking skills. Some parents actually encourage their children to play such video games as a way to relax, as an escape from academic pressure, and as a fun way to use brainpower.