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PC Rooms

Erika Solomon reports on the latest teen gamer spots.

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By Erika Solomon

Video games have come a long way since the old Atari systems of the 80s. And these days, arcades are getting serious competition from PC rooms. They are the latest teen gamer spots, where kids can play on-line video games with computers at very fast, T1 connection speeds. Youth Radio's Erika Solomon reports on this youth culture export from Korea that's moved from ethnic neighborhoods around the United States into a mainstream youth phenomenon.

I started noticing the popularity of PC rooms two years ago when I discovered an interesting clique at my school — a mix of white jocks and Asian techies. Once behind the computer screens at our local PC rooms, they all become equals — in violent combat for a cyber victory on their favorite computer games. These rooms are the teenager's arcade for the new millennium— with a little more sophistication. Some enthusiasts like Alvin Ispiritu spend most of their vacation there.

Alvin Ispiritu: Since school has been out I've been here all day, everyday — like, an all day pass here is 15 dollars and I did it like six days in a row.

Alvin spends about $100 a week here, from money he saves up doing yard work and other projects for family and neighbors. In Korea, the PC room boom was like the dot com boom here — people made tons of money in the business. Then, it was exported to Asian neighborhoods here in the United States, and now they have spread out in the urban areas, and even into the suburbs. Scott Kim runs one of the PC rooms by my school — iPC Zone.

Scott Kim: They [kids] come here to play games and use the net to check their mail and chat with friends. [You can make] a lot of money [in this business] I would say.

But more importantly, computer gaming is now a social event, and PC rooms the chosen hang out spot. And, of course, there is the darker side to the allure of PC rooms. Often times, addiction can set in. Take Alvin, for example.

Alvin Ispiritu: I stay until they close a lot. [Why are computer games so addicting?] I have no idea. It just is. That's what it is. It's addicting. And there's nothing you can do about it. Once you're hooked, you're hooked.

There's also a major cool factor involved in the PC room world. For example, one PC room started to be "plagued" with children from the junior high and elementary school across the street on school days. High schoolers relocated themselves until their evening rounds, or completely abandoned that PC room all together for another one three blocks away.

PC room clans are another clique phenomenon in these rooms. 15-year-old Trevor Tripet explains.

Trevor Tripet: Clans are usually sorta like a team for online games like Counter Strike. Usually it's like a group of friends who stay together and they play and they compete over leagues that are online over the Internet. It's something like a baseball league over the Internet.

Trevor, a self proclaimed ex-PC room addict, has his own claim to fame in the neighborhood's local PC room scene

Trevor Tripet: When I was more active into the whole "PC room thing," me and my friends were the best team around Glendale. We would play people for money.

Trevor has no idea how much money he made.

Trevor Tripet: I wouldn't know because most of that money was spent at a PC room.

Even if you gamble away all your money betting on Counter Strike games, the PC room industry has figured out a solution to keep business booming: Broke kids can still play. Die hards, like Alvin, have a tab.

Alvin Ispiritu: You pay later. Play now, pay later.

For Marketplace, I'm Erika Solomon in Los Angeles.

Host Back Announce: That story was produced by Youth Radio.