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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: jamster on Mon, 23 March 2015, 01:44:31

Title: What is it about Korea and Keyboards?
Post by: jamster on Mon, 23 March 2015, 01:44:31: Does anyone know what it is about Korea that seems to have made this country #1 for keyboard obsessions? It seems like none of the other seriously industrialised Asian countries are anywhere near as crazy about keyboards, especially at the far end of the custom scale.

How long have custom mechanical keyboards been a 'thing' in Korea anway- is it a fairly recent thing or has it been around for a long time?
Title: Re: What is it about Korea and Keyboards?
Post by: SpAmRaY on Mon, 23 March 2015, 06:26:44: Been around before this place existed.

And there are or at least used to be a few threads with some good details about this.
Title: Re: What is it about Korea and Keyboards?
Post by: Photekq on Mon, 23 March 2015, 07:03:09: Kbdmania was started in 2003.

I would guess that the success of esports in Korea has something to do with it.
Title: Re: What is it about Korea and Keyboards?
Post by: bueller on Mon, 23 March 2015, 08:29:06: 2003 - wow.

When was GH started?
Title: Re: What is it about Korea and Keyboards?
Post by: SpAmRaY on Mon, 23 March 2015, 08:31:09: Quote from: bueller on Mon, 23 March 2015, 08:29:06
2003 - wow.

When was GH started?

~ August 2007
Title: Re: What is it about Korea and Keyboards?
Post by: Art of Payce on Tue, 24 March 2015, 01:46:33: Well, for one: Korea has always been ahead of the curve on the Internet. By the mid 90s there, cyberspace was commonplace. Albeit for the average Joe, the early Internet was a bunch of basic, low-tech message boards, the precursors to full-fledged forums and such. These days, by and large and on average, Koreans have some of the fastest internet speeds in the world. Basically, the whole country adopted the Internet sooner than most others and therefore, many Koreans became habitually present online. That set the stage for all kinds of subcultures and communities of users to develop, including eSports and consumer electronics where you would expect overlap of interests (i.e. input devices). In addition, I generally believe that urban life of densely populated metropolitan areas is conducive to sharing hobbies; more people tends to increase diversity and resources. It's quite simple, but maybe not so obvious to some people unless you think about it: You can use the Internet to actually meet people in person to learn, exchange ideas, and collaborate on projects!

I'd be interested in a detailed history from the founder or elders of KBMania, if we ever get a chance to snag a bilingual interviewer.
Title: Re: What is it about Korea and Keyboards?
Post by: JaccoW on Tue, 24 March 2015, 03:36:54: That would be a great CtrlAlt blog post! Rise of the custom MKB: Korea