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The Korean National Tourism Organization pushes a buzzword, "hallyu" ("Korean wave"), the new enthusiasm for Korean pop culture in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Over there, hallyu is driven by Korea's feverish TV soap operas. Here, "hallyu" is only just now impinging on American awareness. The dedicated trend-watcher can find a few Korean films, some manga and, most notably, online games.

Seoul's online giant NCSoft runs the world's biggest MMORPG, Lineage, which has seven million subscribers. To import Lineage to America, NCSoft established a beachhead office in Austin, Texas, run by Richard "Lord British" Garriott and his brother Robert. But Lineage made disappointing headway here (though Lineage II has done better). Another import, Webzen's Shattered Galaxy, tanked. Prospects aren't much better for online golf and the like.

Other attempts to cross the Pacific have been hit-or-miss in both directions. In the RoK, Blizzard's World of Warcraft bids fair to match its blockbuster precursor, StarCraft. But the games distributed by NCSoft Austin - City of Heroes and the new Guild Wars - hit big in America, yet have met only tepid response in Korea.

The two nations' games show different cultural assumptions. "Korean games are all about community, prestige, and hierarchy," said venture capitalist John Woongjae Lee at the 2003 Austin Game Conference. "Graphics aren't as important as customer service, fast patching, and speed-of-light adaptation" to new customer desires. Conversely, the graphics in some Korean games can turn off a Western viewer. Magic in these games is showy, spectacular, with vivid rainbow colors. Show these effects to an American EverQuest player and he may sniff, "That's not what a fireball looks like."