South Korean teenager Yoon Ki-chan gets just three hours of sleep a day but spends more than three times that playing online games — with the blessing of his parents and teachers — as he dreams of becoming a top pro League of Legends player.
Yoon and his peers are the next generation of gamers in South Korea, a fast-growing esports powerhouse whose players have won Riot Games' League of Legends World Championship six times since the most-watched esports event began in 2011.
They will also benefit from the country's announcement in August that it will abolish a decade-old law which bans those below the age of 16 from playing online games on computers from midnight to 6 a.m, due to growing consensus youths are increasingly using their mobile phones instead.