Who's the bigger celeb in Korea? BTS or Faker?

    Who's more popular in Korea? 51

    1. BTS (35) 69%
    2. Faker (16) 31%

    For those of you unfamiliar with Faker, he is considered the best player in the history of League of Legends, the most popular game in the world.


    He recently made headlines for helping his team win a gold medal at the Asian Games


    Faker and Team Korea earn military exemption after claiming the gold medal in League of Legends competition at the Asian Games
    On September 29, Team Korea emerged victorious in the League of Legends competition at the 19th Asian Games, thereby securing the coveted gold medal.…
    www.allkpop.com


    As you can see from the article, he is even being granted a military exemption due to the national prestige of his accomplishments as a League player.


    I was discussing his exemption with a couple of my gamer buddies(who are HUGE Faker fanboys), and they thought he easily deserved it, even moreso than BTS, for his career accomplishments the past decade. That's when I mentioned the billions BTS has brought to the Korean economy for the past decade in their careers (I was pro BTS exemption).


    Anyway, enough set up. Weigh in.


    And yes, I know asking this here is like going to a discord server for Group A and asking "Do you prefer Group A or Group B?", but I'm still curious to see everybody's thoughts.

    Quote from Icaro_Ribeiro

    I believe e sports athletes don't have anywhere near as much following and media coverage as singers. So BTS is the easy pick here

    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from icyruios

    I mean I don't know who is more popular because I don't live there.


    But regardless, popularity doesn't equate to miliary exemption. Neither does GDP or economic contribution to the country.


    There are certain laws and rules in placed on who is granted military exemption and who isn't, and it isn't based on popularty.

    I never argued otherwise. I know the exemption is based on a law pertaining to accomplished nationally recognized athletes, not popularity.


    I'm just linking a video for context on how popular Faker is, and you can look at the comments for more insights from people who do live in Korea (or at least are more familiar with his fame).

  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from YamaChwan

    I never argued otherwise. I know the exemption is based on a law pertaining to accomplished nationally recognized athletes, not popularity.


    I'm just linking a video for context on how popular Faker is, and you can look at the comments for more insights from people who do live in Korea (or at least are more familiar with his fame).

    Oh I'm just arguing with you I'm just stating my opinion no conflict there.


    Koreans are lucky that they even have military exemption because in my country there is no such thing even if you are an Olympic winner


    Like you literally need to be drastically mentally and physically incapable to serve to be granted exemption.

    For me both gaming and kpop is a subculture.


    In that sense it's very hard to say who is more seen or more popular. As some have no idea about kpop neither have I idea about gaming. No matter how big the accomplishment is, people will critisize. For me no matter what, it is weird that you can get an exemption as an esport player. But I am not korean and I am not that bothered so it is not a big deal for me and I don't feel the urge to say much about it. Congratulation to them and I hope they don't get the same smear-campaign BTS got. People can get ugly quickly.


    But I do feel like because of the reputation of an idol it's no matter how big BTS actually is, there would be too much badmouthing of their exemption because people look down on idols. So it is better that they took matters in their own hands and kept quiet and some of them already went to the military. That's my view.

    * * * * * * •×• * * * * * *

    I actually voted for Faker because Korean domestic media often downplays BTS's impact and achievements, so I'm going to guess that BTS is not in the public consciousness as much.

    Also let me add that, he as in Faker specifically did not receive an exemption. It is all members of Team Korea which participated in Asian games and won the gold medal. The law is that everyone who will win gold medal for Korea in Asian games will receive an exemption.

    It is not special exemption to Faker or all esports players. He is not getting exemption for what he has done over the years. He and other players on the team are getting exemption because they won Asian games gold. If this sport was not a part of Asian games, he or other esports players would not have received an exemption.


    So this comparison doesn't even make sense. Because there is nothing special about this exemption.

    Quote from AyanEva

    I actually voted for Faker because Korean domestic media often downplays BTS's impact and achievements, so I'm going to guess that BTS is not in the public consciousness as much.

    That used to be the case when they weren't as big. Since they got 'Order of Cultural Merit', BTS have been given fair amount of respect by Korean media. BTS are always in the news for one reason or another.

    Don't believe what everything twitter kpop fans say. There is some truth but it's not that extreme.

    Quote from Lost-Guardian

    That used to be the case when they weren't as big. Since they got 'Order of Cultural Merit', BTS have been given fair amount of respect by Korean media. BTS are always in the news for one reason or another.

    Don't believe what everything twitter kpop fans say. There is some truth but it's not that extreme.

    I was more going off the news clips and articles that I've watched and read myself and stuff that some Korean music critics have said.

    BTS and its not close, but the comparision is not really fair, its a whole group against an individual. Individually hes probably up there with the most popular members (in korea)


    But then him getting an exemption also doesnt have anything to do with his popularity

  • AllKill VIP

    “he is even being granted a military exemption due to the national prestige of his accomplishments as a League player”


    So you can get an exemption for playing video games, but being an Idol from a successful Kpop Group that is pushing the Hallyu wave, which brings way more attention and even money to South Korea won’t? lol

    Quote from Lost-Guardian

    Also let me add that, he as in Faker specifically did not receive an exemption. It is all members of Team Korea which participated in Asian games and won the gold medal. The law is that everyone who will win gold medal for Korea in Asian games will receive an exemption.

    It is not special exemption to Faker or all esports players. He is not getting exemption for what he has done over the years. He and other players on the team are getting exemption because they won Asian games gold. If this sport was not a part of Asian games, he or other esports players would not have received an exemption.


    So this comparison doesn't even make sense. Because there is nothing special about this exemption.

    ....What are you even talking about?


    The thread isn't "Why did Faker receive an exemption while BTS didn't?", which would then warrant your reaction.


    The thread is simply asking who is more popular.


    It's not that deep.

    Quote from SandyBee3

    “he is even being granted a military exemption due to the national prestige of his accomplishments as a League player”


    So you can get an exemption for playing video games, but being an Idol from a successful Kpop Group that is pushing the Hallyu wave, which brings way more attention and even money to South Korea won’t? lol

    Playing video game is not as easy job as it sounds. It is actually extremely stressful and demanding job. It is completely different playing for fun or extremely competitive level. Competition for league is extremely high all around the world.

    Quote from SandyBee3

    “he is even being granted a military exemption due to the national prestige of his accomplishments as a League player”


    So you can get an exemption for playing video games, but being an Idol from a successful Kpop Group that is pushing the Hallyu wave, which brings way more attention and even money to South Korea won’t? lol


    Seriously.


    IT'S AN EFFING VIDEO GAME OOOOMMMGGGG.


    There is no universe in existence where it makes sense to put a video game player on anything remotely close to the same level of an actual musical group that actually creates something. Like even Dynamite is 100000000000x more impressive than anything a video game player has done in his entire life. X(

    Quote from SandyBee3

    “he is even being granted a military exemption due to the national prestige of his accomplishments as a League player”


    So you can get an exemption for playing video games, but being an Idol from a successful Kpop Group that is pushing the Hallyu wave, which brings way more attention and even money to South Korea won’t? lol

    You should push for the Olympic Council of Asia to also add Pop Music to the Asian Games so that Korean idols may also have a chance to get exempted. I think that they will sympathize with you.

  • AllKill VIP

    If both were to hold an event in Korea and you have to pay $100 to attend the event to watch them. Which one do you think would have more people attending?

  • AllKill VIP
    Quote from WhyKnock

    Faker, for the demographic who was hell bent sending BTS to the military, i.e. men in 20s with lower socioeconomic level in Korea, whose only two joys are playing games and bad mouthing successful people.

    sounds exactly like you....the more you know

    Quote from icyruios

    I mean I don't know who is more popular because I don't live there.


    But regardless, popularity doesn't equate to miliary exemption. Neither does GDP or economic contribution to the country.


    There are certain laws and rules in placed on who is granted military exemption and who isn't, and it isn't based on popularty.

    Exactly THIS! it gets old hearing 🤡 opinions from fans who think x is more important or deserving of something when they don't even understand an iota of it. Thinking they have a voice on something that 1 isn't their country, culture or home. 2 isn't even apart of the gender that is affected by such decisions. And 3 not Korean at all. But suddenly their opinions matter on the day to day operations of a nation 10,000miles away and across 2 oceans from them. Try fixing the shit show in your own country first before you try taking on somebody else's problems.

    Quote from kazuyakamenashi

    Exactly THIS! it gets old hearing 🤡 opinions from fans who think x is more important or deserving of something when they don't even understand an iota of it. Thinking they have a voice on something that 1 isn't their country, culture or home. 2 isn't even apart of the gender that is affected by such decisions. And 3 not Korean at all. But suddenly their opinions matter on the day to day operations of a nation 10,000miles away and across 2 oceans from them. Try fixing the shit show in your own country first before you try taking on somebody else's problems.

    Ok, a korean guy here


    Who is more popular where you live mate?

    Quote from Person01

    The whole situation is just to show how respected idols are in korea.

    Idola up until recently were often seen as not real artists this comes from the whole way the industry works and started out with. As originally idols were totally manufactured from images to music to personality, its hard to get rid of that image even today. It's the main reason they didn't get that respect. This comes from very long held traditional and cultural beliefs. But if you aren't Korean you won't understand it. Best just leave Korea to deal with Korean problems they don't need foreigners budding their head in their business. Nobody needs white savior/western colonialism save us mentality. We Asians are grown adults we can govern our own lands

  • This thread contains 60 more posts that have been hidden for guests, please register yourself or login to continue reading.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login