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They gathered in plastic chairs on ... a beach just before sunset, paying the equivalent of $3 per ticket. Advertisements hung from the stage, the speakers and the overhead lights. The players for the two teams wore uniforms, distinguished by sponsorship logos of competing telecommunications companies.

While South Korea's Internet game industry has grown into an entertainment force on par with television and film, Internet addiction has become a national social problem. Elite Korean professional gamers have loyal fans, lucrative salaries and signature celebration moves. A typical high school student, meanwhile, spends 23 hours a week playing Internet games.

In the world's most wired country, the government faces a collision of interests concerning Internet game-playing. Some lawmakers say South Korea must fight Internet addiction by targeting the gaming industry, limiting the hours at which their games are available. Others see the industry as a still-growing moneymaker -- even a hallmark of Korean culture -- and they want it left alone.

For at least five years, the government has tried to combat Internet addiction through education for parents, counseling, discussions about alternative activities.

"But these policies haven't been effective so far," said Kim Sung Byuk, an official at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. "So now the government is putting more force into the issue."

The National Assembly is debating a bill that would block underage gamers from playing online between midnight and 6 a.m. The potential for such regulation has set off a chaotic go-round of proposals and counterproposals involving at least four government ministries, one of which refuses to use the term "Internet addiction." Officials at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who oppose regulating the gaming industry, prefer "Internet overindulgence."

South Korea's professional gaming league has charged into mainstream culture. Matches -- competitions in a game called Starcraft, the most popular in Korea -- are televised. Corporations such as Samsung sponsor teams. The league was hit this year by a gambling scandal that involved some of its highest-profile players.

In the hours before the Starcraft championship, a generation of gamers -- most ages 15 to 30, officials said -- descended on Busan's Gwangalli beach. One player waited backstage, stretching his wrists. Television broadcaster Kim Tae Hyung, famous for his overcaffeinated Starcraft commentary, emerged from his makeup room and headed on stage, emceeing a pregame show that included smoke and fireworks. Coaches, dressed in suits, gathered their teams, issuing strategy and calming words.

Then two players, one from each side, ducked into penalty-box-like booths positioned on stage, and the match was on.

Three jumbo scoreboards showed the action: an emerald land with icy orbs, vaguely insectlike predators and plenty of gunfire. When one player clinched his first-round victory, he bounced from the booth, performing a dance step and was soon surrounded by three beautiful women carrying sponsor posters.

"Before, it was recognized as a game for kids," said Kim Tae Hyung, the broadcaster. "It has become a legitimate e-sport. We've had this now for 10 years, and people now are growing up with it. Korea being the originating country for e-sports, it's very important for the government to support that."