About

Dragoon (Korean: 드라군; Revised Romanization: Deu Ra Gun) is a Korean forum game in which netizens split up a single word or phrase into three distinct posts. The game spread on the popular imageboard DC Inside, but has been played on many other Korean websites. It typically follows the format:

Origin

The Dragoon is a game unit in the StarCraft franchise, a series that is wildly popular in Korea. StarCraft Wiki gives us a rundown of the Dragoon:

The dragoon is a type of protoss quadrupedal assault walker. Following the Brood War they were succeeded by the immortal and to a lesser extent, the stalker.

In 2005, catoonist Kim Seong Mo (김성모) released his rendition of the popular StarCraft franchise. As Korean netizens began noticing his habit of drawing overly dramatic close-ups of characters, one particular scene caught their attention:

"It aches my heart to see my fellow Zealots suffer, but it's only the beginning of the battle."
"Let's not make any hasty moves."
"But what if Dragoons went to the rescue?"
"Deu!"
"Ra!"
"Gun!!"

Spread

As a result, parody quickly ensued in the summer of 2005.

• DC Inside (2 Jun 2005)
• PlayForum (26 Jul 2005)
• Tekken Central (14 Dec 2005)
• 초보 라이더의 라이딩 일지 (27 Aug 2005)
• PPOMPPU (29 April 2007)
• Results on Google

Examples

"Deu-Ra-Gun" Puns

A variation on the game is to reply with words that sound similar to "Dragoon" because the most popular way to start it is with the phrase, "But what if dragoons went to the rescue?" ("하지만 드라군 출동하면 어떨까 ?"):

Note that the original poster's "드라군" is not the same as the other users' "드래곤," despite sounding similar.

Combo Break

Like most forum games, it is also sometimes victim to users who want to ruin the series of posts:

Its popularity (and perceived overuse) has led several online communities to ban the word, "Dragoon," altogether.

Search Interest

Searches for "Dragoon" ("드라군") correlate with the game's rise in 2005.

External References