And also I've been planning this for a long time. This not a result from my previous posts, although I will promise the replays (If I find them)
I think it was 1998/1999 when I lived back in Korea. Our family got a brand new computer that ran Windows 98. We already had one computer that ran Windows 95, but it was the slowest thing I've ever seen in my life. As a bonus, the guy who installed the computer put on some games on the computer for us to enjoy. I don't remember the full list at the moment. It was something like House of the Dead, Virtua Cop 2, Rainbow Six etc. Simple PC games. Then there was StarCraft Brood War.
It was just a simple game to me I guess. Build stuff, try to defend, and win against the computer. Given that I never had the legitimate copy of the game, I was stuck playing against the computers. And I lost horribly during those days, yet I had so much fun. But when I got sick of the losing, I would cheat in the game. Or more like, my mom would remember the wording 'power overwhelming' and then type it for me whenever I started a new game (she still recalls those days =3).
I played about 3 matches against my friends at PC Bang, but I never frequented due to the fact that I had my own PC. But by the time when SC tournaments began in Korea (When Ssamjjang won), I really didn't play SC anymore. I was more into Rainbow Six and other few games at that time. I was able to play Rainbow Six through MSN Zone (ahhh... good days), play 바람의나라 (Country of the Wind? I don't know if they have this in English. But better than killing mushrooms, eh nexon? Oldies ARE better =3), Crazy Arcade, Roller Coaster Tycoon, and frequented arcade for DDR, Ez2Dj, Pump it Up, and Drummania.
And then I move to America in 2003. All the arcade games are gone, but I still had my computer games. MSN Zone worked perfectly, RCT was meh, and then found a new games to play: Stepmania, DJ MAX (Spent literally half the day playing this whenever I had the chance), some PS2 games (Including PIU PS2 which I got it imported from Korea around 2004~2005), and Sudden Attack.
Then one day, I look through my bookshelf. I see a book that says 'StarCraft Strategy Book.' I decide to give it a read, and find the game interesting again. Soon, I start playing the game like madman, trying to beat the computer without doing any cheats (Usually played fastest and then put cannons everywhere). It has gotten to a point where my Dad threw out the book and then uninstalled the game from the PC. I loved the game; my addiction did not allow it however.
Then comes high school. My dad still doesn't want me to play SC. Yet majority of my friends play SC. Some of them still play today, or have moved on to SC2. They are leunal, synapse, and blahman3344 (yes they are my IRL friends). Some not so friendly but still played against online are Animostas and (GASP!) pTen. With plenty of people to play with, I was eventually able to get the ban lifted from my house and play the game against my friends, yet again (only to ban few days later when my dad thought that I had gaming addiction when I played MW at 11:00 PM on FRIDAY night, which meant I didn't have to do any work (and especially on that weekend, I had nothing else to do)).
When I come back few months later, I do my first PvP against blahman3344. I've always remembered that Terran seemed the best, but I liked them cannons and carriers. I do go carriers in the game, but then I was surprised when a flying object just randomly popped out of nowhere, and many things under the object started attacking my base. Throughout the last..... 9 years, I've never known that Arbiters could do such thing. After that, I've stuck with Protoss. Sure, people say that it is easy (and stuck with that wording slightly), but I liked the arbiter so much: Stasis, Recall, and the cloaking.
Then for a whole year, I start playing on iCCup. Worse than D players but better than D- players, I was stuck between those two levels for a long time; probably about two years. Then came the school video game tournament, SC included. The previous year, I didn't participate in it due to Rock Band and GH3 (God I complained like a bitch that day). The previous year's winner leunal didn't participate since he was C, and the rest of the people in our school was D, maybe synapse D+ (he didn't participate either because he's been running the tournament). I knew for a fact, however, that pTen was going to be there, and I was scared. My PvZ back then was E level. After a wall-in, I didn't know what to do. So a week before the tournament, I decide to practice PvZ as much as I can. I did bring it up to D\\D- level, but I was still unsure whether it was good enough.
Turns out I never met him during the tournament. After the raffle, my first opponent was blahman3344. We both looked at each other, thinking 'oh god this is the end'. However, I was slightly scared due to the fact that he's been playing the game longer than me, plus he was better than me at the game (during that time).
Game 1, I don't remember what happened, but I lost. Then I thought to myself 'I have to play a map where we really haven't played a lot against each other.' I picked Neo Medusa. The son of a bitch (no offense sir! =3) cannon rushes me on the cliff; something I never knew about. Luckly, I was able to spot it, kill it off, then drop reavers to finish the game.
Map for Game 3 was obviously Destination; everyone loved and practiced on the map. Replay of the game:
Our rivalry has gotten to a point where we were both pissed at each other, and our replay ended up on Day[9] lower level replays.
After that, I meet two terrans: Animostas and some other kid who never plays. Stork elevator is very useful kids!
After winning the tournament, I found StarCraft really fun and started playing more and more iCCup. Then come around December of 2009, I remember my friends talking about this StarCraft community online where they had all the strats, Korean SC coverage (I didn't know it was huge in Korea till then), etc. It was TeamLiquid.
From there, it's pretty much self-explanatory through my previous blogs, live translations, and few posts.
In real life, blahman3344 and I personally hate pTen for many reasons (that means you shouldn't like him. It's our personal opinion). After chatting online, I decide to come up with something stupid to embarrass the kid. This was the result.
pTen: "Sorry that I had to leave" pTen: "I'll just say that you won" pTen: "Bye"
Of course, to this date, no one knows if he actually knew what was going on.
P.S. I've been using the name SNM[Prist] and Alter[Prist], as well as its variations for a long time. One day, I was thinking to myself 'I need a decent name.' It just so happened that I was thinking of the name Priest. Yet I didn't want to sound religious so I took out the 'e'.
P.P.S. (Edit)
Good old days between me and blahman3344, recorded by synapse =3
On September 01 2010 00:19 Conversion wrote: oh wow.. I used to do the same thing as you did.. LOL. except with zerg, sunkens, and guardians.
바람의나라 was such a good game.. +_+ I remember playing that for over 6 hours a day when I was younger.
You have no idea. I spent 2 weeks trying to get a free yellow paper from someone to transfer from world to world when I died. I was in the special 'rich' section where there wasn't a place for revival and get back all the items that you previously owned T.T And then I quit when I realized that you have to pay after level 11.
As I was going through this I remembered my days when I first played SC... ahh those were the days I played mostly fastest then after I found out about ZC oh man I massed like ZC for about 5-6 hours here and there and it was amazing how bored I didn't get. I always knew about "Koreans playing SC as a sport in Korea" that's how I knew of it back then. Then a friend from WoW told me I should watch some SC games. Soon after that I began following SC since around the end of 08, I think it was when Flash vs Berserker final was going on.
I think I found out about TL.net when I kept watching Tasteless commentate and he'd always shout out for you guys ^_^ I'm glad to be here :D:D
EPT
Can you link the Day9 cast? hahaha, I'd love to watch that game too. 
