Here is another entry in my blog for Korea, I'll avoid giving my opinions on certain pro-gamers (check the spoiler tag if you are drama-oriented, otherwise just read and enjoy I keep the rest of the blog free from it). Now to share my love for the people here which is strong.
Easily the most trustworthy populace I have ever encountered in my lifetime of world travel.
My gripe is finding an affordable apartment without key money, I found a dormitory that is more then perfect for my situation but I digress. I want to recommend gamers move here to train if they find a place. So I will make this offer to specific players who are not on a team and are willing to "go-pro" and need someone to ween them into the society.
First come here with the intention of trying it. But I want you to pack as if you are moving here for 3 months. I will start a pseudo-gaming house with rent you will pay to the house mother. You will be provided with 50MBPS down/30MPBS upload internet speed, breakfast, dinner, a laundry machine (no dryer, its coldwash and we provide the free soap). I am here until at least December 14th, Feb is when I need to get my VISA turned into a work type or just visit another place to refresh the Korean tourist visa. If you are here during the first half of December I will try my best to get on the path too enlightenment. PM me.
BYOC, bring your own rig and when you pack it bring it on as carry on. As much as I love PC bangs here to have to setup your periphials everytime you visit them is a hassle, and the food availible at these places aren't healthy. I want to start gaming in my dormitory which I will be heading to dongsan to do some PC shopping very shortly.
Regardless "Team Carefoot" is being accessembled I have a manager picked out here already, hes a 31 year old art director from a games company - hes a stand in until we find someone more suitable but for now hes good because he yells at you when you're not playing and he can tell you what food the house mother is making in English if you can't speak Korean like me. He means well and he works for free =]
And while I want to be super strict about taking the experience seriously, ultiamtely you're paying for you're own experience and you can wade through it however you like. Infact I haven't been playing as many games due to GSL - I have been attending every live event and because of this my training has fallen off this first month. Assuming everything goes and continues to go as well as it has - I will dedicate future time to just training.
Being a foreigner isn't a bad thing, when I first heard this this term outside of Korea I thought South Koreans might just be racist. Being a foreigner in Korea is a good thing. You are given a lee-way for being ignorant to custums and social graces. Being open to learning will be your biggest asset here, young Koreans will want to try to speak English with you and people will only want to help you.
Big enemy of yourself here is making the decision to be a tourist or a pro-gamer, I've been way more of a tourist as I have been keeping blogs, making videos and talking to people about my experience. I am laying the ground work, soul searching and deciding if this is for me.
I'm 21 years old, and I am holding myself accountable to this experience which I love so dearly. I feel once I get my PC in my dorm here I will rapidly improve.
Now onto the blog part about Starcraft and me. Playing race random in Korea is advantageous in that its off the beaten path, utliamtely in tournaments I think I would dominate the most if I was given the opportunity to choose my matchups as I am good against Protoss with Terran, I enjoy playing Zerg against Terran and against Zerg I enjoy the mirror. I have strange favorite matchups but those are them, hardly imbalanced but in Starcraft 2 race picking is impossible to ladder with because its not an option.
Worst of all GSL doesn't allow it, or rather doesn't understand players such as myself exist.
So I play random desperately wanting to pick a race but feeling my plan on being a random player is destiny. It can only make me a more knowledgeable player, regardless of the match up I am constantly learning. The experience is invaluable and I feel in some ways I know more then the average race picking player
Regardless in Korea the culture respects random players, in PC bangs when they realize I am both a foreigner and a random player. They smile and are intrigued, the respect it garnishes is like no other. I can talk to any Starcraft player here and they heed my call - I theirs.
One thing I can do is empathsize with every player I encounter, and I can tell them what they need to do and do what they are struggling against. Its a good feeling.
Starcraft being centered around 1v1 match ups is important to the development of Esports, but I think doing a service to both your team and community is important.
This is what this is.
A lot of you don't "get me".
This is fine, I don't ask you too.
But stop reading here.
I am neither a hipster nor a poseur, I have played Starcraft since 1998 when I was in Grade 3. Its impression on me as always been amazing.
When WC3 came out during my end of Elementry school education, I was underwhelmed. They had improved the general Blizzard UI (ie. automining, UI remapping) but other then the fundamentals generally I missed Starcraft more then anything. I went through a phase of non-competitive gaming albeit in my infancy I played on the Asian Starcraft server.
Only thing I knew about Korea is that they could make me laugh.
Keke was adorable, 15 mins NR I first saw in a LT ladder game on Asia, doing an all in being told "manner" I was confused but interested what he was getting at.
Regardless I spent most of my competitive broodwar days on lost temple, playing free for alls on the ladder and 1v1s. My account ladder score was half decent, I played protoss and my final ladder score before they fixed hyper inflation in classic was maxed at 9999. Impossible now but then it was easy epically more so when I played in netcafes and could log multiple computers idle into ladder games to inflate the worth of my 1v1s against opponents in ladder games. Lan hacking got me used to timings back when we didn't have replays.
Ignorant of the community flourishing here on TL at the time, if I could go back and relive it all I would have dedicated myself from the get go and never let go.
But that is then, here is now and I am in South Korea. Sitting cross legged with my filco keyboard on my lap and a song is playing I have never heard in my entire life on my Grooveshark radio.
Boards of Canada - Hooper Bay
Sort of a curiously peculiar song, I'd describe myself just the same. Definitely an experience in its own right.
Do yourself a favor nerds with a passion. Sleep on it. Rest you're eyes. I need to do that. I need to find out if I mean what I want, and if I want is what I am here to find out.
Final song to log out on is: The Sea and the Cake - One Bedroom
Special thank you to the following pro-gamers for being welcoming in Korea - Torch from Startale and Jinro from Teamliquid. Cella was also nice, as was HuK, Slayers Boxer, Marine King Foxer, Nex Genius was super nice to me even with a language barrier and thanks to everyone who was nice enough to be photogenically accepting to my camera whoring. I have some more pictures I will post in the blog soon.
If you have specific questions about Korea I may not have direct experience but I can go out and have them for us both.
Take care Teamliquid, remember to take your viatmins, and always have at least one piece of fresh fruit a day.
Do you really think the Korean government will grant you a work visa and all your players work visas? Or is this just a temporary thing like a training camp?
Good luck with your ventures although i feel they might be slightly haughty. I don't mean to judge but you're kind of putting yourself 'out there' so i'll go ahead - it would probably be better if you backed a player or a few players who you see as having potential.
There's obviously some money behind this - money that could go quite a long way in making it possible for a talent to pursue gaming professionally before the scene has matured beyond where it is today. For example - look at ReSpOnSe* and how well he did in the MLG, inches away from beating Jinro who went on to win the event. With financial backing i'm confident he or another player of his caliber would be Ro32 material within months.
I'm not saying we're not in need of passionate people to drive ESPORTS, but their fire burns from having a clear purpose - yours is currently vague. The role you're trying to create for yourself within the community currently doesn't exist. My personal advice to you would be to set up a meeting with SuperDanielMan - just go to his PC bang! He can tell you a lot about everything you want to know. Exchange some ideas with him, if he permits - use his knowledge and vast experience.
Forgive me, but i only see disappointment down the road you're heading with this initiative.
*ReSpOnSe is but one example our of many with apparent talent and an unclear future but i mentioned his case as it's open for the public to see.
Good luck man, but I kind of have to agree with Thrill about the "slightly haughty" part. There are just a few instances in this blog where your tone doesn't come off as humble, at least to me. You say you are discouraged when people attack you, which is understandable. But I think if you pay attention to how your tone could sound to others, you might find the reason why some people are put off by your blogs. Just a few passages that stuck out to me:
I can talk to any Starcraft player here and they heed my call - I theirs.
the one player my Zerg play once mirrored exactly
Now, these statements you may feel to be completely true, but the important thing is how you say them. When you make claims like this, it helps to put in hedges that soften their impact. Without those hedges, it kinda comes off as self-aggrandizing and grandiose. So instead of saying that "any Starcraft player will heed your call" you could say "all the players here are really nice and helpful." Likewise, instead of saying your play was a "exact mirror" of one of the best players in the world, you can say you "felt your two playstyles were very similar." The content is essentially the same, but the tone and presentation is different.
I wanted to tell you this because we often don't realize what others perceive our tone to be. I don't want to put you down, but rather show you some of what I saw in your blog, and what I think others see as well. Everyone has times when they don't realize that others perceive them in a different way than they intended. The only way we can really begin to fix those times is if we're made aware of them.
I'd like to add that maybe I'm part of the minority here and there's actually nothing wrong with the tone of your blog. Perception of tone is a product of a lot of factors, like your culture, your upbringing, and just who you are. Still, it was noticeable to me, and I think it's worth a look. You can choose to ignore this or maybe take a look at it. Once again, good luck with all your goals.
On another note, to the people who spent the entirety of the previous thread bashing on this guy's character: manner up. Yes, his attitude is very unusual, and he behaves in a strange way. He does not get along with Artosis, who also behaves in his own rather strange way. This is no reason to bash on the man's character, behaviour, sexuality, etc. I'm sad that you represent the TL community. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
On November 27 2010 15:53 tirentu wrote: I have so much respect for you, sir. Keep at it!
On another note, to the people who spent the entirety of the previous thread bashing on this guy's character: manner up. Yes, his attitude is very unusual, and he behaves in a strange way. He does not get along with Artosis, who also behaves in his own rather strange way. This is no reason to bash on the man's character, behaviour, sexuality, etc. I'm sad that you represent the TL community. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
In TL's defense, I didn't see anyone directly bashing anyone's sexuality in that thread. Maybe it was indirect and I didn't pick up on it, but I didn't notice it. The mods are usually pretty good at dealing with that sort of thing. That said, it doesn't excuse how nasty that thread got at the end.
On November 27 2010 15:53 tirentu wrote: I have so much respect for you, sir. Keep at it!
On another note, to the people who spent the entirety of the previous thread bashing on this guy's character: manner up. Yes, his attitude is very unusual, and he behaves in a strange way. He does not get along with Artosis, who also behaves in his own rather strange way. This is no reason to bash on the man's character, behaviour, sexuality, etc. I'm sad that you represent the TL community. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
In TL's defense, I didn't see anyone directly bashing anyone's sexuality in that thread. Maybe it was indirect and I didn't pick up on it, but I didn't notice it. The mods are usually pretty good at dealing with that sort of thing. That said, it doesn't excuse how nasty that thread got at the end.
I understand that while most people were calling his personality weird, it still rubs off as being offensive to his sexuality at the same time.
A lot of this blog post is you trumpeting your sc2 skill. It all sounds nice, but talk is cheap. I would definitely like to see one of your recent replays or VODs of your match, if any.
Additionally I do receive positive feedback in between the torrents and storms of poison, but I realize addressing most of it is exhausting so I am sort of glad my last thread was closed by Nazgul. Some of the personal attacks aren't even depressing, they just make me lose hope in a global esports community being forged around friendship but instead a community of forever adolescent anonymous testosterone.
Specifically the one comment that actually made me physically depressed was IdrA, a professional player I at one time looked up too as an amusing personality during the beta and the one player my Zerg play once mirrored exactly. Being called weird is something I am used to, but its always an isolating feeling and even more so when its used around the same homophobic context its referring to the situations in my mind they cross reference. Here is why it hurts to put the "opinion" part of my blog in a spoiler tag - because its going to spoil this blog for the casual observer.
I am often warned to avoid meeting your heroes, many of them can ruin you. My favorite hero of all time wasn't that until I met him - he made himself apparent in person. The people you look up to you may not even know yet, and the biggest influence to you're future may not even be someone you by 6 degrees of separation are even vaguely aware of. There is no hope for them and you meeting, just chase your dreams and maybe they won't slip through your fingers like a fine gold dust.
Maybe they won't hate you for being gay.
This is a serious accusation. Artosis and Idra are public figures, you can't just accuse them of something like "hating gays" or homophobia -- that's a very serious thing and can affect their professional lives. It's slander if it's untrue. The last thread you created had to be closed because the amount of flames and drama it was generating, and I see the same thing about to happen here. It's fine if you blog about your own experiences or plans or dreams, but keep the flame inducing accusations and insults off TL.
On November 27 2010 15:53 tirentu wrote: I have so much respect for you, sir. Keep at it!
On another note, to the people who spent the entirety of the previous thread bashing on this guy's character: manner up. Yes, his attitude is very unusual, and he behaves in a strange way. He does not get along with Artosis, who also behaves in his own rather strange way. This is no reason to bash on the man's character, behaviour, sexuality, etc. I'm sad that you represent the TL community. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
In TL's defense, I didn't see anyone directly bashing anyone's sexuality in that thread. Maybe it was indirect and I didn't pick up on it, but I didn't notice it. The mods are usually pretty good at dealing with that sort of thing. That said, it doesn't excuse how nasty that thread got at the end.
I understand that while most people were calling his personality weird, it still rubs off as being offensive to his sexuality at the same time.
What? How? Unless you think all gay people are "weird" what the hell do you mean. To me his personality is NOT weird at all, to me he's just seeking attention/approval from his peers and expects everyone to like him.
You cant expect everyone in the world to like you, so the best option imo is to just be yourself and see where that takes you.
On November 27 2010 15:53 tirentu wrote: I have so much respect for you, sir. Keep at it!
On another note, to the people who spent the entirety of the previous thread bashing on this guy's character: manner up. Yes, his attitude is very unusual, and he behaves in a strange way. He does not get along with Artosis, who also behaves in his own rather strange way. This is no reason to bash on the man's character, behaviour, sexuality, etc. I'm sad that you represent the TL community. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
In TL's defense, I didn't see anyone directly bashing anyone's sexuality in that thread. Maybe it was indirect and I didn't pick up on it, but I didn't notice it. The mods are usually pretty good at dealing with that sort of thing. That said, it doesn't excuse how nasty that thread got at the end.
I understand that while most people were calling his personality weird, it still rubs off as being offensive to his sexuality at the same time.
What? How? Unless you think all gay people are "weird" what the hell do you mean. To me his personality is NOT weird at all, to me he's just seeking attention/approval from his peers and expects everyone to like him.
You cant expect everyone in the world to like you, so the best option imo is to just be yourself and see where that takes you.
Maybe you don't think his personality is weird, but what ticked him off was IdrA's comment.
I don't understand what IdrA's comment has to do with what I said at all, IdrA didn't call him gay, homosexual, bisexual, or anything sexual at all, so what does that have to do with his sexual orientation?
On November 28 2010 05:23 ShaperofDreams wrote: hmm i never thought about the use of "gay" in artosis' and idra's speech before, but now that i think about it they use it all the time.
Someone from the internet uses "gay" the wrong way? BREAKING NEWS.
Not that it's good behaviour, but accusing someome of bigotry for a poor joke is more serious. This is the internet we're talking about--not the people who surf facebook all day, but the real internet. Go to the funny pics thread and you'll see plenty of offensive materials; it's to be taken in lightheart. And I have no doubt most people continue that same mentaliy offline, as Artosis probably does. They aren't bigots nor actually trying to be offensive.
To be fair, Idra's comment was flaming but it had nothing to do with sexuality.
I really don't know what's up with this guy. He sucks in Starcraft and still goes to Korea to waste money and ruin his life. And still, after getting there, starts flaming the most loved people of the community, wtf?
And also, read those blogs, sounds like some surreal story or something like that.
EPT![[image loading]](http://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/jtv_user_pictures/carefoot-channel_header_image-4e24108b827cc3f9-640x125.png)
