Great blog entry as usual ! It's a perfect complement to Guybrush posts "History of BW". He provides all the results and cash prizes, you make it an enjoyable to read story.

On January 10 2011 15:44 legaton wrote:
A very interesting piece of Broodwar story.... i would love to understand why foreigners stopped being competitive in 2001/2002.

Imo, it's because none of them had the dedication to succeed. Idra probably had, but even though he was the best foreigner he wasn't talented enough to be successful. Read Rekrul's "biography", it's an amazing article, and explains very well how hard it is to be in a progamers training house.

fabulously

Norway724 Posts

January 10 2011 12:47 GMT

#46

Such an amazing read. When I saw the names of all these old heroes I got the chills. Thanks for sharing! <3

legaton

France1763 Posts

January 11 2011 00:32 GMT

#47

I read all the blogs. Awesome story. It's the best piece of Broodwar history i have ever read. Thanks a lot.

And yeah, i actually found the answer to my question on one of your previous blogs. When you explain how Slayer won the WCG but how that entire generation of foreign gamers didn't went to Korea. It seems they missed what you describe as the birth of the new generation of korean players, the guys with superior mechanics and training ethos. Instead of the learning the new korean way, the foreign scene took a different path. In fact, i don't know if you ever followed rugby here in France, but your story remembers me how amateur rugby was deeply transformed when it went pro (this just happened in 1995).

Thanks again.

Boonbag

France3318 Posts

January 11 2011 09:15 GMT

#48

On January 11 2011 09:32 legaton wrote:
I read all the blogs. Awesome story. It's the best piece of Broodwar history i have ever read. Thanks a lot.

And yeah, i actually found the answer to my question on one of your previous blogs. When you explain how Slayer won the WCG but how that entire generation of foreign gamers didn't went to Korea. It seems they missed what you describe as the birth of the new generation of korean players, the guys with superior mechanics and training ethos. Instead of the learning the new korean way, the foreign scene took a different path. In fact, i don't know if you ever followed rugby here in France, but your story remembers me how amateur rugby was deeply transformed when it went pro (this just happened in 1995).

Thanks again.

Yeah it was KBK not WCG Slayer won.

You know, the main issue was sponsorship. I mean having no money as a Korean player in Korea and living off your parents makes it easier to dedicate yourself to homegrown pro sc scene.

It's just it was almost impossible for any foreigner to just move over Korean and compete, because nobody had the money for.

Also, eventho the level started to really take off in pro gaming, it wasn't before 2004 and even 2005 that the level REALLY started to be crazy and stuff.

Rekrul

Korea (South)17174 Posts

January 11 2011 09:54 GMT

#49

mightyatom is coming over tonight

progaming tales that mother fer

Yizuo

Germany1537 Posts

January 11 2011 10:57 GMT

#50

Thank you so much Boonbag, this is all super interesting!

FeeLdAfuRy

Australia290 Posts

January 12 2011 01:42 GMT

#51

Love these blog posts, well done.

Elky was such a beast that WCG, outclassed everyone bar Boxer and was in a VERY strong position against him TvT on Temple. Not sure what inspired him to try and PvT him on Valhalla. Oh well.

Boonbag

France3318 Posts

January 12 2011 08:03 GMT

#52

On January 12 2011 10:42 FeeLdAfuRy wrote:
Love these blog posts, well done.

Elky was such a beast that WCG, outclassed everyone bar Boxer and was in a VERY strong position against him TvT on Temple. Not sure what inspired him to try and PvT him on Valhalla. Oh well.

At that time valhalla was thought to be p favored. (just like any island map actually). And it was badluck, like I remember elky's shuttle with 1 goon and 2 lots missing the 4 goliaths dropship.

frozenclaw

Canada409 Posts

January 13 2011 02:17 GMT

#53

Man, you are so cool! These are AMAZING! Hope you're doing well

Phenny

Australia1435 Posts

January 13 2011 17:04 GMT

#54

It's 4am and I have just finished reading these, so damn interesting and cool to read about this stuff.
Thanks for writing this Boonbag :D

Frosted

Canada23 Posts

January 13 2011 17:50 GMT

#55

Wow these are amazing. Read all these in one sitting and now i wonder what I am doing with my life. Defiantly an awesome life you've had so far!! Looking forward to the rest!

3772

Czech Republic434 Posts

March 30 2011 18:35 GMT

#56

Thanks very much for these. Very interesting, especially for someone like me, who didn't even know what Starcraft was back then.

MightyAtom

Korea (South)1897 Posts

April 06 2011 14:19 GMT

#57

LOL,
omg, such a long time ago;
I was screaming in English all night long at Kenka because we we both screaming at each other,
cause he kept on saying the entire night 'I'm a Viking' 'or we were shouting like men' lol.
and so I kept on egging him on;
and that night, we played that 'knock out punch game' (where you pull a punch bag down and wack it for a score) and of course won kekeke.
but normally I don't speak very much going out, with Koreans,
but I really enjoyed having fun with Kenka and everyone.
hehe,
such a long time ago,
in that one trip,
got into 2 fights on the street,
destroyed a table at a booking club;
arm wrestled in a bar and crushed all the top foreign pro gamers of that time (and I mean all ^^),
wrestled and crushed random foreign pro gamers at the samsung residence,
and
yes I did go up to random Korean women and purposely in English say how pretty they were,
as a point to all the foreign nerds, not be scared of the women, that Korean women love men with some balls. ^^

And, at that time, wow, was it sooooo tough for gamers, everyone was on poverty and that really was a lifetime ago. 2000, like nearly 11 years ago. wow.

I've always been very traditional/conservative, but with foreigners, they don't notice much as I speak english and have fun, plus at that time, my Korean wasn't great (still isn't lol), but I spoke in a satori (country Daegu accent) at that time because my mom is from there, so when I was really drunk, then I'd speak a bit or when I was physically crushing the very young gamers at that time. keke.

Nice...