So I thought I would share something funny that happened last summer on my internship in Jinju, South Korea.
I got an opportunity to work at a logistics firm in Korea, and I got to experience first hand the daily life of a Korean employee and the ins and outs of Korean culture. All that good stuff.
But for all you Brood War lovers out there let me tell you something funny that happened on the job that was related to Starcraft.
They fucking love it. Every damn department had Brood War installed on every work computer. The three top dogs of the company (the CEOs) were intensely competitive in Brood War. I got to shadow one of the CEOs and I would get yelled at for screwing up Muta micro. He would take my mouse away and show me how to kill marines with a couple mutas.
Every night I had to go to the PC bang with him and other employees (guys around age 25-40) and we would play 4v4 on Hunters. For all the translation work I did for them, I still think my boss was happier when I performed well in a Brood War game and carried the team. Like he was proud of me.
Also, at 1 PM it is our lunch break but most guys do not eat a real meal but pull out snacks and soft drinks and play with each other over lan. And the funny thing is, everyone knows who is the best Brood War player in the company and people speak of them fondly.
Even when we got home from work late in the night, we would get on Battle.net and play against other employees. They just love it.
I am not sure why they like it so much, perhaps it is because it is the only thing that keeps them sane since they are working 12+ hours everyday. Brood War and cigarettes.
So if you ever go to Korea, brush up on your Brood War and SC2 mechanics and impress your peers. Big bonus points if you do.
I had a great time, it is very tough working the long hours but they treated me to the Korean night life everyday and of course PC Bangs in the wee hours of the night. My boss was great since he would dump chips, snacks, and drinks on my PC Bang computer and tell me to "Play".
Oh and if you were ever wondering...sadly, I could never beat my boss in a 1v1....I lost so many bets.
On June 18 2011 14:20 ReketSomething wrote: Did your boss pressure you into playing for money?
Seems pretty sneaky :D Don't lose too much money! Get better and win it back!
or just don't gamble. I wish i had a job like that...
haha good point but no pressure. it was all in good fun. Though at times I regret being hotheaded and asking for a rematch.
yeah, I didn't expect that they would take it so seriously and play often. I think it was because the 3 highest ranking company officers enjoyed the game. They made it fun for everyone and competitive. Since they enjoyed it so much everyone else could as well.
The 3rd highest ranking person was the leader of all the separate departments, he was the guy who most employees would speak to on a daily basis, and he was the best out of all my bosses. He was the oldest too, but very good at Brood War. When I was on his team, I would just have to survive for 6 minutes and he would win us the game.
On June 18 2011 14:25 Keldrath wrote: are you sure it wasnt just a dream? cause thats pretty awesome. i wish we were more like that here. (by here i mean the western world)
I know what you mean. I am back in the States right now and working, but do we ever congregate as a group after work? Nope. We just pack up our things and go on our separate ways and to our own business. But in Korea, the company was like a real community and you would eat, sleep, work, and play with them all the time. I stayed with some of the younger guys in a condo, it was our "home". Every morning we got onto a company van and went to work. After work we would go eat, drink, or play at a PC Bang if the bosses wanted us to come. The employees are very kind and respectful to the higher ups, even if we are tired or do not want to play, we go to the PC Bang if we get the call. Of course our boss does buy us all the food and drinks we want so it is a good trade!
Work hard and play hard haha, sounds pretty cool. I wish my friends/colleagues played BW, sadly they only play FPS games (which I suck at lol) I do miss the 4v4 hunter games.
EPT
