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When I was 6 my aunt gave me a Mickey Mouse watch that played the song "It's a small world, after all." I didn't really know what that meant at the time, but today after 21 years later (Yep, I'm 27) I can relate to that a bit more.
Yesterday I took my preliminary comprehensive exams for my PhD in Natural Resources at the University of Tennessee. It was perhaps the toughest experience of my life; five committee members...3 departmental professors and 2 outside readers to include the environmental policy director of the Tennessee Valley Authority and a consultant from Oregon State. All of this isn't important to this story but to explain the reason for the celebratory dinner I just came from. I passed my preliminary exams (YAY!!) and my committee, including some of the other members on my major professor's research team, treated me to dinner.
Alright. We're at dinner. One of the members of my research team is a post-doctoral research associate that I've been working with on couple of different projects--Dr. Jae Woo. Dr. Jae Woo and I have sat together over a computer analyzing data and organizing spreadsheets, but we've never had much to talk about until tonight. I knew he was Korean and lo and behold.. the ONLY thing I know about Korea is Starcraft. Before tonight, I've never dared to mention Starcraft because I thought he would think I was terribly dumb and immature. However, my professor thought it was a great idea to buy me a few flavorsome imported beers.
So here I was sitting on the end of the table with Dr. Jae Woo with nothing to say. After my third Sierra Nevada I finally just blurt out.. "Jae Woo, have you ever heard of Starcraft?" To my surprise, Jae Woo's eyes light up and say, "YES! That game is HUGE in my country." Now, I know Starcraft is a big deal in Korea, but to be honest I just really thought it was a lot of talk and surely not EVERY Korean knows about the game, right? He continued to tell me how it was on television and he even mentioned Boxer. He knew the name "Boxer," yet he has never played the game in his life. We had a half-hour conversation about how big Starcraft is in Korea.
Here I was with a colleague that I've worked with for over a year having had only conversations about our research in the past, now talking about a game that I've played since 1998.
Maybe this would be a irrelevant experience to many of you, but I just found the whole thing very cool. I've played Starcraft since 8th grade; I'm terrible at the game, but I love to play. I remember having a kali.net account and remembering when low serial numbers (Jay Cotton, anyone?) meant you weren't a noob. I have actually played games with Agent911, Zileas, Maynard.. I remember clan IN and [9]. I remember Agent911 telling me to keep a templar in my mineral line on island maps. Here I am, 12 years later talking to my colleague about a game I played in middle school; It's cool.
 
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Nice...
Does it make you wonder why you didn't mention it before?
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is awesome32278 Posts
I met a guy in my university who I went through various courses with. We talked a bit now and then, but not much. After like 3 years of knowing him one day I go to uni with my CJ Entus shirt and I see his open wide as he says "omg, you watch starcraft?!" (in spanish).
It may not sound big for people here, but meeting someone else with the same level of interest in Starcraft in my country is actually pretty big, and of all places to be my university and someone I knew before... I know the feeling! 
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On July 01 2011 13:38 Probulous wrote:
Nice...
Does it make you wonder why you didn't mention it before?
It really does. I wish I would have mentioned it before.
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On July 01 2011 13:39 IntoTheWow wrote:I met a guy in my university who I went through various courses with. We talked a bit now and then, but not much. After like 3 years of knowing him one day I go to uni with my CJ Entus shirt and I see his open wide as he says "omg, you watch starcraft?!" (in spanish). It may not sound big for people here, but meeting someone else with the same level of interest in Starcraft in my country is actually pretty big, and of all places to be my university and someone I knew before... I know the feeling!
Small world 
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My favorite "small world" moments come from when like, a childhood friend from back home (California) has some connection to a friend I met while in boarding high school (new jersey) or college (Washington DC).
I've had a few of the moments through Starcraft as well, I met some people who I apparently went to Middle School with, through teamliquid. Wonderful feeling to have.
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On July 01 2011 13:39 IntoTheWow wrote:I met a guy in my university who I went through various courses with. We talked a bit now and then, but not much. After like 3 years of knowing him one day I go to uni with my CJ Entus shirt and I see his open wide as he says "omg, you watch starcraft?!" (in spanish). It may not sound big for people here, but meeting someone else with the same level of interest in Starcraft in my country is actually pretty big, and of all places to be my university and someone I knew before... I know the feeling!
Question how is esports viewed in Argentina? Was that like a really rare occurrence, or do a lot of people watch sc there. Either way that is an awesome story and just like this blog i think it is really amazing.
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is awesome32278 Posts
On July 01 2011 14:59 Yamulo wrote:Show nested quote +On July 01 2011 13:39 IntoTheWow wrote:I met a guy in my university who I went through various courses with. We talked a bit now and then, but not much. After like 3 years of knowing him one day I go to uni with my CJ Entus shirt and I see his open wide as he says "omg, you watch starcraft?!" (in spanish). It may not sound big for people here, but meeting someone else with the same level of interest in Starcraft in my country is actually pretty big, and of all places to be my university and someone I knew before... I know the feeling! Question how is esports viewed in Argentina? Was that like a really rare occurrence, or do a lot of people watch sc there. Either way that is an awesome story and just like this blog i think it is really amazing.
Counter-Strike got really popular at it's prime. Lots of people played it here in net cafes, but that's about it. And only people that do "gaming" know about it, the rest of the people have no idea about esports or whatever.
There's gaming community forums here, but most of them are focused on FPS or mmorpgs. DotA was also really popular.
I think during BW times it was like 30 of us in an argentinian forum talking about starcraft, but it was mostly about the game itself (strategies, how to get better, sharing replays, etc). Very little people followed the scene (watched PL, OSL, MLS regularly). And this guy from my uni was one of those.
He still watches when he has time (like me).
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so I guess the lesson is every korean probably does know about starcraft
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dude grats on your prelim man!! That's tough shit !!!!
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there was this guy in high school, i always thought he was just geeky cause he studied alot, i used to play dota with his friends and added him on fb, 3 years later when i get sc2 and use the real id facebook thing i check his profile and he's top 50 GM, pretty unexpected
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EPT
