So you want to go pro? - Page 5

On December 10 2011 09:58 motumbo wrote:
I really don't think you are qualified in any way at all to talk about going pro. Have you gone pro in Starcraft 2 or any other game? Most likely not. If you have any sort of qualifications that would make your opinion on going pro have any truth behind it, please shed some light. Otherwise this blog is a joke.

On December 10 2011 09:58 motumbo wrote:
I really don't think you are qualified in any way at all to talk about going pro. Have you gone pro in Starcraft 2 or any other game? Most likely not. If you have any sort of qualifications that would make your opinion on going pro have any truth behind it, please shed some light. Otherwise this blog is a joke.

On December 10 2011 06:12 vaderseven wrote:
I wasted my time for about 5 years playing music games for 8-14 hours a day and working shitty jobs so I could afford the gas to drive to the regional tournaments. I did well enough but I was not the best at events that could attract people from an area of say 15 states.

Thats the mindset that does make you pro. Passion and desire that leads you to doing what you want to do most regaurdless of results.

I think one year I made a bit over 3k in winnings at events which prolly put me in the close to tip top bracket. There was about 4 players that made over 30k a year in winnings and that would be the group above where I was.

Q: Did your parents worry that you would become addicted?
-Of course they were very concerned. But this game was just too interesting. Even after cram school, when I get home at 11pm I would still play. There’s a 10 minute break in cram school, and I would always run to a PC Bang and play a round. I used mealtimes for Starcraft too. I think it’s because I love Starcraft so much that I became better and better. It seems I played 3-5 hours every day.

The summer break that changed his life

During the summer break of his first middle school year, Flash decided to become a progamer, and he told his parents “I want to use a month of my break to go to Seoul and live in a practice house, and officially begin studying Starcraft.”

“In the beginning, my parents strongly opposed me. I begged them and said ‘I will get progamer status in a month. If I can’t, I’ll give it up.’ My parents accepted this condition. But even though I promised this, I was unsure if I could do it.”

And so, from his home in Daejoon, he used this summer break to move to Seoul and began his life practicing. Miraculously, he successfully achieved progamer status in a month. The speed at which his abilities increased was astonishing. But on the day he achieved his progamer status, he was stopped in the Ro4 of the offline prelims. But his parents decided that he could attain success as a progamer. In 2007, in the third year of middle school, he joined KTF MagicNs. He was only 15.

Even though Flash managed to get pro status and join KTF in only a month, it doesn’t mean it’s easy to become a progamer. Right now, there are still countless kids with progamer dreams training in practice houses. Even in KT, there are on average 5-10 kids with progamer dreams who’ll come to be tested every day. The other teams are about the same.

Q: We’ve heard that progamers regularly go through immense practice schedules. How long do you practice on average?
-Progamers all live in dorms close to the practice house. We get up at 10:30, and get to the practice house after breakfast at around 11. Because of this, we wait till 3pm before eating lunch. From 4pm-8pm, we continue practicing, and then it’s dinner time. Players on the A team have free time after this, and we can choose to practice or not, but most people will stay to practice until 11pm.

This approximates to 10 hours of practice per day, which is around 3600 hours per year. Flash joined the team 3 years ago, and before that, he would practice for 5-8 hours a day, so he has spent over 10000 hours on Starcraft.

The 10000-hour rule

We are suddenly reminded of the “10000-hour rule.” Someone said it in a book: To achieve world-class mastery in a disciple, at least 10000 hours are required. [T/N: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliers_(book)］

Q: Is it tiring practicing 10+ hours a day?
-You need to manage yourself well. To maintain my health and strength, I need to eat 6 kinds of supplements right now. Ginsengs, vitamins, and other stuff too. I also have a pretty healthy body to start with, otherwise I’m sure I would get sick often.

Q: Is long-term Starcraft more damaging to the body? Even more difficult than studying?
-There are some pretty difficult times, but I still think it’s fun.

Q: Do you have weekends?
-No. We can rest a day after a major game. Our break schedule is a bit different from the norm.

Q: Then it seems like you won’t even have time to see your girlfriend after becoming a progamer. Why do you need to maintain this intense practice schedule?
-We need to give up a lot. We need to give up everything that belongs to ourselves, only then can you becomes rank 1, 2. I too gave up everything before coming here. I haven’t even thought about getting a girlfriend. I don’t even see my friends often, only occasionally during holidays. Every day is practice.

Q: Isn’t that boring?
-Even so, I still really enjoy what I do. It’s hard to express in words the joy you get from a win. Especially when the fans cheer for me, that really makes me glad.

On February 08 2012 16:36 Weirdkid wrote:
This article was translated from http://sc2clan.tw/f/viewtopic.php?t=14547.
(A MKP interview)

Q: We frequently hear that the Korean progamers have really astounding practice hours. How long do you usually practise in a day?
A: Actually, Korean programers really do practise for very long hours. Take me for example, probably apart from eating and sleeping, my remaining hours are spent on practising!
Editor: Woah. That means you probably have to practise up to 8-10 hours everyday...!
MKP: 8 hours?... Nope. More like about 18 hours! (laughs)

Q: Your practice times are so long. What types of practice do you do?
A: My practice is mainly on the ladder. Afterall, you are already able to meet really strong players on the Korean ladder. Other than that, there are times when I will be practising with my team mates, and the coach will also discuss some strategies with us as well as carry out some tabletop simulations for training. When there is the chance, we also frequently interact with other teams, like IM, oGs, MVP, StarTale etc. Most of us are really very good friends in private.

On December 09 2011 04:19 GMarshal wrote:
That aside, let us assume for a second that you, Mr." I'm going pro", have the insane passion and work ethic it takes to play at the highest level, lets say you are the kind of massochist who enjoys laddering for the sake of laddering, that isn't enough. Instead of writing that idiotic blog about how you are "going to go pro" you should be at Masters and looking for a team and figuring out how to train properly. Much like an athlete, you can't just practice what you are going to be doing at the tournament by yourself, you need a training regime, with specific practice plans and a group of people to support you in doing so. This means you have to be able to talk to people, like a normal human being, schedule practice, and then work through practice. This means, more of the "work ethic" I mentioned above, that is, you need to sit down and for six, seven hours, practice getting bunker rushed, or six pooled, or two base roach rushed. This is painful and boring, it is a sacrifice for getting better. So, not only do you need to have the work ethic and passion to ladder and find a team (which needs to be as dedicated as you are, no "Nexus war" team is going to be able to help you here), you also need to sit there and actually grind things out, which means you will have to help your teammates grind things out, which is more "wasted time" that doesn't count as practice.