EPTI wanted to make a post regarding the SlayerS disbanding situation. I feel like a lot of people in the sc community don’t really understand a lot of the social context with what Jessica is trying to say. The thread was very difficult to read, and a lot of the points in the interview include cultural differences that many in the sc community may look over. EDIT: THIS IS JUST AN INTERPRETATION OF WHAT HAPPENED AND THE PROBABLE MINDSET OF THE EVENTS THAT OCCURED
Disclaimers: I understand most of this is based upon what Jessica said. None of this can be taken for fact. However based on the current development of the the leader of the Korean gaming commission resigning, at least some of what she said can be regarding as true. All this post attempts to do is help users to better understand some of what Jessica and Boxer were feeling about this situation. Also, I’m not saying Jessica or Boxer is “right or wrong” I’m just making this post so people can understand better how they reacted to this situation.
Korea, like most of East Asia, has and is still today influenced by Confucianism. The main concept of Confucianism is how relationships between people should play out. The one half of the relationship with the more power (King, Husband, CEO, Older Brother, Employer) should be respectful and kind to the other half to the relationship (Peasants, wives, employees, younger brother, junior members of a business). Likewise, the weaker half should be thankful and polite to the more powerful class, because they have been taken care of. This is why in many companies, it’s almost always the most senior employees who run the company, while the lower workers do the menial tasks. It is also very uncommon for people to change companies; people are often totally devoted a company their entire lives. Quite a contrasting view in America, where the average worker has held their job for less than 5 years. Koreans at boarding schools are infamous for having the younger students do their laundry or their homework for them. They have a strict social code that influences all of their lives. Individualism, even the idea of oneself, is not as prevalent as it is in the West. Although in the West it may be common for young guns to rebel against older members on sports teams when the elders haze or tell them to carry bags/pick up balls; this would be highly offensive in Korean and Eastern culture. This is why when MMA said that his contract was a slave contract/ other things that may have or may not have been said around the house, it must have been extremely hurtful to Boxer and Jessica, who provided these player with a training place, income, basically out of their own pockets.
It is also important for people to understand what type of environment Boxer grew up on as a progamer. He, as well as many other progamers at the time were not living in ideal living conditions, because there was no BW or progamers before them to lead the way. During the match fixing scandal, there was a Korean BW talk show discussing the scandal and the players involved. The people on the show were former progamers, now important members of the community. One of the commentators said something along the lines of “When we were growing up, we were a team. If you didn’t win that game tonight, that meant no dinner. If the players involved with this scandal could live one day, just one day like this, they wouldn’t have done such a selfish thing.” Do you see some of the confucian principles again showing up ? Boxer grew up in a very hard time of sc, where money was never really a motivation. He had no fucking idea that playing a video game could get him money and marry a film star. At the time, the only thing that matter was food, housing, and being able to play the game he loved.
Fast forward to 2010, when sc2 comes out. Boxer+Jessica form their own team, SlayerS, and provide players shelter, food, money, and a place to play scII. He has been a gentle ruler and provider to his lower class, and in return respects appreciation. In Boxer’s mind this is all that was need to be happy. Anything more is selfish. All the players, especially MMA, were like family to Boxer and Jessica. (Again the confucian relationship) They felt like all of these players were family to them, because they lived with them and had invested so much into them. This is why they felt so distraught when the issues began to pop up. For them, it was like family began to turn on you; having your wife who you love, suddenly want to divorce you. When MMA then comes to them and says that his contract is a “death contract”. For Boxer he is basically telling him that the past two years, when Boxer provided food, money, and a place to to practice+live, were slavery. Boxer’s closest son, closest player-coach relationship, suddenly wants nothing to do with him and wants to leave. Extremely disconcerting, for Boxer and he it is obvious why he made the switch to SKT1.
Again this post was only made so people could better understand the social context of the situation.
