Going full time streaming

EdgeSC

119 Posts

May 17 2014 22:04 GMT

This post is for my family, friends, viewers, and those who put their faith and support in me.

I go by the name Edge, and this week I made the decision to transition from Starcraft 2 to League of Legends, and also to go into streaming full time. If you are interested in why I made such a decision I will share my thoughts and tell you my story.

Falling in love
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If you are reading this, you most likely had a moment in life where you truly enjoyed playing a video game. One of the best things during my generation (born in the late 80s to early 90s) was that I was able to witness the growth of video games at it's golden age. I've played from the original Gameboy and DOS pc games to the kinds of games we have today.
If you grew up around the same time as me, you would most likely agree that Final Fantasy 7 is the best Final Fantasy.
FF7 was novelty at its finest during that time. It was one of the first 3d games done right and there was no other game quite like it. Fans gather and protect this belief even if they don't fully understand why! This is what I believe makes us humans beautiful.
Falling in love without understanding why. Falling in love with the beauty that we experienced. We fall in love with it even more once that beauty is realized. We accept all the flaws found within that beauty and try our best to protect it.
We also fall out of love when we forget that beauty, when we get caught up in our lives and our beliefs are already changed before we know it.

Why I do what I do
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I am a 1.5 generation Korean American who immigrated to the United States at the age of 10. My first elementary school was populated with around 60% Hispanics, 39% every other ethnicity, and 1% Asian at the time. Racism was common during that time and my being shy/minority of the new environment made things worse. It was a horrible feeling to be made fun of and looked down on for having an accent as a child, and it would discourage me from speaking up and learning English for a long time.
During lunch break I would lean against a wall watching other kids play tether ball. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, and I was secretly excited to play it myself. Unfortunately, I was never good at it by playing by myself after school, so I was afraid to play with anyone else(now that I think about it, if I practiced tetherball back then as much as I played Starcraft 2 later on in life, I might have hospitalized some children).
As you all might know, nobody wants to hang out with a loner or an outcast. They get picked on by bullies and if you are seen hanging out with them, you are going to be a target as well unless you know how to stand up for yourself. I hated going to school. I thought everyone was against me, which made me rebellious, which made things worse. All I wanted was someone who could understand me and play with me.
Luckily for me, thanks to my dad's job, I was able to make a friend outside of my school. This friend was my first friend, and still is my best friend to this day. He's the one who introduced me to Final Fantasy 7.
Over time I would make friends in school on my own by establishing rapport/connection with video game knowledge. It was a wonderful feeling; being able to talk about what I liked with someone else. It made me happy.
I learned how to make friends through video games when I was 10 years old and even today I enjoy making friends and acquaintances through video games.
I am now 24 years old. I've been through an amazing journey full of ups and downs throughout my life, and video games have always been a part of it.
My current goal in life is to become an established professional gamer.
My choice in life is to follow my dream and try my best in what I believe.
If you have a dream of your own, I encourage you to take the first step towards that dream. Even if you fail, you will gain confidence from being able to take action. I guarantee you that this confidence will make you a stronger person forever.
I will be streaming full time in order to share my journey and to inspire those who are passionate about something.
I invite you all to come join me in my adventure as I work my way up from a new beginning.

The end of a journey is the beginning of a new one
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I want to apologize for those who have been rooting for me to become a professional Starcraft 2 gamer. I know how it feels to have someone you trust and believe in turn their back on you. I may have made a transition, but let me assure you that I have not turned my back on you. I am still the same person, and I appreciate the faith you put in me. One of the main reason why I am writing this is to show you that I care. I am thankful to those who have continued to watch me stream even though I have made the transition. I was in utmost awe to realize that you are watching me for who I am and not just for what I do.

Starcraft 2 has been good to me; I have gained experience and knowledge that I would have otherwise not gained in other paths.
I will not forget the times I spent with team Infinity Seven, the first team that provided me with opportunities to travel around the States to compete in a game that I love. If i can go back in time, I would always choose not to leave you guys. At the time, I was going through a lot and I was unable to give back as much as you have given me.
I was fortunate enough to be in team Core that gave me salary. Even though I was not the seasoned player I thought I was at the time, you have believed in my talent and offered me a contract. The time I spent with you guys in teamspeak were one of the best times I had playing Starcraft 2.

The realization of something important about myself is what marks the end of my journey as a Starcraft 2 player.
I am a natural extrovert. I gain energy from being around people; sharing my thoughts and feelings with others. It's what makes me feel alive and true to myself.
Playing Starcraft 2 as much as possible for a long period of time made me realize that my mind and body weakens if I am doing something alone for too long a period of time.
If I had been able to join a team house with peers that I can connect and work with for the same cause, I might have continued to play Starcraft 2 without ever having thoughts of making a transition to a different game.
Once I started comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the two games, I decided to go with League of Legends.
As soon as my last semester in college was over, I started playing League of Legends.
I played this game 2-3 years ago and I only played it because my friends were playing it at the time.
I've been playing one game a day with my friends for my daily ip and exp since last Monday.
This time of playing one game a day was a time for me to test the waters.
Testing the waters have led me deep inside it.
I was like a child at the swimming pool with his friends. I didn't want to come out of it.
This whole week, I have not felt so alive in such a long time.
A chapter that I will never forget had just ended in my life.
A new journey begins and I am beyond excited to dive in and go as deep as I can.