EPTit's mostly a tongue-in-cheek and slyly self-deprecating term that gets passed around between the few SC2 fans who continue to follow the game week-in and week-out. "true passion" can take many forms, few of which are really more than simple appreciation for the game as a pastime. accusations of missing passion are more of a brotherly punch on the arm than a serious juxtaposition of value as a fan.
in another context, though, the concept of passion applies in strange and irrational ways. less-vocalized but often implied through disappointed posts, many SC2 followers expect a certain degree of "passion" from their foreign heroes.
little needs to be said about the complicated relationship between the game and its international professional and semiprofessional playerbase. more easily we share language and culture with foreigners, and with cheerful pessimism we follow their underdog narratives. more than we expect them to win, we expect them to "try" - we expect them to pin their hopes and dreams on astronomical odds of becoming a stephano, snute, scarlett, or lilbow, and even then most likely struggling to stay relevant amidst a sea of korean players who often themselves struggle to stay with a team.
we expect them to be passionate in their play and passionate for the community. reasonable enough on the surface - fans subscribe to their streams, watch tournaments, encourage them online and more or less make it possible for their competitive environment to exist. how far is far enough? what can we really expect of a starcraft player? how much proselytizing can we do about their attitudes before taking a step back and reevaluating context?
it's widely believed that the vast majority of players who aspire to professional competition are, to an extent, "starving artists" - remarkable talents who rely on unreliable income from teams that fold, tournaments with minuscule or unattainable prizes, and the charitable goodwill of their supporters. the collective feeling is that If Only, starcraft could become a burgeoning sport with plenty of training infrastructure and ample reward, that the game could rise to new heights of skill with a fully-supported international scene and foreigners training around the clock.
If Only what? for some people, If Only those pesky fans of simpler, more childish games were sophisticated enough to appreciate and support starcraft. for others, If Only esports at large were more widely recognized as legitimate. but some people hold a heavy anchor of responsibility under the foreign players themselves - If Only foreigners had more passion for the game!
If Only lilbow had treated the WCS finals with respect, we say. If Only foreigners showed up to our teamleagues, the organizers say. If Only more foreigners took the game seriously, like koreans, and helped create better team houses and training environments, some players say. but do we really want players to care more about starcraft? do we actually expect and desire these 12-hour training sessions? are we happy if more players skimp on education, socialization and employment so they can have a vague hope of beating koreans? undoubtedly some of us do. on the contrary, i don't.
i'm aware there's a conundrum in decrying serious starcraft competition as someone who spends a fair amount of time watching it. i'm not oblivious to the fact that, without players making certain sacrifices, whether they're korean or not, we wouldn't have the level of play that exists today. but, approaching the topic with intellectual honesty, i can't bring myself to put that pressure onto players. one can argue that each player makes a choice to invest in the game or not, and it's true - in fact, i'm sure many players would be more than happy to sacrifice many aspects of their lives in order to become top talents and win tournaments. but the idea that this pressure should apply to all players, that it should be the gold standard of the community, unsettles me.
caring so much about a game that you'll sacrifice for it is not, in my opinion, an inherently commendable or admirable trait. most players are still young and still have a plethora of choices ahead of them which will steer their lives, and i think every one of those players owes it to his or her self to seriously consider stepping back from the game and taking time to explore other options and avenues in life. starcraft is not a sport that will take care of your body for you, nor does it ensure you will be surrounded by teammates and friends. it is very much something that you can end up alone in and sinking far too much of your life into for almost no benefit, as even nonprofessional players of all levels can attest to. perhaps in korea, where there is already a solid infrastructure with multiple team houses (not to mention mandatory military service on the horizon), it's less of a gamble and more of a sane option. but until such an infrastructure exists elsewhere, how can we put the responsibility to create it on young men who simply have a talent for a great computer game?
are we really that angry when foreign players don't show up for tournaments? should we really roll our eyes when they "retire" but continue playing and earning points and prizes part-time? are we really hoping to one day have a scene full of foreign innovations who make the game their top priority in life? as a fan, although i love starcraft and watch almost every major tournament, i know i have bigger priorities. and if players are people whom i'm meant to cheer for and commiserate with, i can't logically expect them to be any different.
it's not wrong to pour yourself into starcraft - or into anything else - if it's what you truly want. but while fans can step away from the screen and pause the vod at any time to take care of real life obligations, players have to make serious considerations and weigh the elements of their lives against each other when thinking about how to approach esports as a career. and i, for one, am happy whenever a player retires. not because i'm a dead game troll or hope the scene fails, but because it means that player had the sense and maturity to decide what was right for him and take a step down a new path.
