I posted this 10 mins ago on my daum cafe website.
Well as some of you might have heard over the last few days, i have officially quit eNature Top Team, and Progaming altogether.
It was definitely not an easy decision for me to come to, but its something i have been thinking about for a long time (about 2 months) and i've mentioned it a few times before.
There are a lot of things contributing to it, the main one was that i no longer found fun in the game that has given me so much joy over the years. I always said in interviews that i would stay until i nolonger enjoyed playing the game, always thinking that, that would never be the real reason for quiting, funny how fate can work.
Whether it was because i was annoyed with my manager for his mistake with the times with my disqualification from the MML match (where i gave myself a 80% chance to win vs Yooi on that map, i'd put a lot of practice in and was really confident), or maybe i just missed my family i've been gone for a long time now, my brother is getting married and i've never even met his fiance. Maybe it was seeing Lord Rekrul, making his millions through poker while i saw myself standing still. Whether these counted or not, it made no difference, i no longer enjoyed what i was doing, and for the last 2 months i guess, i've just been waiting for my way out.
That came early on in my dilema, in two forms. First of all the foreigners were in trouble with immigration, with potential to be banned from korea and a fine to go with it(can't talk much about this as the result is still pending, and i dont want to say anything that may curtail the process for Brian). The immigration issue definately made me begin to explore other alternatives and without the drive for gaming returning, the alternatives became more of a reality.
*******Make sure to read the part underneath this paragraph as i found out this isn't true****** Following this came our teams incredibly horrible performance in the Pro League, that also combined with my manager not selecting me to play for any of the early matches (mainly because i think he saw my lack of interest) definately didn't help me want to play. My next chance for a tv match came, when eNature took on Kor, i think the only reason i even had this chance, was my manager was out of the country on his honeymoon (over in guam) so he didn't decide on the lineup, so i was quite happy to jump in and play. I played vs Cloud and ended up winning (what would end up being my last televised game) i guess you could look at it , that at least i've gone out on a high since i won my final match but it definately doesn't feel like that. (fyi, you may call me a cynic but the reason i think that i only played because my manager was not deciding, was because of his lack of interest in sending my out in any of the first 5-6??-7? matches) I dont blame him though, if i managed a team i wouldn't want a player under me to play a match when he wasn't putting in 100% effort. *********OKAY******** I found out that this last paragraph is totally incorrect, apparently my manager felt that i didn't want to play as i never volunteered for the spot thus he never selected me earlier. Also for my match vs KOR my manager Daniel, asked for me to play that week. NOW, I would delete the previous paragraph but EVEN THOUGH THE PREVIOUS PARAGRAPH IS NOT FACTUAL i feel its important for me to state how i was feeling and what i perceived during this time, even if it was incorrect.
Anyway in the end i've had an enourmous amount of fun during my time over here. I've met a lot of friends, who hopefully i'll remain in contact with over the years to come. I've lived happily in another country for a long time, been immersed in a small amount of their culture (i say small because most of the time i was stuck in my little gaming shell)
I've been fairly fortunate i guess, i've always had gaming to relate too, so was never really homesick, in the 2+ years i've spent in this country i've never been seriously ill which could have cause a lot of troubles. On top of that i've always had someone to look after me, first off my friend from Aus, Minsoo who helped me a lot in the early days. At this point i was still an amateur, but that soon changed with my only real claim to fame in the early days was when i had fought my way through to the final 8 out of a 512 player tournament to gain my semi pro license. It was at this point (and during this tournament) that the managers and especially aficianado/bejjang (as you all know him) of POS took notice of me and i soon made my transition over to the POS team which is where i really began my progaming career. The guys at POS were great, and i have a lot of fond memories of my days there, all of them really made my life easy and i'll be glad to call them all friends for the rest of my life. They are doing really well recently and i wish them all the best. I had quite a bit of success with them, my all kill of the toona team would be one of them, the other notable one was when July and Myself played pretty much every week in the ITV team league and we helped get the team all the way to the finals before finally sucumbing to the power of GO(i think thats right - at one point i think i was 5 or 6-0 in wins). Unfortunately after this point due to circumstances beyond either of our control i had to part ways with the team and although i missed them it was where i made my final real transition in my progaming career. Hexatron/eNature was a bit different, elky and giyom were part of the team! foreigners were ALMOST a majority! They along with the rest of the team made us welcome. I definately have to thank all of the players at eNature and especially our manager Daniel Lee. Without him i probably would have retired quite a while ago so i have to thank him for the effort and faith he had in me. I may not have made it into a starleague but i feel i did enough to help promote the team, and did well enough in gaming to warrant his investment in me and i hope he feels the same way. I think in the end it was a pretty mutual relationship and went well.
So yeah this is much larger then i was intended, but i definately had to thank the people involved in those 3 main steps in my life in korea. Once again, thanks.
I have some regrets, my 4 biggest is not making it into a starleague, being disqualifed from 2 different leagues, not defeating the 4 pillars in televised games (4 top terran players, damn i had nada beat! argh! i sure did mess that game up) - though i did kill 2 of them so i'll have to be happy with that! And finally i guess, letting the fans i've got in korea down by not doing as well as some of them would have liked, or maybe quiting (what would seem to them, quite suddenly) when they were talking about how far i might go.
I'd like to thank all of my fans for their support, all of the korean gamers, the POS/eNature teams, their managers, all of my friends, you know who you are. I've had an incredible experience that would be almost impossible to have elsewhere, and i throughly enjoyed my time here, thanks to all the korean ppl for being so nice and friendly to a guy from downunder!
Our team may have done poorly in the last proleague, but i think they have a lot of potential and if they practice hard i think they could do very well. Dongjin hyunjin yongsung and brian are all really good players, so i wish them all the best in the future.
As for my future? well i've got real life to get back to i guess, the dream is over and what a dream it was! I have 1 year (with 3 completed) for a Bachelor of Information Technology to complete, with a dble major in Computer Science and Software Engineering. I've got all my old friends and family i have to meet and make up for being gone for so long. Dont really have too many plans beyond that, though i hope to oneday return to korea and experience a lot more that i never was able to see, i especailly would like to spend some time down on Jeju! (i've only been there once and that was for a tournament so i didn't get to see much.) I would also like to go and visit N Korea some time. I dont think i'll be playing so much starcraft, maybe i'll play in WCG Australia though i wont practice much for it, and i will try out for the odd tournament here and there but all in all, i have no set plans, and i'll take the future as it comes.
For now, thanks to everyone, i hope you all understand my decision and that you can accept it. Earlier when i was reading my daum cafe, i saw all of your messages of support and you asking me not to retire, it was very touching and made me feel so sad to leave you all. I apolgize to everyone who i have disappointed but i've had a great time and maybe we will meet again some time in the future.
For now good bye and good luck!~ I hope you all have as much fun with the game as i've had over the years.
Leg you were a huge impact and inspiration, your name will be immortalized with that of elky and giyom. Congrats for all you've done (for instance.. you took down BoxeR on live tv! I was so giddy when I first saw that result) and gl with what you plan to do now
very sad but also nice read, i think many players out there will miss you and so will i all in all it was a good desicion since doing things you dont feel pleasure for isn't good and not even healthy imo
Mate - you have had some good experiences and done something that many would see as an ideal job - i think we all understand that it would have been a lot of hard work too though. Well done and congrats on a great career in Korea. And most important of all - good luck with what you move onto next!
I think you are the sort of bloke that will do well no matter what you choose to do - you are well spoken, articulate, generous to your fans and BW and you have a good sense of humour. You will do well.
On July 12 2005 02:40 hasuwar wrote: Sounds like the beginning of the end for foriegn pro gamers
Sad to see you go, Leg..you've been the biggest impact for foreign gaming over there for a while..being the only one to actually win games :[
This is almost kinda depressing
What ? There was a long period of time where we had almost no one there (elky barely playing, giyom barely playing, nazgul had gone home, smuft had gone home). Not THAT different from before
[pG] should go to korea as a progamer team, i think they would do better then enature actually, and they are probably better then the worst teams in the leauge (soul etc)!
sad to see you leave leg, always nice with foreigners in the korean scene.
At least your last match on TV was a decent demonstration of how great of a player you were, even if not among the best. You did well and it was entertaining, thanks Leg.
Good luck in the future, I really appreciate the way you always kept everyone updated with your activities in Korea, your reads were always insightful and humourous, and I thank you for that.
You brought so much to the Korean progaming scene both off and on the TV screen. It was a good career no matter how you look at it, and I'm sure as you've already stated~ you've made valuable friends and seen a whole new world, it has to be worth it.
Good luck with all your future ventures...but don't get pissed off when you come back to Australia and have lousy internet. w00t!
On another note, one other regret i have is not bothering to learn the korean language, it would have been so easy, i was just so lazy and didn't want to. Looking back though i really should have.
legionaire u are the man, but ill stay mad at u for leaving korea and taking the easy way out... even though u stated u dont love the game as much... you are a idle dont forget it.
this is very sad indeed. I understand that you gotta do what you gotta do, but I really did enjoy watching your VODs and marveling at how a foreigner could compete with those dang koreans.
this brings up another point though: who will now go to korea and be the next big foreigner? Assem is still pro, but I never hear any news about him, and I wouldn't be surprised if he does something similar, because I haven't seen him in any news for so long.
Damn, thats crazy. Either way thanks for the post Leg and best of luck in whatever you do. As others have said your indepth and updated posts about the Pro-scene were really good to read and kept us more in touch with whats happening over there. For that a big thanks and a congrats to you for doing what you were able to do. The glass is half full not half empty sir! GL!
This is a sad day for foreign starcraft. Leg I always had fun watching your matches and following you in the leagues and such. I hope you good luck man!
But I have to ask.... if you weren't disqualified vs Yooi... do you still think you'd be playing right now? I remember how depressed that made you, and it's a real shame if something like that drove you to quit (it may have been the final straw that dampened your mood).
I'll just say that you were great Leg. I'm sure you had many experiences there and learned a lot. Thanks for sharing it with us and good luck with anything you choose to do in the future.
Congrats for all the fun you've had in place of the thousands who wish they were in your place. Enjoy your life and be sure to play a little StarCraft once in awhile.
Good luck Peter. God knows I'd never go even if I had the skills to, so I understand your decision and quite frankly I'm surprised you gave'r as long as you did. 2 years is a long time for a person in their twenties.
Leg, I think you've done very well in the progaming scene. Clearly you stand out not just because of your appearance, but because of your personality as well . It's sad to see you leave, but at the same time I'm glad you're getting out of it if you aren't enjoying it anymore. Not that this is always a good thing to do, but you're still young and I think it's more important for you to finish that degree and get some other job experiences under your belt than it is to learn how to re-ignite the fire of joy in gaming.
Hopefully the Wink Toss will inspire others to show the same kind of personality and fun in front of the camera. Charisma is important if you want to be a true celebrity, not just skill and victories. It's always a lot more fun to cheer for a player with a distinct personality than one who is just skill and statistics. Hopefully in the future we'll see some more charisma coming from the pros. I think it'll make everyone enjoy the sport a little more .
o well, seems like you have a backup plan ready. Time to look forward to the next stage of your life, and look back(with pride) at the stuff you've accomplished in Korea :D
On July 12 2005 18:32 NewbSaibot wrote: you are a sad man ihatte, get some help
Haha, I noticed some of your computer remarks again, you should really not say things when you don't have a clue what you are talking about.
"You don't know what computers could have been without Microsoft", or something like that.
Yes i should trust the mad ravings of a childish forum flooder who so desperately wants to be unbanned. You've shown your true colors, your opinion and "expertise" in programming (likely a sham) is moot and void.
And i guess questioning the powers that be automatically makes me a member of the sinical knee-jerk reactionary media liberal ivy league taxassachusets elite hippie right? End yourself...
have you thought about still trying to make money off BW? or are you completely sick of BW and don't want to play it ever again?
I'm pretty sure you could get people to pay you to teach them =) you know, get something for all your progamer skills that you've spent so long developing, it would be a shame to let your considerable skills go to waste
Hmm yeah, you could make some money in you spare time, but only if you aren't completly sick of it. I know I would like to see you play first hand, just something you can't get out of replays, but then again I'm sure a lot of people would like to see it, not just one person.
Leg u were my hero all the time! my #1 protoss or even #1 progamer ever seriously progaming without ya won't be such a fun stuff anymore... anywayz wish ya all the best in your life and like many ppl already told it's good that u made a decision no matter what that decision was...
Gl Peter, guess thats the best decision even if we gonna miss a lot with you leaving Korea Hopefully you could bring Bryan in typingmood to write some reports here and stay in some contact with the ppl that liked you a lot not only for gamingreasons
I was talking to Brian for a little last night after the GGL WB final. He seemed sad about being the only outsider and he knows his time is soon as well..
I've never seen any of his games except when he beat Boxer during that televised game a while ago... is there a good rep pack of Legionnare anyone has? I've mostly collected replays of terran players. It is sad to see a foreign gamer leave the scene, but he definitely seems on-the-ball, and you know he is going to be successful. I'm very happy for Peter
On July 20 2005 03:22 XellOs_PlutO wrote: we will miss you so much! T-T ill still remember your performance including the sexy wink good luck back in austrailia and wish to see you in WCG!
hey, I didn't know you post here. I really really liked all of your videos. is there anything coming up we all can look forward to?
your goon/reaver control made me stay toss for a good year. Do what you think is best without any regrets and you cant lose. GL HF. you played a real GG. sorry that was corny lol.
EPT
Thanks for showing Korea how to really use the reaver.
thx for the games/giving us the inside scoop on everything 
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