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I've published an interview with Guillaume " Grrrr..." Patry, the only non-Korean to ever win a BW OSL.
Some of the topics we discussed:
-The BW scene before Grrrr...'s move to Korea.
-His transition to life in South Korea.
-The excessive partying and drinking which inhibited his professional career and results.
-The rise of players like  YellOw, Kingdom,  BoxeR and NaDa during Grrrr...'s era.
-Thoughts on Korean culture and BW/esports' peak over there.
-Thoughts on MOBA and SC2.
On whether Grrrr... was the best foreigner before going to Korea:
I can't say that I was the best foreigner, but back then some of the best players in practice did poorly in tournaments. It was the opposite for me, I played better under pressure. In 1999, the best players were not Korean. Around mid-2000, that's when Koreans started dominating Starcraft.
Grrrr...'s advantage over other players:
Being able to play a difference race certainly helped. Since two out of the five maps favored Protoss over Zerg, I had a significant advantage going into the finals. I am not a perfectionist, nor do I practice enough, but I have the ability to learn a new game faster than anybody I know. Eventually the other guys caught up and surpassed me, but I was given more opportunities than any other professional. I would often get seeded where other players had to qualify online.
His drinking and partying problem:
When I arrived in Korea, I had a six-pack from casually working out with my high school buddies. I ate healthily and I didn't drink. But you wouldn't believe how fast alcohol can turn a six-pack into fat. I was living an unhealthy lifestyle. I gained a lot of weight, but then I decided to sign-up at a gym (and actually go). Sometimes I fell asleep on the bench, tired from a night of drinking, but I was still going, and consequently I ended up drinking a lot less and started practicing a lot more. I didn't do interviews anymore, and there were no more tournaments other than the televised ones. I had a lot more time.
Describing esports in Korea:
Esports would have been mainstream in Korea if it wasn't a completly new thing. By that I mean that, despite its popularity, it took corporate sponsors several years to start investing in it. Tournament organizers had no experience, managers didn't have a clue what they were doing. It takes years to build an infrastructure that established sports have had for decades. I believe that when a new game comes out, a game as popular as BW was, the true potential of esport will be reached. Then eSports will be mainstream,and maybe not just in korea but internationally.
The entire interview can be read at Team Acer.
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Team Acer has been bringing some awesome content lately, keep it up!
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Grrrr... was the Stephano of bw.
Never practiced, got drunk a lot, somehow still dominated the first few years.
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Anyone have link to TL blog from French player who was with Grrrr in Korea? That was amazing story, but i can't remember the name...
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On November 10 2012 05:27 bgx wrote:
Anyone have link to TL blog from French player who was with Grrrr in Korea? That was amazing story, but i can't remember the name...
ElkY?
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On November 10 2012 05:27 bgx wrote:
Anyone have link to TL blog from French player who was with Grrrr in Korea? That was amazing story, but i can't remember the name...
http://www.teamliquid.net/blog/pgt
?
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Wow, Thorin you are writing really good articles. It's sad that your article about Stork got so few feedback. SC2 people are too busy with drama I guess haha. Thank you !
edit : does anyone else think that Grrr looks like a white Reach on the first picture of the article ?
Yep that blog is really insightful.
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Thorin always putting out great stuff as usual.
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Grrrr today is a good looking dude!
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Very good read. Thank you!
On November 10 2012 05:43 endy wrote:
Wow, Thorin you are writing really good articles. It's sad that your article about Stork got so few feedback. SC2 people are too busy with drama I guess haha. Thank you !
I must have missed this. Where can I find it?
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On November 10 2012 06:05 slappy wrote:Very good read. Thank you! Show nested quote +On November 10 2012 05:43 endy wrote:
Wow, Thorin you are writing really good articles. It's sad that your article about Stork got so few feedback. SC2 people are too busy with drama I guess haha. Thank you !
I must have missed this. Where can I find it?
http://www.aceresport.com/uk/content/211.htm - Stork's silver path of courage
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Great interview, it was an enjoyable read.
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28103 Posts
omg my Hero. This is awesome, thx.
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Great interview, I find it interesting that he was able to pick the game up so fast and master it quicker compared to everyone else. I wonder what the reason for that is.
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Although I was never a competitive player I take some pride in having played at a high enough level back then to have lost many games to Grrrr & Elky on the ladder back when 1600 - 1800 was considered an amazing rating and ladder cheating was limited to a few clearly obvious accounts. This was a really exciting time in SC and RTS in general when everyone was learning not just how to play SC but how to play RTS. Innovation made the game exciting and I think that is one of the things that people hold against SC2 when comparing it to SC/BW. By the time SC2 came out almost all of the core elements of top level RTS gaming had been figured out so innovation comes at a micro level or is specific to meta-game which isn't as exciting as the ground breaking new discoveries that occurred all the time back then. Things as simple as maynarding or even mineral harassing were major discoveries that changed the face of RTS strategy. People will always lament about BW being a better game but what they are forgetting is that BW also had the advantage of being a leader competitive RTS. HOTS is going to make for some really exceptional moments in RTS but it's always going to be compared to that first one. BW is everyone's first love that they always wish they had back. What we all have to learn is that our memories of the first one is always somewhat based in fantasy and that everything that we've learned since then has helped to improve things not hurt them. HOTS will be an amazing game too but it will take a game that is able to redefine RTS in some major way for people to be as enthralled as they were in the days of BW.
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Very interesting read, especially if you followed a bit of broodwar at the time.
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Sick article, thanks for doing this!
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Good read, thanks for posting.
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EPT
