EPTSo I finally took the time to write this thing. Since this might be the last time you’ll hear from me I decided to take this opportunity and give something to the community that’s given so much to me during the past several years of my life.
As most of you might have already heard from doubtful sources I decided to step off of my progaming career. “But why? You were living the dream…” I almost hear some of you asking, so I’ll try to describe how I was seeing things and point out the things you are not able to see.
When I was 15, the only thing I wanted to do was play computer games. A lot of things were in my way of doing the thing I loved tho – school, parents, etc. After a while the first progamers appeared in South Korea – famous among their whole nation Stars, being paid to play the game they love, coincidently the game I love too – StarCraft. At this point of my life I had a new dream – to become a progamer, to be able to get enough money to live on, by only doing the thing I love to do – play StarCraft. However 8 years ago progamers did not exist in Europe yet. There were only 2-3 big international tournaments a year and no pro teams at that point. Being part of the whole e-sports evolution process however allowed me to see how rapidly everything was developing and I never abandoned my dream, I kept playing, striving to become the best. Years were passing, StarCraft was getting old and still the only people getting monthly salary to compete in e-sports were living in Korea.
Finally the summer of 2002 came and WarCraft3 was released to the open public. With its emerge I saw a new opportunity for achieving my dream. I knew WarCraft3 would take over for StarCraft and would be even bigger so I made the switch. In the start I did not like War3, it was way too colorful with too many redundant things – items, heroes, creeps, neutral buildings, etc. It took me not long however to realize how much better of a game WarCraft3 was and how much deeper thinking could be employed when creating a strategy. I started playing WarCraft3 in September 2002 and was able to join the best team at that time only 2 months later. Here I have to thank Jad “Nuke” Fawaz who was the manager of TWO of my former StarCraft teams and we knew each other pretty well. Only two weeks after I joined SK I was able to win the biggest online War3 tour so far (talk about a motivation boost, in SK I finally felt a semi-progamer). I still wasn’t getting a monthly salary but was promised free trips to all the big events around Europe if I kept showing good results. I was getting closer and closer to achieving my dream, when finally a year later the moment has come. SK and Intel Korea have come to an agreement to send 4 SK players to Korea and form team Intel, to compete in the Korean leagues. Me, MadFrog, Heman and Dominator were the lucky ones, who were able to experience the South Korean progaming dream.
The few months I spent there were certainly the most memorable and joyful times of my whole gaming career. Here I will use the opportunity to thank Fredrik, Alborz and Henrik for all the great moments we shared. I will never forget you guys. I was also able to win the WCG2003, which happened in Korea during my stay there. At this point I became a star in Korea. Teenagers were recognizing me in public places and I received offers for 3x the salary I was getting. However with every day passed I was feeling more and more homesick and the nostalgia for my friends and lifestyle in Bulgaria was getting stronger. So at the exact peak of my career, against all kinds of logic, I decided to leave the heart of the progaming world and return home and celebrate my victory with friends and family.
At this point of my life I felt as if I had nothing left to prove (in the field of RTS games) to myself or to anyone else. I had achieved my dream. This was the turning point for me at which War3 slowly started turning from a great passion to just a job.
A few months after I came home – in early 2004 I started getting regular salary from SK, money enough for me to live my life the way I wanted. I kept on practicing and attending tournaments and made numerous high place finishes, but slowly tournament after tournament, day after day I was losing my interest in War3, I was getting bored of it. I will be honest with you guys, in the last year – year and a half I mostly played because I had no other source of income.
Finally exactly 5 years after I joined SK I decided to tell everyone in the team how I felt and that I wanted to quit even tho I still had a running contract. On November 15th 2007 we all gathered in the SK office in Cologne for the upcoming wc3l finals and I used this opportunity to make the announcement. Big shout out goes to Alex, whom most of you know as TheSlasH – the SK Gaming global manager. He understood me and supported me in my decision. Thanks Alex, thanks for the support and the motivation you provided through all these years, thanks for leading the team forward and thanks for always being there when needed. I also want to thank my latest teammates – ReMinD, Soju and Lyn. SK could not have wished for better guys to join and strengthen the team. I have had great respect for all of them, long before they joined SK and was very happy when I heard we were recruiting them to the team. They all have an insane amount of potential. Thank you guys for the great performance at the WC3L playoffs, allowing me to end my career with a great victory.
I want to apologize to you guys for not putting up the announcement in time. The reason why this happened is simple. We wanted to have this blog up on the page along with the news item, but I just couldn’t find the time to write it. Now when my time is not occupied with war3 I’ve had so many new things entering my life it’s crazy. I am doing different kinds of sports 4 times a week now. Yesterday I went snowboarding, had so much fun. I also resumed my university studies and started socializing with my friends a lot more. I am also playing poker online to be able to get some income, but I am not focusing on it nearly as much as I did on games before. All in all life has been great and I certainly don’t regret my decision to leave the scene.
Last but not least I want to thank you guys. Thank you for the great support you provided during all those years, I hope I was able to give something back to you through my games. My advice to you is never to give up on your dreams, no matter what. That is the key to success, that everyone’s looking for.
Thanks for reading.
SK.Insomnia
Source: http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/15336-SKInsomnia_Retires
Great read, he will be remembered.
