Korean News Flash 2008-11-19

This issue of KNF is brought to you by Infinity21, LosingID8, OneOther, and Wala.Revolution

An Exclusive 6-Part Special Article on Free Agents

Part 1: The First Free Agents in eSports in 2009!
Source: Fomos, translated by Infinity21
Part 2: "Free Agents" - Why?
Source: Fomos, translated by Infinity21
Part 3: What are "Reserve Rights" and "Free Agents"?
Source: Fomos, translated by LosingID8
Part 4: How Will It Work?
Source: Fomos, translated by OneOther
Part 5: The First Free Agents - Song Byung Goo, Kim Taek Yong, Ma Jae Yoon, Lee Yoon Yeol (and more!)
Source: Fomos, translated by LosingID8
Part 6: FA as an eSports Institution, the Key to Success is to Utilize It
Source: Fomos, translated by LosingID8

Fomos Interviews 3 Team Liquid Members!

Silvano Bovo, the 20-Year-Old Who Dreams of Being a Progamer
Source: Fomos, translated by Wala.Revolution
Marc Schnell, the Young Man Who is Learning About his Motherland
Source: Fomos, translated by LosingID8
Michelle Martinez, from Zerg User to MTV Web Designer
Source: Fomos, translated by LosingID8

Note: Because this is Korean News Flash, in keeping with Korean style articles, I prefer to refer to gamers by their real names, and not by their IDs.

Part 1: The First Free Agents in eSports in 2009!

Translated by Infinity21

Free agency (abbreviated FA, not FrozenArbiter), introduced by Major League Baseball in America in 1976 and currently being used in a variety of professional sports, will at last be implemented in StarCraft.

FA, a modification of the announcement made last 2006, March 22nd at the progaming education meeting(?), will result in the first batch of players eligible for FA in the upcoming year.

At the time, KeSPA stated the specifics on becoming a free agent through policy 41. According to the policy, for corporate sponsored teams, over 5 years, for non-corporate sponsored teams, over 4 years of playing experience, the status of FA will be granted.

Additionally existing professional gamers who have been playing for over 3 years will be allowed to become FAs. For the pro gamers who have been playing at the time the policy took effect, they are scheduled to get their FA licenses once 2008 passes in 2009.

Therefore, out of the players who were pro gamers at the date in which the requirements for getting a FA license (2006, March 22nd) were set, those who participated in at least 15% of the team league games since then will acquire the their FA license in 2009.

Out of the current pro gamers, there are 158 players who played in team leagues in the last 3 years. Out of those, there are 40 players who played in the minimum requirement of 15% of the yearly games. (3 of 20 in 2006 and 7 of 44 in 2007).

Excluding the players who joined the Air Force or those who are predicted to not meet their 15% game quota, it has been estimated that approximately 30 gamers will get their FA license in 2009.

The establishment of the first FA has a significant meaning. As the players’ contracts terminate, they are able to freely move to different teams and get a fair compensation for their accomplishments.

Source by Reporter Shim Hyun

Part 2: "Free Agents" - Why?

Translated by Infinity21

The reason why free agents have come into place goes all the way back to 2005.

Since 2004, as corporate sponsored teams continue to be established and true pro gamers who get paid a stable salary come into existence, concerns have been raised on potential problems with players transferring to other teams. Two cases occur one after another in 2005 to support their concern.

February of 2005, Choi Yeon Sung (iloveoov), a part of SK Telecom, signed with KTF although his contract with SKT has not been terminated. As the truth came to light, there was a great controversy. Afterwards, Choi reported a termination of contract to KTF and resigned with SKT. Although this could have grown into a much bigger problem involving lawsuits, the case came to a close when Choi was reprimanded with a 3 month ban from team leagues and a total of 5 million Wons (approx. $5000 USD).

Although this case showed a dire need for a policy relating to relocating players in order to prevent future outbreaks, no action is taken and a new problem arises.

6 months after the “double contract” incident, September 2005, Lee Byung Min (GoodFriend) who was at the time a part of Pantech & Curitel, refused to extend his contract with P&C and signed with KTF. This left a precedent for a player to move freely to a different team once a player’s contract terminates. And in a shocking moment, this opened up an opportunity for non-corporate team members to leave the team en masse.

KeSPA, who had neglected to address the concerns of relocation since the birth of corporate sponsored professional teams, was put under the spotlight and proceeded to prepare a new policy after the end of the 2005 season.

As such, KeSPA announced a new policy on March 22nd, 2006, defining the requirements of acquiring a FA license, its application, and preparing for the introduction of free agents.

Source by Reporter Shim Hyun

Part 3: What are "Reserve Rights" and "Free Agents"?

Translated by LosingID8

Reserve Right is a system that was created by the MLB in 1879. It is a system that gives the team an exclusive right to contract the player the next season. Because of this, even if a player's contract expired, it made it impossible to change teams.

From the player's perspective as the supplier in the labor market, it was an extremely disadvantageous system. This Reserve Right is the reason why players are considered property of the team. Accordingly, this is why players often have 1-year contracts with the team.

Even though this is disadvantageous to players in all of professional sports, the reason why it is recognized is to maintain equality amonst teams. If Reserve Right were not honored, then a team with great financial backing could buy all the skilled players, and would hold a monopoly in the league. In this were the case, an effect would be that teams would suddenly do well or do poorly. This is why teams currently get the first right to extend the contract another year. If this is the case, a player can only play for one team, and it is a problem that compared to their skill they may receive a low salary. But professional sports still do this to maintain some balance amongst teams.

It is nearly unheard of for a player to ask for a raise or to leave while they are still under contract. Imagine if a player that had the most home runs in the middle of a season asked for a raise or else he would leave teams? This is why Reserve Right is important. Many fans are mistaken, and believe that their favorite player is being paid less than they deserve. They think that they should get a pay raise or be traded to a different team. But this would be very dangerous for professional sports.

Does this mean someone who is unfairly being paid a lower amount than they deserve has to remain a victim? No, this is where the concept for Free Agent comes into play, an institution designed to protect players' rights.

Source by Reporter Shim Hyun

Part 4: How Will It Work?

Translated by OneOther

This upcoming 2009 year, free agent system will be implemented for the first time in e-Sports history. How will it be enforced and how it will be processed?

Rules and details of free agency are now clearly written in the 41st section of the e-Sports Official Rules. Starting in 2009, progamers who have been active since March 22nd 2006 and played in at least 15% of team games will be the first players to receive the free agent status. That will be the mark of a significant change in the e-Sports scene.

Once the free agents are chosen, how will the rest of the process work? Each player who receives the status has the right to either accept or waiver it, depending on his wishes.

A player who chooses to accept the free agent status then has 30 days to lead a contract with his respective progame team. This essentially means the player has the power to make requests and demands (regarding salary and etc), and his team must make a decision to accept or decline in 30 days. If a contract isn’t met, the player can then start contacting other teams for contracts.

The new team that the free agent joins has to reimburse the player’s former team by paying 200% of the player’s salary, or pay 100% of the salary along with one additional player outside of the team’s six primary players.

Although these rules have been set, e-Sports has not yet decided how many of them to actually enforce. The officials are still discussing and weighing all the possible problems that might come up.

For example, the percentage of games the player needed to have played in order to gain the free agent status was initially set at 25%, but lowered to 15% in August of 2007. Furthermore, e-Sports, unlike other professional sports, has varying starting and ending points of contracts depending on each team. These are only a handful of problems that must be dealt with before the system is used.

“We are making very careful decisions after long considerations in every issue,” said one of e-Sports board members. He added, “Small details regarding the requirements for the status and how it will be implemented will be confirmed sometime after mid November.” That includes all the aspects of the system: contract process, reimbursements, team interactions, and etc.

Lastly, players who were not licensed prior to March 22nd 2006 will have to wait until 2011 to become free agents.

Source by Reporter Shim Hyun

Part 5: The First FAs, Song Byung Goo, Kim Taek Yong, Ma Jae Yoon, Lee Yoon Yeol (and more!)

Translated by LosingID8

The first eSports Free Agent Market is Opening. After the induction of regulations, there will be a large market for the first FA's.

It was decided that progamers that had been registered before March 22nd, 2006, and had been on a team for 3 consecutive years. They also had to have played in at least 15% of the matches.

Accordingly, in the 2006 season there were 20 team matches, so 15% is 3 games, and in 2007 44 matches were played, so 15% is 7 games. The number of matches to be played in the 2008 season is undetermined as of yet, but those that also play in 15% of these matches will be qualified to become FAs.

However, activity in Air Force ACE will not be included when determining eligibility for FA. Air Force ACE is not equivalent to the other progaming teams, so even if they participate in leagues it will not be recognized. Thus, Lim Yo Hwan (Boxer), Lee Joo Young (Oversky), Park Jung Suk (Reach), and Oh Young Jong (Anytime) among others such as Hong Jin Ho (Yellow) and Cha Jae Wook (Cloud) are excluded from the FA selection process.

Since the 2008 requirements are still undetermined, it is impossible to tell exactly who will qualify. But based on their history in 2006 and 2007 (assuming in the 08-09 season 66 games are played) those that play in at least 10 games will be eligible to become FAs. By this criteria, 26 progamers should be eligible.

The prospective FAs are on various teams and include all three races, but their experience and skill level are at the top of the progamers.

Out of the three races, protoss users are the most numerous. The biggest name is "Commander-in-Chief" Song Byung Goo (Stork). He became a progamer on April 1st, 2005, and since participated in 15 matches in 2006, 40 in 2007, and has already played in 19 in 2008. This automatically qualifies him to be a FA.

Other than Song Byung Goo, "Revolutionist" Kim Taek Yong (Bisu), "Thunder" Yoon Yong Tae (Free), "Distinguished Protoss" Park Young Min (Much), and "Spirit" Park Ji Ho (Pusan) are other progamers that are the main players on their respective teams. Seo Ki Soo (Tester), Park Sung Hoon (TT), Park Jong Soo (Soo), Ahn Ki Hyo (Rock), Jun Tae Gyu (Zeus) make up the rest of the 10 total protosses.

After protoss, next in number is zerg. Because it is so hard to have a sure zerg card in the lineup, it is expected that zerg users will be in great demand once the FA market opens. The two main headliners for zerg FAs are Park Chan Soo (Luxury) and "BonJwa" Ma Jae Yoon (Savior).

Other than the aforementioned zergs are "Man of Virtue" Kim Joon Young (GGplay), "God of War" Park Sung Joon (July), Kim Yoon Hwan (Calm), Park Myung Soo (Yellow[arnc]), Kim Dong Hyun (Saint), Lee Jae Hwang (JiHyun), Shin Jung Min (Max) complete the 9 zergs who are awaiting eligibility to become FAs.

Finally, the 7 terrans who may become free agents are "Genius" Lee Yoon Yeol (Nada), Yum Bo Sung (Sea), Jin Young Soo (Hwasin), Lee Sung Eun (Firebathero), Byun Hyung Tae (Iris), Jun Sang Wook (Midas), Ko In Kyu (Canata).

There is a large possibility that there will be fierce competition to bring these big names to different teams, and likewise there is a large possibility that there will be a lot of care in writing new contracts to block the possiblity of FA trades.

There is a lot of anticipation that these due to these new FAs that there will be large increases is salaries and bonuses (called "FA DaeBak") just like in traditional sports.

After the large boom of establishing progaming teams in 2004, players salaries have steadily increased, and due to the frequency of multiple-year contract renewals, the cost of certain players have swelled to an extreme. Thus, progaming teams began to avoid extended contracts (i.e. 5 years at a time), an increased effort to actualize players' salaries was a prospect that could not be ignored.

However, Proleague is no longer an annual event, and the new rules to play all races has caused a disparity in the power of the races is deepening. This has caused having a strong card to play all three races a more urgent problem than before, and could cause the value of some players to be much higher than expected.

Source by Reporter Shim Hyun

Part 6: FA as an eSports Institution, the Key to Success is to Utilize It

Translated by LosingID8

When a player's contract from a specific team expires, he can choose a team that he likes without any restrictions. He has the right to move to a different team according to his own intentions. Unlike player-player or player-money trades where the team holds the rights, FA gives the individual player the right.

If FA becomes a fixture in eSports, the transfer of a player can have positive effects on both the player and the team, and it will be a new source of energy for the eSports world.

Of course, skill is the primary basis for salary, and this allows players to receive fair compensation. Players can strive their hardest to bring out the best results until they are eligible to be FAs, and thus will be able to earn the amount they deserve.

This is also positive because it gives players a clear goal and way to take care of themselves. From the perspective of the corporate sponsors, it gives them a new way of controlling supply and demand.

FA also allows players that are receiving large salaries who feel like they don't match well with the team to move.

One player that is expected to be an FA in 2009 said that "FA is definitely something great from the player's perspective. However, it will really depend on the support of each progaming team." He also said, "Players will now of course strive to show results so that they can become FAs, and I am expecting the progaming teams to positively use their resources to utilize FA."

It is also important to note that the state of the economy will have an effect. Since the progaming team are sponsored by large companies, the amount the companies are willing to spend will heavily depend on how that company fares economically. It is great that FA is being instituted, but it really depends on how large of a sum the players will be asking for. But of course, you can't really predict what will happen until it is put into action.

The beginning is always important. There is still a lot of time remaining before eSports is introduced to the FA system for the first time. However, there are so many unknowns that it will take a lot of careful preparation to make sure that things go smoothly.

Source by Reporter Shim Hyun

Fomos Interviews G.s)NarutO, snowbird, and mnm

Silvano Bovo, the 20-Year-Old Who Dreams of Being a Progamer
Translated by Wala.Revolution

Silvano Bobo a resident of Kaarster See, north of Cologne, is a young German adult of Italian descent who dreams of becoming a progamer one day. He currently attends Heinrich Hertz Berufskolleg (university), loves video games and wishes to become a professional gamer. He finds it intriguing that one can earn money while playing games. He acknowledges that earning salary, becoming a 'professional' gamer, is a not a smooth road.

Silvano was amazed at and afraid of the fact how Koreans toy with foreigners - he saw the famous Christoph 'MonDragon' Semke of ToT clan, who is the best in Germany, 3rd placer in WCG 2007, was no match for Koreans. When he plays with Christoph, he always has a hard time; how Koreans play against Christoph makes him speechless.

He wonders and comtemplates at how games draw people, and eventually, build a community. He learned Korean playing against Korean progamers and top amateurs on US West Battle.net server as he played and interacted with them. Most people address Korean progamers by their respective game IDs, but he has learned their Koreans names and how to write them in Hangul, the Korean alphabet.

Mr. Silvano wishes to enter professional team mTw and when SC2 comes out, claims to have the determination to practice a rigorous schedule like that of a progamer, around 10 hours a day. The dreaming boy wants to convey a message to the Korean progamers: there is a substantial foreign fanbase and that they watch VODs, which demonstrate their dedications.

Marc Schnell, the Young Man Who is Learning About his Motherland
Translated by LosingID8

Marc Schnell, age 25, is currently a 4th-year university student at Ludwig-Maximilian Universitaet studying philosophy. His mother is Korean, so he is a Korean-German. Also, he has always liked gaming, and has been playing since it's release. He also has experience representing Germany in the game Nation War. After he found out that Starcraft is very popular in Korea, he realized that he wanted to know more about Korea.

Marc and his mother converse in German, and when he was a child his mom mentioned attending Korean language school, but at the time he wasn't interested. This was because he considered himself German. When he was young he thought there was the possibility of other kids teasing him if he spoke another language.

But Marc changed. When he was 16, he went to Korea with his mother and made a lot of fun memories. Because Korea had a more developed IT/Internet infrastructure than Germany, he was very surprised to see how developed Korea was with his own eyes. In his mind, Korea was like the Phillipines, a country not as developed as Germany. After that year, he has gone to Korea every year to meet relatives, and since he was 20 he has attended Yonsei University's Korean language program to study Korean.

By getting to know Korea, Marc has changed. Although he is German, he knows that he has the soul of Korean living inside of him. He revealed that in the future in order to know Korea more he wants to either work or study abroad in Korea so he can stay for an extended period of time.

Michelle Martinez, from Zerg User to MTV Web Designer
Translated by LosingID8

Michelle Martinez, age 26, lives in New York and is a web designer for MTV International. She is also an office worker quite absorbed with the charm of the Korean eSports scene.

Michelle first got interested in games in 2001 during the first semester of her junior year. At the time she didn't want to study for her finals, so she started playing games. A friend at the time suggested Starcraft, and since they she has been interested in it. She was interested in the fact that you could make your own strategies, the diversity in teamplay and 1 on 1, and the fact that every time you play it was like a different game.

She became interested in Korean eSports because in 2004 her friend invited her to the Las Vegas and Los Angeles American WCG Finals. At the time, she met a lot of people, and this is when she first heard of professional Starcraft matches in Korea. Through WCG she learned that Korean players are the best in the world.

One of Michelle's high school friends was half-Korean, and through her she was able to learn basic Korean and Korean culture. She has a Korean keyboard, and she attends an ethnic Korean church. She expresses interest in wanting to become closer to Korea.

Until now she has only heard a lot of things about Korea, but now she wants to go to Korea herself. Also, through her goal to learn Korean you can feel her love for Korean eSports.

Source by Reporter Kim Sun Moon

Please continue further discussion on this interview in the original thread

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