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![[image loading]](http://fnatic.com/filestorage/imagedb/full/7688.jpg)
Let me clarify, I am not saying that GomTV has done a piss poor job, in fact, they have done a marvelous job and I am very thankful for what they have done for the international eSports scene. So I apologize that the title is hostile towards Koreans and makes it out to be their fault only - which it is not.
I feel that people just need to see where everyone else is coming from, and the various perspectives from the different regions. Recently, (especially after reading the GSL Commentator comments) it feels as though Korea was shocked that there are so few foreigners, I was just trying to point out why, and make a note that there needs to be increased communication from all parties involved in order to keep moving forward like we have been.
Due to the recent flood of commentary on TeamLiquid.net and elsewhere, I felt it necessary to write a column on the topic of why Korea needs to begin paying attention to the rest of the worlds eSports efforts. With a focus of why many Westerners might not want to go to Korea and why those problems exist and a form of solution.
Introduction
For many years, the Western world has been following the Korean eSports scene intently, gathering information and keeping up to date with all of the various professional teams, tournaments and events. Now with the Western Starcraft 2 scene surpassing that of even Korea, it is time for the Korean eSports professionals to start taking notes.
This has never been so apparent up until the past few weeks. With the GSL Super Tournament, and the news accompanying it indicating that only two foreigners – who happen to live in Korea – will be participating in the prestigious event. Recently, the FnaticMSI.Starcraft 2 manager wrote his personal thoughts on why he believed no one wished to take part in the GSL Super Tournament. It was then followed up by a response from the GomTV broadcasters.
Clearly, there are still communication and information barriers preventing Korea and the rest of the world from uniting into one truly global industry. But why is that? Why is it that most foreigners choose to stay in their home countries rather than move to Korea to compete in the illustrious GSL events?
Living conditions
One of the deterrents for players moving to Korea in order to participate in the GSL sanctioned events is the conditions. When a Westerner moves to Korea they leave behind more than an address, they leave behind friends and family – a home. They leave behind their support network, the people they count on and the people who count on them. It is no easy task to simply pick up and move to the other side of the world.
Then once you arrive in Korea, you are expected to live with a group of strangers – most of the time, sharing a room with them. Western cultures are far different from that of Asian cultures such as that in Korea. Moving from a nice familiar home where you would have your own room, privacy and the freedom to do as you please to a house where you share a room with multiple people you probably do not know personally and share everything can be quite difficult. It takes a lot of time and effort to make this new unfamiliar destination your home....
To read the entire piece, click HERE.
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i disagree with almost everything in this article but i applaud you for the effort you put in it.
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On May 25 2011 21:58 MetalSlug wrote:
i disagree with almost everything in this article but i applaud you for the effort you put in it.
Care to say why you disagree?
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The most valid point imo is the language barrier. The foreigners who wants to go in Korea must do what teamliquid did : arranging themselves with a team so they can at least practice (if not live, but it seems foreigners wants to practice in non optimal practice environment, that's a choice and not related to "korea must start to pay attention").
In fact, after reading your article, my conclusion is more "foreigners must start paying attention to korea".
GSL has more views everyday from foreigners (including VODS) than MLG. I don't understand the point about sponsors (but I'm less informed than you I have to admit).
How about contacting the Korean teams so they allow the winner of the MLG Korean tickets to live with them between 7 day-1month ? I'm sure you can find one team that will allow you, and so the players will consider this month like a intense training camp, with a tough living condition but the progress of 6 months condensed in one month. Training with MKP ? Losira ? Bomber ? Alicia ? I'm pretty sure that things like that could be arranged, with some effort by both teams.
I feel it's the foreigners who are missing opportunities, not the Koreans.
And I feel the "I have to stay one month even if I lose the first day" argument is dishonest, as the new code A schedule (and even without it), a player can just come back sooner if he loses, a plane ticket can be rescheduled (I did it multiple times, but perhaps it's not that easy, not sure)
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if you want to farm more gold, you may try to play some World of Warcraft. The rationality of decision making of SC2 players and managers saddens and angers me. The opportunity cost is too high and the competition level too harsh? OK, but what happened to the ambition of competitive gaming?
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to become the best, sacrifices need to be made
I have no absolutely no problem with the Korean model of training. my only issue with SC2 in Korea is getting it to the point where most decent SC2 progamers at least receive some money for taking up the risk of being a SC2 progamer.
GSTL changes are a step in the right direction and should generate more consistent/constant visibility for teams and thus more potential sponsorship deals.
if Korea gains more monetary opportunities, then it will be a more appealing proposition for Westerners. right now, you are basically all-in hoping you can go deep into a Code S tournament which is very difficult.
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first: very well written.
I realy can see the problems that comes with participating to the GSL. The costs, the training and living conditions, ...
Also it's still very tough to have success in korea viewing the amount of good players. And not every western professional is used to train like 12-14 hours / day 7 days / week.
But I don't see why so many people complain that more foreigners need to participate in the GSL. The GSL is a local korean lan tournament. Why not handle it like soccer in Europe for example: you have your local championship and once every x month players from around the world meet for some global tourneys (like MLG, GSL korea vs the world, ...).
eSports is realy growing in the west. we have multiple tourneys and stuff going on every day. Why do you want anybody participate everywhere ? Also more tourneys means more people trying to get into professional gaming.
I think you should give the whole thing a little time to grow more and start getting more global.
I mean look back to the date where sc2 came out and look where we are now .. 1 year after the release. The evolution Sc2 has brought to eSports in the west is huge and it's far away from being done 
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I have tried to comment on your article three times now and always deleted everything I wanted to say because I cannot express myself in the way I want. But to sum up:
1) I think that you are focusing on the wrong points. The reasons that you give are valid reasons but not the real reasons.
2) You abuse numbers and give manipulative examples. Like the 19,000 $ every 2 weeks that you "trow away" by living only in Korea. Because you could argue as well that you trow away 60.000 (90.000) dollar every month by not participating in Korea. The truth is, Western players are afraid that they have a much harder time to get the top spots in Korea because they aren't as good.
3) You don't talk about salaries at all. Koreans in teams have a steady salary, they help the Code S players in practice and get paid. Western players are mostly dependent on price money.
There is much more to this then you are claiming in your article. I also find it quite arrogant that you insinuate that the Koreans should cater to the wishes of the Western gamers.
Sorry but I find this a crappy article.
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All I see in this article is another complaint-fest. Gotta say it again that GOM is so kind, they did their best about it. They cover cost, change format, give undeserved invitations, provide housing etc Need else ? GOM sending MC/Nestea to foreigner house as practice partners ?
and
Now with the Western Starcraft 2 scene surpassing that of even Korea
hell no
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On May 25 2011 22:07 MollocH wrote:first: very well written. I realy can see the problems that comes with participating to the GSL. The costs, the training and living conditions, ... Also it's still very tough to have success in korea viewing the amount of good players. And not every western professional is used to train like 12-14 hours / day 7 days / week. But I don't see why so many people complain that more foreigners need to participate in the GSL. The GSL is a local korean lan tournament. Why not handle it like soccer in Europe for example: you have your local championship and once every x month players from around the world meet for some global tourneys (like MLG, GSL korea vs the world, ...).eSports is realy growing in the west. we have multiple tourneys and stuff going on every day. Why do you want anybody participate everywhere ? Also more tourneys means more people trying to get into professional gaming. I think you should give the whole thing a little time to grow more and start getting more global. I mean look back to the date where sc2 came out and look where we are now .. 1 year after the release. The evolution Sc2 has brought to eSports in the west is huge and it's far away from being done
THIS
Basically, it's somethink like that:
Do i stay here and have 10% at winning $1k basically every week with no extra expences, or
i go to Korea, spend extra money just to be there, and have like 1% or less to win $15k in a month.
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A problem I can see is that if foreigners don't want to make some sacrifice to become better, with the inflation of prize pools, it will become profitable for Koreans to just participate in foreigners tourneys, win everything and go back in Korea.
If foreigners keep their "nonchalant" training regime, the skill gap will become so big that Koreans will win everything and it can't be good. I feel the ball is more in the foreigners camp then in Korean's.
+ Show Spoiler [Side note] +The korean ladder is very competitive, so a unknown player can train there and become good (up to a certain point). Can we say the same about US ladder ? Or even EU ladder ? When idra streams his ladder sessions, it's just stompage after stompage, it's not real training. So an unknown player that wants to be good in US must find pro partners, not easy to do.
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I think you hit the nail on the head on a lot of the issues you tackled in the article. However, you are posting this on a site where even the lowest of ranked players would tell you they would move to Korea in a heartbeat. These same people also tend to not realize that while Starcraft is big in Korea, there are a lot less people in Korea. I believe Artosis himself recently said that he believes that even though the western scene appears to have less support, it still is probably bigger than Korea's more accepted scene.
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Your reasons why going to korea isn't optimal is well written and thought out though it seems your article has no actual purpose.
Are you trying to say korean tournaments should be set up so that foreigners can compete in them? Why?
Anyone in Korea can compete in the GSL, just like anyone in the US can compete in MLG.
Those that can't go there simply can't go there, and I'm not sure what is wrong with that.
The way you wrote your article it seems you think the koreans are being unreasonable by not changing the way they operate to accomodate foreigners in an optimal way. whcih would be an absolutely silly thing to be complaining about
If I'm reading this wrong feel free to correct me
EDIT: you also seem to be saying that korea is missing out by not changing the way the do things to get more foreigners in the scene, as if having more foreigners would be beneficial to them.
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On May 25 2011 22:10 Arceus wrote:All I see in this article is another complaint-fest. Gotta say it again that GOM is so kind, they did their best about it. They cover cost, change format, give undeserved invitations, provide housing etc Need else ? GOM sending MC/Nestea to foreigner house as practice partners ? and hell no
Its hard to please everyone you know  .
@The TS, I know what you are trying to say, but you got to look at a realistic point of view. GOM can't keep spoon feeding people to come and participate in the GSL and those kind of stuff. Most of my Korean friends right now play BW, it is still much more popular. I don't know much about Kespa and whatnot, GOM is trying their best to please everyone already, but like I said early, its hard to please everyone. Try to give them time, its not like BW developed overnight
-Excuse me, english is not my main language, so yeah-
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On May 25 2011 22:22 mustache wrote:
Your reasons why going to korea isn't optimal is well written and thought out though it seems your article has no actual purpose.
Are you trying to say korean tournaments should be set up so that foreigners can compete in them? Why?
Anyone in Korea can compete in the GSL, just like anyone in the US can compete in MLG.
Those that can't go there simply can't go there, and I'm not sure what is wrong with that.
The way you wrote your article it seems you think the koreans are being unreasonable by not changing the way they operate to accomodate foreigners in an optimal way. whcih would be an absolutely silly thing to be complaining about
If I'm reading this wrong feel free to correct me
You can't really compare MLG and GSL by saying you can just go there.
GSL: Staying for a month
MLG: Staying for a day or two
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Ask any foreign is he ready to forfeit his family, friend, home, basically everything he had so far
for a chance that slim. So slim, that to be successfull, you need to be in Korea for at least a year and probably longer, like IdrA.
IdrA was in korea for soooo long and yes, it made him better, but at what cost?
And the thing is, IdrA was lucky to be picked by a progame team and actually get paid so he could stay there.
If anyone would want to go to Korea for only 1 tournament a month and leave EVERYTHING behind, he's either retarded, or his team has shit tons of money to keep him there until he actually starts achieveing something.
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On May 25 2011 22:14 5ukkub wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2011 22:07 MollocH wrote:first: very well written. I realy can see the problems that comes with participating to the GSL. The costs, the training and living conditions, ... Also it's still very tough to have success in korea viewing the amount of good players. And not every western professional is used to train like 12-14 hours / day 7 days / week. But I don't see why so many people complain that more foreigners need to participate in the GSL. The GSL is a local korean lan tournament. Why not handle it like soccer in Europe for example: you have your local championship and once every x month players from around the world meet for some global tourneys (like MLG, GSL korea vs the world, ...).eSports is realy growing in the west. we have multiple tourneys and stuff going on every day. Why do you want anybody participate everywhere ? Also more tourneys means more people trying to get into professional gaming. I think you should give the whole thing a little time to grow more and start getting more global. I mean look back to the date where sc2 came out and look where we are now .. 1 year after the release. The evolution Sc2 has brought to eSports in the west is huge and it's far away from being done THIS Basically, it's somethink like that: Do i stay here and have 10% at winning $1k basically every week with no extra expences, or i go to Korea, spend extra money just to be there, and have like 1% or less to win $15k in a month.
Yeah basicaly you are right. But I wrote this more from a watchers point of view. I don't realy care how much progamer x or y earns. From the gamer's pov, sure it can be realy realy frustrating (even if getting payed by the team) when staying in korea and failing to qualify 2 or 3 times for code a. Also the chance to win code s is so little (and as a foreigner it's even more little). So if someone decides to go to korea it can't be only for the money (well at least not for the first couple of month) and they have to be very patient and hard working to have success there.
And as someone mentioned before: I don't see what gomtv (except of communicating the schedule much more earlier -> see Xeris' post) can do more to get people participating in the GSL.
BUT you have to pay attention fo that: as the western scene is growing and the price money is also exploding, koreans will be attracted by that and it will become (at least on lan tourney cause online tourneys are still difficult because of the lag) a much higher "threat" for the players here
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On May 25 2011 22:03 fams wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2011 21:58 MetalSlug wrote:
i disagree with almost everything in this article but i applaud you for the effort you put in it. Care to say why you disagree?
You overrestimate the success of Starcraft II in the West und underrestimate the Force of Broodwar in Korea. Just because there are a few shiny SCII Tournaments in the West doesnt mean E-Sports is widely accepted and ppl suddenly pick Progamer as a career path.
U really think the US goverment will accept e-sports and build an own department for it any time soon ?
Basicly your are basing your post on false assumptions imho.
Warcraft III was really popular in Europe for an ass long time with good payed tournaments and a healthy scene, now see where that went.
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On May 25 2011 22:26 eight.BiT wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2011 22:22 mustache wrote:
Your reasons why going to korea isn't optimal is well written and thought out though it seems your article has no actual purpose.
Are you trying to say korean tournaments should be set up so that foreigners can compete in them? Why?
Anyone in Korea can compete in the GSL, just like anyone in the US can compete in MLG.
Those that can't go there simply can't go there, and I'm not sure what is wrong with that.
The way you wrote your article it seems you think the koreans are being unreasonable by not changing the way they operate to accomodate foreigners in an optimal way. whcih would be an absolutely silly thing to be complaining about
If I'm reading this wrong feel free to correct me You can't really compare MLG and GSL by saying you can just go there. GSL: Staying for a month MLG: Staying for a day or two
You only stay there for a month if you actually got high enough.
A month means you are in the FINALS or at least in the up and down for the last week.
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On May 25 2011 22:26 eight.BiT wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2011 22:22 mustache wrote:
Your reasons why going to korea isn't optimal is well written and thought out though it seems your article has no actual purpose.
Are you trying to say korean tournaments should be set up so that foreigners can compete in them? Why?
Anyone in Korea can compete in the GSL, just like anyone in the US can compete in MLG.
Those that can't go there simply can't go there, and I'm not sure what is wrong with that.
The way you wrote your article it seems you think the koreans are being unreasonable by not changing the way they operate to accomodate foreigners in an optimal way. whcih would be an absolutely silly thing to be complaining about
If I'm reading this wrong feel free to correct me You can't really compare MLG and GSL by saying you can just go there. GSL: Staying for a month MLG: Staying for a day or two
yes competing in GSL is harder for e foreigner than competing im MLG is for a korean. Why are you telling me something that I a) know already b) has nothing to do with my post?
my post is about there being no reason for koreans to adapt to allow more foreigners. It doesnt harm them in any way that there are so few foreigners in korea, and they don't owe it to foreigners to make it easier for them either.
Doe people on this forum really think korea owes it to foreigners to make it easier for them to play in the GSL?
EDIT: the only reason i mentioned MLG and GSL is because they both don't discriminate between koreans and foreigners (actually GSL does, in a way good for foreigners btu thats no important)
if you want to compete in them then you have to invest time. variable amounts of time but they aren't being assholes to the foreigners, they're just geographically inconvenient
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EPT
