CNN article on SC2 and gaming addiction in Korea - Page 19

On August 06 2012 20:27 Rabiator wrote:

Its the same for any addiction ... it doesnt affect your future life except to make you unprepared to meet it. Real sports helps you and thus it isnt an addiction, but eSports doesnt give you any benefit which integrates with anything else and thus it is terrible and an addiction.

On August 06 2012 20:27 Rabiator wrote:

Its the same for any addiction ... it doesnt affect your future life except to make you unprepared to meet it. Real sports helps you and thus it isnt an addiction, but eSports doesnt give you any benefit which integrates with anything else and thus it is terrible and an addiction.

On August 06 2012 21:10 Rabiator wrote:

At least you actually HAVE a job which helps pay for your bills. Playing an eSport doesnt help "running the world" in any way, because it is just for entertainment and thus OPTIONAL for a life. I dont know what kind of office job you have, but you get paid for it, so you play a role in your society.

I never said anything as stupid as "regular sports is as insignificant as video games" but rather the opposite. Regular sports are MUCH better than eSports, because even if you arent able to go into the NBA, NFL or whatever, you will still have your personal fitness for othe jobs which require it. Thus regular sports actually are part of the training regime of schools and such which make you fit for the rest of your life to function as a beneficial individual in your society.

On August 06 2012 19:32 LlamaNamedOsama wrote:


The article was not well-written. There are countless problems with it, and not simply because it "disses" esports.

1: It demonstrates poor knowledge of its subject content.

The description of Terran as humanlike aliens instead of humans (for goodness sake, even the Wikipedia entry for SC races points out that the Terrans are humans exiled for earth. The description of Protoss probes as termites (when the bug-reference confuses Protoss for Zerg; again, see basic wikipedia entry where even the most uninformed can understand that Zerg is the insectoid race, not Protoss). We don't expect these people to give fully informed LR of each game, but at least understand the basic structure of it...

2: Problems with narrative construction.

There's no clear timeline or context. The author jumps from 15 year old MKP to contemporary MKP within the same paragraph.

I can see what the author is trying to do, going with the redemption story, but too much of the article frames MKP as traversing both ends of the spectrum, but that is a wholly incorrect narrative. MKP really represents only the positive side of the story, not the negative, and the author therefore has to manipulate and twist his narrative to fit his ends, which in this case, means that he distorts the narrative to portray MKP as an addict, which leads to issue #3.

Furthermore, the positive aspects of his subject are poorly represented. The article very quickly throws in the mention of fans twice very briefly (once with the fan offering a gift, the other MKP's tweet). No mention is made of the culture which inspired MKP to pursue pro-gaming, or the fanbase which is part of the addendum. This is an important fact to recognize because the distinction between addiction and legitimacy is often drawn in the lens of "anti-social" or social tendencies, and clearly, the interactive nature of esports as a cultural occurrence is reflective of the positive, and not the negative.


3: The author excessively and repeatedly goes overboard with his insertion of personal interpretation, instead of objective fact.

Of course, this is worsened by a clear bias one side,negatively portraying esports. Whether intentional or not, as it may simply be a social attitude subconsciously engrained, it still is poor journalistic quality. This one is the most blatant problem with the article, and the examples are numerous.

A. the narrative distortion of #2 is clearly the author's intent when his general view is stated near the beginning of the article with these lines:
"It's a place that's home to the world's finest "e-sports athletes," as they're called here without irony. It's also a hub for gaming addiction -- a place where deaths are attributed to games and the government funds treatment centers.

MarineKing knows those facts all too well. He's been caught in a lifelong struggle between the dark and the light sides of gaming."

In other words, insinuating that MKP has been struggling with gaming addiction (struggling with the dark side,) when really, the story is him falsely being considered a gaming addict. While the definition of addiction is its own debate, we will use the author's own words to clear the issue, as he ends with the expert concluding that pro-gamers (ie MKP) are not addicts.

B. the dismissive attitude of games as fiction: "He drifted further into the game and, as his parents came to see it, out of the physical world. It was all fiction, of course, but it seemed real to him. And soon MarineKing started to like this fantasy world better than the real one. One night, in his journal, he scribbled a secret: "I want to grow up to be a pro gamer."" Considering pro-gaming an "escape" into fantasy over reality is a stereotypical view of gaming, but a false interpretation of pro-gaming; in fact, pro-gaming would be the merging of the two, connecting that "fiction" to the real world.

C. Constant descriptions of MKP in terms of an addict.

"Then he quickly moved on to another round of "StarCraft" -- not because of the competition, really.
He just wanted -- or needed -- to keep playing." Again, huge authorial liberties in assuming that MKP didn't play Starcraft at WCG because of the competition (...really? does this guy even know anyone who plays SC?), and the not too subtle addendum of "need" instead of "want" as the drive behind his play.

D. The description of Darkforce. Self-explanatory.

E. The description of MKP's go-spamming, clear framing in terms of the jittery/trembling junkie (when really, all he's doing is pressing three keys over and over, which really takes no effort at all). While it would be fine to mention it as part of the picture being drawn, the author mentions it multiple times, clearly emphasizing this supposedly erratic nature of MKP. As an interesting side note, Olympic athletes also hate long waits and are itching to get into competition, I recall specifically in one of the women's finals where a start sound malfunction elicited a false start [that the swimmer was not DQ'd for since it was a malfunction], in which the commentator explicitly stated that they hated the wait and just wanted to get in, since the wait would disrupt them as they were ready at that very moment.


That said, I do think a lot of the vitriol directed towards this article comes not just from the article, but the narrative itself and the attitude displayed by MKP's parents. Having just watched Dead Poet Society for the first time a week ago, it certainly is an infuriating thing to picture when it comes to obstructing young dreams, especially when those dreams are particular to this game that we all enjoy.

On August 07 2012 01:05 ChromeBallz wrote:
To be fair, sc2 is a completely alien world to most people. Competitive gaming is being dismissed even when confronted with it's popularity and the earnings of the top players.

The article is written from the perspective of someone who wants to understand, but simply can't. Whether that's because he doesn't put any effort into it or because the concept is simply too much to grasp for his brain, i don't know.

It's not just the mainstream media that think progamers are addicts and all that. It's the general concensus from people who are still stuck with the idea that games are for little kids and that gaming never progressed past the NES. Most people over 40-ish simply can't understand the concept. Virtually everyone over 50, which pretty much also means everyone in a position of power over the media and all, will never be able to understand it. They are simply too old, rude or not - There's a reason the current gaming boom is mostly limited to ages 35 and under.

Just wait 10-20 years for all the old people to either retire or die off, you will notice a significant change in outlook in the media

On August 06 2012 22:44 SupplyBlockedTV wrote:
I also practice fencing.. and i have to say that i consider both fencing and starcraft at the same level, yes its not long distance running, but you need to train alot of different parts of yourself to become good at them... i also do running in my spare time..and give me running anytime above starcraft/fencing, because in starcraft/fencing there is a whole lot more involved then just running and giving it your all... so in a sense, i guess starcraft is even harder then long distance running..
People think gamers only sit lazy behind their computers... they dont realise some of us are actually pushing ourselves and our limits.

On August 07 2012 02:37 R3demption wrote:
I'm 21 years old. A pre Med student and a Starcraft 2 enthusiast. I'm home for the summer and parents wont let my brother and I hook up our computers because they believe we are "Addicted" to video games. I would say we honestly would like to play 2 hours a night and about 4 on the weekends. Is that an addiction? Dunno. But the whole thing has caused more issues in our household than if my brother and I were on meth or something... Just yesterday we had a recovery day from a huge argument we had last week about gaming.

My brother and I have... Jobs, girlfriends, a social life, a future and we both are going to school.

It's articles like these that fuel my parents war against my choice of entertainment.

The lack of understanding... No, the lack of effort to understand something that is different is sooo frustrating.

Until the FDA comes out and states that video games are entirely harmful to ones body (moreso than drinking, smoking, watching shit TV all day).... SHUT THE FUCK UP. All things in moderation, the Greeks knew that shit.... so this article is hundreds of years too late.