Wow. PR in South Korea. Good for him. I wish him best of luck. I wish one day I can move to Korea. I have been there once. Fell in love with the country and the girls - lol.

Doodsmack

United States7224 Posts

January 25 2013 22:13 GMT

#62

I would recommend making your future interviews much shorter. Probably 5% of the people clicking on this thread will read the whole thing.

Tachion

Canada8573 Posts

January 25 2013 22:15 GMT

#63

Interesting choice of person to interview. I've been following the SC2 scene very closely since beta, and I just never hear anything about this kid except for random drama. After reading the interview, it appears he did some vlogs and beat some guys on the korean ladder, but that doesn't rationalize the attention he's getting does it? I dunno, maybe it has something to do with his starcraft 1 reputation. I just don't get it. It's awfully hard to call him a pro player, he's not a personality, and judging from the interview he lacks any sense of professionalism.

Gamegene

United States8308 Posts

January 25 2013 22:35 GMT

#64

On January 26 2013 07:15 Tachion wrote:
Interesting choice of person to interview. I've been following the SC2 scene very closely since beta, and I just never hear anything about this kid except for random drama. After reading the interview, it appears he did some vlogs and beat some guys on the korean ladder, but that doesn't rationalize the attention he's getting does it? I dunno, maybe it has something to do with his starcraft 1 reputation. I just don't get it. It's awfully hard to call him a pro player, he's not a personality, and judging from the interview he lacks any sense of professionalism.

We could have easily just told ourselves, "this guy has a bad reputation." :he's not liked by the community and isn't a main stream player/personality in the mainstream."

In fact, I had a fairly negative opinion of him before I even did this interview, even after I decided that we should interview him. I thought he was obnoxious, that his seed was wasted and that it was a shame that he cast a dark light at the event.

But that didn't mean anything. How badly I thought of him or how badly the majority thinks of him. Whether or not he was going to be appear to be a different person in the interview in contrast to his reputation. None of it mattered.

What mattered to me was that we have this player who's interesting. Who's misunderstood by the community. Who regularly isn't able to get his side of the story out without having it be drowned out by the background noise. And that felt wrong to me, regardless of my personal feelings towards him.

I didn't do this interview with the intention to try and make LastShadow more popular or to try and raise the public's opinion of him. Far from it. I only wanted to give him a chance to speak his mind and share his story. Whether you think differently of him, better, worse, or indifferent it doesn't matter. That's up to you to decide for yourself.

-Kyo-

Japan1926 Posts

January 25 2013 22:42 GMT

#65

I don't know... Lastshadow always speaks well in interviews or in his vlogs. I really liked his vlog on being a progamer and who is able to do so. However, from personal experience playing against him in tournaments and ladder he has always been ... well ... @_@ not nice ... we'll say. Before Red Bull Lan I had a lot of respect for him living in Korea and trying to make it on his own; I knew about quite a few of the reasons on why he did what he did at Red Bull Lan, but his overall attitude I just cannot rationalize.

I don't want to condemn Lastshadow for attempting to be a very competitive player, if anything I respect him for it; but every time I think how he talked to me online, even when I legitimately tried to be nice to him, his results, and his lifestyle I just don't think it's good for the mentality he has and I can't reasonably support him being a "pro gamer". Obviously his choices are up to him in life, but I think he could really benefit from stabilizing and then returning later, or perhaps just moving on completely.

I'll keep my reservations about him to myself, but hopefully this interview at least serves as a good tool of reference for those unaware of his experiences. After taking the reasons he stated into consideration you should only then make any opinions on what he has done.

ggofthejungle

Romania392 Posts

January 25 2013 22:45 GMT

#66

On January 26 2013 07:13 Doodsmack wrote:
I would recommend making your future interviews much shorter. Probably 5% of the people clicking on this thread will read the whole thing.

No. I'm tired of short interviews. I want to hear progamers speak their minds, without bullshit, just like Lastshadow did. I learned more from this interview about becoming a progamer than from any other source. Other good sources are blogs by merz, rekrul, day9's daily #100. The "grilled" interviews are also great. I wish they had a text version though.

There should be a compilation post with all the experiences, stories, advice, of progamers. This is what keeps us, the spectators, interested. The story behind the characters drives larger viewership, which keeps esports going. There should be a page on liquipedia with this too. There aren't many progamers that share with us what it's like to (try to) be a progamer. I really appreciated seeing Ret, Sheth, Cloud post their stories, their progress. Show this interview to all the kids that want to become a progamer. It should be mandatory reading 101. To me it's fascinating. Where else am I going to hear this?

blooblooblahblah

Australia4163 Posts

January 25 2013 22:47 GMT

#67

Read the whole thing. Great interview. Whether u agree with Lastshadow or not is a different story, but it's nice to get his perspective of things.

ACrow

Germany6583 Posts

January 25 2013 22:48 GMT

#68

This looks like a well conducted and thorough interview (didn't read all), that goes beyond the standard questions, kudos to you!
Unfortunately I have no interest at all in reading about lastshadow. He was never good in SC2 and talked a lot of shit about the game and towards others in the community, so he does not have much (if any) credit with me. In the lol forums this might get more attention, I guess.

I'd love to read a quality interview like this with a SC2 personality though! Good luck and hope to read more from you!

Lylat

France8575 Posts

January 25 2013 22:51 GMT

#69

Really nice interview, especially the part about the Redbull LAN. You can see that people can be so mean without reason and can actually hurt the pros when they shit talk.. Sad.

Hypemeup

Sweden2783 Posts

January 25 2013 22:53 GMT

#70

On January 26 2013 06:19 ridethecatbus wrote:
I don't like hearing people lament their circumstances when it's within their control. He could've reached out to the U.S. embassy for help getting home. He could've have come back to America, gotten food stamps and medicaid (health coverage for the poor), stayed at a shelter and applied for jobs. Nothing forced him to stay in Korea and become homeless and not have food and become deathly ill. It was all within his control, even if he doesn't want to believe it.

Yeah, he put himself in this situation, it is not like the universe aligned to fuck him over.

But I guess LS should be used as an example of how shit your situation can get if you go all-in on being a progamer, should be used to deter random kids in highschool asking if they should drop out to pursuit being a progamer.

SupLilSon

Malaysia4123 Posts

January 25 2013 22:54 GMT

#71

Holy shit this interview is real as hell. I'm not even finished reading it yet but so happy I just read that Hanbin is on Woongjin!

Predguin

Canada188 Posts

January 25 2013 23:00 GMT

#72

Thanks for the interview. So extensive and a great read, and it's nice to hear LS address things with so much emotion.

I'm still not sure what to think of him though, which is kind of bothering me.

Kouda

United States2205 Posts

January 25 2013 23:03 GMT

#73

Lol. I mean it was a good read, but I feel that what he's telling us is really skewed towards him. I mean it's basic human nature, but idk. I like the comments on the korean practice regiment though.

and Destiny doesnt have 3000 normals games played. and he's 1900 l0l.

jdsowa

405 Posts

January 25 2013 23:04 GMT

#74

Think there may be a minor transcription error where he says "zerg is mining 180 gas per minute"--think he probably actually said "118".

Bazinga

Germany132 Posts

January 25 2013 23:08 GMT

#75

Great Interview! Really well done, I especially like the choice of the interviewee and how in-depth it is. Keep it up and I am sure I will read every interview of yours.

And Nick, I wish all the best for you, I will continue supporting you however I can

ggrrg

Bulgaria2716 Posts

January 25 2013 23:15 GMT

#76

I feel like a lot of people would benefit from reading this interview. It touches on multiple topics in a non-conventional way.

On January 26 2013 07:48 ACrow wrote:
This looks like a well conducted and thorough interview (didn't read all), that goes beyond the standard questions, kudos to you!
Unfortunately I have no interest at all in reading about lastshadow. He was never good in SC2 and talked a lot of shit about the game and towards others in the community, so he does not have much (if any) credit with me. In the lol forums this might get more attention, I guess.

I'd love to read a quality interview like this with a SC2 personality though! Good luck and hope to read more from you!

Actually, a part of the interview is about people with a mindset like yours. You should probably read it.
Also, I don't really know much about lastshadow, and maybe your opinion about him is justified, but reading it might show you some different aspects of his situation.