After dropping out of WCS America Challenger League, YeonSik ‘TheStC’ Choi has retired from the pro gaming scene.
TheSTC first debuted as a SC2 progamer in 2010 with moderate success. Although the recent years have not yielded any notable tournament finishes, he’s known in his earlier career for strong placement in overseas tournaments.
What reasons led you to retire? First, I failed to find a new team. Second, I worried about my future. I think my age also has something to do with it. I have to be responsible and really determine what my lifestyle will be since I’m growing older. I dont want to hide from reality anymore.
So do you feel like pro gaming is not a sustainable, longtime job? I don’t know because the Starcraft 2 scene is still alive. But I know I can’t continue without getting good results.
Admittedly your recent results have not been noteworthy. Do you think you can no longer achieve good results, or that it’s just a slump period and you can make a comeback? I think I can still do really well. I’m still passionate about the game. However, my family has always wanted me to retire. I think my parents worry about me more than I worry about them. I felt so sorry. Once I realized that I realized I should stop pro gaming. I shouldn't be stubborn anymore since I’m growing older.
Family is the major factor in your retirement. So, is eSports still not a socially acceptable career even though Korea has one of the best infrastructures for eSports? I dont think thats true. Every job, including eSports, focuses on the top. If you’re not first place you can’t get money. If a player is smart, they should follow MC’s example. I didn’t show my personality well, so I think I can’t market myself very well and gain any value.
What does Korean society think about pro players? I think they feel the same way as us. When we were teenagers we thought ‘its so cool!’ but older people worry about us a lot. ‘How can they earn money from gaming? They are not acting like adults. They should do something else.’
After leaving Complexity, what was your mindset? Actually I didn’t feel anything, because after I finished WCS Season 3 in 2013 I started thinking about my future a lot. I had already considered retiring in 2013 if I couldn’t get good results. I also think I didn’t practice very well. I’d only practice a little and then go hang out with my friends. After leaving Complexity I decided to retire without any regret.
Your answers don’t really match up. If you knew you were going to retire then why look for another team? My friend encouraged me to not retire so easily. Honestly I was being stupid. I didn’t care if I could find a new team or not. During that time CranK asked about my honest feelings. After speaking with him I realized my attitude was really awful. If CranK didn’t talk to me about my future, I think I’d be still going down that path with a bad attitude.
How hard is it for current teamless players to find a new team? Actually its so hard to find a new team right now. Even though the player has good results and good skills, if the player doesn’t have any special qualities, the player will struggle and struggle hard to find a new team. Even if the SC2 scene was bigger, a player who doesn’t have something marketable cannot find a new team easily. SC2 scene isn’t as big as it was, so thats why the player’s marketability is not enough for salary. Now team’s think player’s requested salary is too much because they’re not helpful as a marketing tool.
With all your experience as a pro gamer, do you have any tips or advice for current players or people who want to be pro players? People who want to become a pro player: If you really want to be a pro player, you need to be dedicated to practice and hard work for at least 2 years. Then you’ll be able to figure out if you can be good or not. To current pro players: I don’t have anything to say to you guys except work hard, but enjoy your life. I’m saying like this because I didn’t do both.
Reflecting on your career as a pro gamer, do you have any regrets? First, I think I could have done more… been better. I wish I had been more confident in myself and my abilities. I also wish I could have done other things except playing on my computer when I had free time. I didn’t create a lot of experiences outside of gaming.
What will you do now that you’ve retired? I’m going to study to get into a good university. I don’t have any big special plans just yet because I’ve never really thought about my future beyond gaming, so I’ll just study for now. In the future I won’t return to gaming. I really want to experience a new lifestyle.
You haven’t been retired for that long, but what's the biggest difference between your pro gamer lifestyle and your new lifestyle? Ever since I became a professional player, I’ve been constantly staying with team members or team houses. So the biggest change is how quiet and lonely my new household is. I really enjoyed staying with lots of people. I’m worried I’ll become depressed with the sudden change. I can no longer play StarCraft 2 if I’m going to study hard for university. That will be weird for me. I hope in the future I can play StarCraft 2 sometime, and I hope I will be able to watch my pro player friends playing StarCraft 2 on streams or tournaments.
Is there any last words you want to say? To CranK: I’m so thankful to you for helping me figure out what I wanted in my life. I’m so glad he’s my friend ‘cause he can see right through me.
Even though I stayed at many team houses, the Axiom Team House will always stay with me. Everyone there was my friend. I’m so happy I could live with them.
Thank you, everyone, for supporting me and cheering for me. I want you guys to live life without any regrets.
TheSTC was living in the Axiom Team House until his retirement. His friends and roommates provided some parting words.
Even though I haven’t lived with you longer, it was nice being your roommate and getting to know you. Whatever you will do, I’ll cheer for you. - Impact
He is really faithful and a hard worker. I'm sorry to hear that he retired. We've known for long time. I hope we'll still talk together and he'll be successful whatever he'll do. - Innovation
I hope the experiences you’ve learned in pro gaming will help you be successful. Good luck bro! - Heart
We’ve only lived together for a short time, but TheSTC has always been so cheerful. He really worked hard to be a valuable roommate and practice partner for the whole team house. I wish he could continue, but no matter what career path he chooses he’ll be a really valuable worker. - Olivia 'Olimoley'
If he retired before he won twice against me in WCS, I could have had a chance.... just kidding... The mood in our gaming house was happy since he moved in. I remember he wanted to show us how good of a roommate he is, but actually he’s a lazy guy… Anyways, I don’t have any bad memories of him. You did a good job, bro! Fighting!! - Ryung
We've known each other since 2008. I made him stay with us. I wanted to help him as much as I could. But I'm not gonna be sad, because no one can know if his decision is bad or good. I just want to cheer for him. You did a good job bro! - CranK
I feel sad because if TheSTC leaves who can wash dishes instead of me... It was short time to be with him, I was so happy though... I hope he'll succeed in whatever he does. - Alicia
Hey bro, you did good job in eSports. I'm sorry I didn’t take care of you well. I hope you'll be happy whatever with you'll do. I love you. Call me whenever - MMA
Pretty sad about TheSTC, this guy was an emblematic player i think. But well his level of play went downhill lately so i guess its a good decision to think about a transition I hope the best for him.
Sad interview, but very mature answers. I remember the time where I watched all his replays from a replaypack on Brood War ! I always wondered how he didn't make more results by being so mechanically good. Wish you the best for your future TheStC !
Wow a good and honest interview. I think he made the right decision, its nearly impossible to get a living out of a mid-successfully korean progaming life.
I remember he was the first big Korean that Husky casted in the very early days of WoL. This was when we got one of our first glimpses of what korean sc2 could become.
He was the only Terran that constantly had good results against FruitDealer, back in the days when FruitDealer was one of the best players, when he won the first GSL.
TheSTC was a fantastic friend to all the Axiom players. He helped out in practice whenever he could and was always upbeat and cheerful about everything. We'll miss him.
Remember him from WOL Beta. He was probably the best of everyone back then. A shame he had to go to the army, if he hadn't done that I think he could have done really well in the first seasons of GSL.
rough to see him retire but he brought up some very good points. Things like marketability, the smaller SCII scene and just getting older and not being able to live off esports are all important points that he considered. Hard as it is to say, I think he made the right choice in the end. Best of luck in what you do TheStC! Also, lol at Ryung calling him lazy XD
damn, i always liked this guy. it's sad to see him go, but it's hard to deny the lack of results. from the interview he seems like he has a really good head on his shoulders and thought about this calmly and rationally. best of luck in the future, TheStC!!!
TheSTC was probably the first legit terran in SC2. During the beta he would just show amazing microtasking and 3-base play when people were just 1base allinning. I still remember the legendary games between him and Tester, and TheSTC vs Fruitdealer were among the best SC2 games played ever.
Cool guy with an amazing career. Not really shocked or upset about this, eventually everyone has to move on. Glad he had such a great run while he was a progamer.
People are mentioning all these epic series and games from beta, can we have some links to the VoDs folks? I think STC's peak was just a bit before I really became aware of the pro scene so would be cool to take a trip down memory lane and check them out
On May 01 2014 02:20 Wombat_NI wrote: People are mentioning all these epic series and games from beta, can we have some links to the VoDs folks? I think STC's peak was just a bit before I really became aware of the pro scene so would be cool to take a trip down memory lane and check them out
Actually, there’s nothing really special about it… It stands for TheStarCraft. As to why I chose that name, that is because when I first got onto battlenet in SC1, I was in my 2nd year in middle school and although I wanted to make a great ID, my English skills weren’t up to par. And I couldn’t think of any other words, so I just went with a shorted version of TheStarcraft as “TheStC” which looked pretty good at the time. I have just been sticking with it ever since haha…
fantastic interview, sad to hear about his struggles with the decision, but honestly that he is retiring is not sad at all if this is how he feels. i think the community needs to be more supportive of players retiring when they feel this way and when it's right for their futures rather than just always wanting players to continue so the scene "feels alive"
What reasons led you to retire? First, I failed to find a new team. Second, I worried about my future. I think my age also has something to do with it. I have to be responsible and really determine what my lifestyle will be since I’m growing older. I dont want to hide from reality anymore.
So true.
So many pro-gamers and people on this forum hiding from reality. Dont be sad, its probably the best decision he made in awhile.
Was one of my favourites in early WoL. I remember before Koreans streaming was normal he used to pop up regularly on some guys stream who used to show various pro players, was always amazed at his play. Good luck in the future and thanks for the fun games
Sad to see an oldtimer go, can't blame him though. To be eliminated from WCS AM must feel like a sucker punch for Korean pros.
On May 01 2014 03:14 i.of.the.storm wrote: Sad to see an old name go, especially one from oGs... but does anyone know what TheSTC stands for? It's really bugging me now.
Back in the day when I asked that question, I was told STC stands for Starcraft (lame, I know) . Don't know if it's true though.
On May 01 2014 23:45 ACrow wrote: Sad to see an oldtimer go, can't blame him though. To be eliminated from WCS AM must feel like a sucker punch for Korean pros.
On May 01 2014 03:14 i.of.the.storm wrote: Sad to see an old name go, especially one from oGs... but does anyone know what TheSTC stands for? It's really bugging me now.
Back in the day when I asked that question, I was told STC stands for Starcraft (lame, I know) . Don't know if it's true though.
On this very page, Antoine's post above has a link where TheStC states that yes, his name stands for "The StarCraft"
On May 01 2014 23:45 ACrow wrote: Sad to see an oldtimer go, can't blame him though. To be eliminated from WCS AM must feel like a sucker punch for Korean pros.
On May 01 2014 03:14 i.of.the.storm wrote: Sad to see an old name go, especially one from oGs... but does anyone know what TheSTC stands for? It's really bugging me now.
Back in the day when I asked that question, I was told STC stands for Starcraft (lame, I know) . Don't know if it's true though.
On this very page, Antoine's post above has a link where TheStC states that yes, his name stands for "The StarCraft"
Been a fan of this guy since he was a killer on oGs, he's honestly just so real. Sad to see him go, but I know with a personality like his, he's gonna go far. Best of luck to him .
STC was one of the first guys to pull off cc first openings in WOL. Back then, it was considered bat shit crazy. I first got a chance to watch his games casted by Orb and Adebisi in some small Korean league. Man those were good times. Those games inspired me to get into sc2. I wish him the best in the future.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RO9PF1T.png)
TheStC’ Choi has retired from the pro gaming scene.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hi3o00R.jpg)
Good luck to TheSTC!!!
