EPTFor those you unfamiliar with nongmin’s background and where he was geographically for the past few years, I will give a brief history. Nongmin moved here 4 years ago in order to attend high school in the United States, like many other Korean students. He just recently started streaming several months ago after being led to team liquid for the first time following his senior year in high school (4th and last year). Currently, nongmin has decided to take a break before entering university for various, unimportant reasons (but if you must know, it was forced upon him due to a temporary stomach illness). Because he is no longer attending school in the United States, there is little need for him to stay here until he hopefully begins University at John Hopkins, and therefore, he or his parents decided that it would be best to go back to Korea for those months in between.
The main objection is that he will be in Korea during the time of the TSL2, however, you have to look at the complete context. He’s not just any Korean in Korea, he is a student staying in America for 4+ years and happens to be leaving for the first time in those 4+ years for a few measly months in order to prepare himself for the schooling that he originally came to the US. Now, why are Koreans not allowed in the TSL2? The main reason, we all know, is because Koreans are just too damn good. However, that can’t be used as a legitimate argument, as ‘good’ is arbitrary and generalizing a whole nation into that category would be ludicrous. So, instead, we officially blame it on the REASON Koreans are so good, and that is the presence of organized leagues, sponsors, and teams in Korea. After the Chinese also got these accommodations, their participation in foreign leagues was also in the air. That reason is legitimate. The TSL2 and other foreigner tournaments are to develop the underdeveloped foreigner scene. Koreans don’t need more prize money because they have two prestigious tournaments with prize pools of 20k or more along with salaries for pro gamers. However, the only one of these criteria that nongmin meets is that he his nationality is Korean, the one reason we can not hold against him. Once again, he has not been in Korea for almost 4+ years, therefore, he has not had a chance to cash in on any tournament or leagues that are physically present in Korea. If he can not participate in foreigner tournaments, where can he compete? Traveling to Korea for a couple months will not allow him to take advantage of all the things Korea has to offer because he has been a resident of the US since 2005, therefore, cutting him from the TSL2 for such a simplistic reason is just semantics.
The other, less common, objection that I can see coming up is that since he is in Korea, he will lag. This issue should be nonexistent because not only are non-Korean players from places equally or further from the majority of the players that are participating (US) allowed to compete, but Idra and Ret, who are currently physically in Korea, will be allowed to compete (I’m assuming they will be allowed to compete due to Idra’s participation in the original TSL), which should contradict this reason completely.
Once again, nongmin already has a legitimate claim to participation in the TSL even without his immense contributions to team liquid. However, hundreds of hours of streaming of high level play we rarely see in FPView is just too big to ignore. He is one of best , if not THE best streamer for team liquid, drawing hundreds of viewers every time he streams, and many more who can’t initially view it first hand through On-Demand VODS. In his time with team liquid streaming, he has already streamed 3 accounts of his climbing to A- and 1 climbing to A in this season alone. The sheer amount of games he has to play to be able to do this is extraordinary, however, not only did he get all of those ranks, he streamed almost every single game. Viewers who saw one of his accounts streaming at D one day, would come back the next day to see it streaming at B+, and then the next day, A-. This is discounting the A level games he gave us last season his team liquid debut before his one month break. Even without doing anything but streaming, he has helped a wide number of people improve their game, but not only has he done that, he also has answered every single question often asked in his channel. Team liquid viewers watching his stream benefit enormously from it. While I can’t back it up, I personally have gained 2 iccup ranks in the months that he started streaming until now. His stream was a large part of my improvement, and I know I am not alone.
While I know that we at team liquid have a standard for strictly adhering to rules, I think making a small exception for nongmin should not be out of the question, and instead granted. He violates the rule of living in Korea in name only as he does not draw any of the benefits from actually being there. In addition, he has helped multitudes of people improve their game or just pass time in the evenings through his hundreds of hours of streaming. Tournaments such as ASL have recently allowed for Koreans living in America such as SCan and JST-Sexy to compete, who are both in similar situation as nongmin, and hopefully team liquid will follow suit and follow the precedent ASL set, especially in the case of nongmin a valuable member of the Teamliquid Community.
edit: Clarifications: Nongmin is not a US citizen, nor does he have a Green card, but that is not uncommon even after 4 years because getting legal citizenship is a long process. What I'm trying to say is to allow an exception for nongmin through common sense, taking into account the context surrounding nongmin (his immense contribution + his is untimely departure).
, I think it is fair enough to let him in
