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This topic bothers me since I follow professional Starcraft: The fact that there's a team out there with all the Starcraft Legends who are used by the army to advertise serving the military.
I know Korea is a country with one of the biggest political threats in the world (beeing german it reminds me of our history) so it's explainable why the military has such a huge importance for the korean people.
But it saddens me that one of my favorite sports is used to affect young people in that matter. Plus, a huge part of the TeamLiquid Community also cheers for ACE.
Yes, I know it's a war-simulation, but that makes it even worse. For me it's a boarderline that gets crossed: It's ok as long as it's a game (I go play gotcha in a few days, no problem with that)
And a last point: I kind of dislike the players for letting that happen. Not too much because I know it's their duty and they have to serve the military so it's explainable they don't revolt. But still - how great would it have been if Boxer said sth like "I know I have to do my duty but I don't want to play broodwar for merchandising the military"
What does TL think?
Poll: What do you think of ACE?I completely disagree (129) 47% I see your point but I think you overreact (86) 32% I don't really care, it's just a game (30) 11% ACE is ok for me (17) 6% This team is inappropriate (10) 4% 272 total votes Your vote: What do you think of ACE? (Vote): This team is inappropriate
(Vote): I see your point but I think you overreact
(Vote): I don't really care, it's just a game
(Vote): ACE is ok for me
(Vote): I completely disagree
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i like how your poll has no options to agree lol
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i think serving in the military is mandatory over there so... i guess i dont see where the advertising comes in.
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Well the players probably play in ACE to try and stay in practice to keep some chance alive of a return after their draft is over, so it's a bit harsh to judge them for trying to prolong their careers
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Vatican City State2594 Posts
I think that like having the Army football team in America, this is just people who want to continue their careers in the military. It's a dual-benefit system - the air force gets a little advertisement and respect, the public gets to see the old stars in the booth for a few more years, the players continue playing. Military service is compulsory in Korea, so how does this affect the youth exactly? They would be going anyway - might as well have them think good things about it. Like you said having a military is very important to SK. In fact it's essential. So what they are doing is logical, and not really amoral...
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i remember reading an article by SDM that says the reason they made the ACE pro-gaming team is to keep Boxer on TV even while he's in the military, so its E-Sports trying to promote itself through the air force, not the otherway around.
also, the military is for people who wished to serve their countries, an act of patriotism, and the point ur making is as if to demonise the military organisation of S.Korea, i don't know much about how the military is like is like in S.Korea so i won't comment too much about it.
at least do some digging into the history of the ACE team before spouting out some un-informed arguments/points -.-
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Serving in the military is mandatory. You HAVE to serve in the military. So overall the recruitment drive isn't being increased by ACE.
What does make a difference is that you can apply for the airforce, navy and army. With ACE, more boys go to airforce I suppose.
No big deal.
ACE prolonges the career span of old players, which is important to keep the old starcraft fanbase.
Wasn't Boxer instrumental in the creation of ACE?
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Voted I see your point but I think you overreact.
I'm dubious that the Korean military uses it as a recruiting platform since there's mandatory military service there. At most, its effect would be to funnel more recruits into serving in the air force rather than the navy/army. That doesn't seem like a morally objectionable big deal.
But let's roll with your original argument and assume for a minute that it is being used as a propagandistic recruitment tool for the Korean military writ-large anyway. Further, let's compare it to America's Army's use as a recruitment tool in the USA. I think that the latter is WAY more sinister because the game misinforms the player about military service, military life and the justification of current American military conflicts to drive recruitment up. The Korean Air Force using Starcraft does none of these things.
So what part of the Air Force ACE team is morally objectionable, exactly?
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On April 19 2010 23:33 KurtistheTurtle wrote:
i like how your poll has no options to agree lol
I think if you agree with him you would select "This team is inappropriate"
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
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Starcraft is a popular sport in Korea. I bet the army has baseball and track-and-field teams too. Nothing wrong with that, is it?
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How is SOUTH Korea a military threat to the world? AFAIK only North Korea is and they have no ties at all to e-sports and Airforce ACE.
In addition the military in South Korea is mandatory, so they have no need to advertise for the militiary. All citizens are required to serve a two-year term even if they have rsided outside of the country for most of their lives(a friend of mine is in this situation).
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The same thing happens in America, too... i.e. America's Army and AA2
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As it has been said, military service is mandatory in south korea. Having an ace team changes the reputation of the military service from "hey we are going to conscript you and screw up your career" to "mandatory military allows you to serve your country without ruining your life"
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I tend to think that serving in your country's armed forces is a completely respectable and patriotic career path, so I wouldn't have much of a problem with it anyway -
But in Korea, all male citizens (except for those exempt, usually for physical problems) have to serve anyway (also known as a draft), so there's really not an issue at all. If anything, it's more of a credit to the armed forces, not demanding a complete break with civilian life for these guys (some of whom at least, like Boxer and probably others to follow, will probably return to their former "career" for at least a little while after military service).
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no different from the service academies in america having college football teams imo
both lose all the time anyway
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Well I'm of the opinion that the military is generally evil and wrong, since it is essentially taxing the general population in order to subsidise the producers of capital-intensive, high technology waste material, whilst also killing people as a side effect (Whether the military is a necessary evil, or an unnecessary one is an arguable point).
Since South Korea is a conscript army, then any effect of advertising that ACE has is negligible, (unlike America's Army, which aims at attracting kids into a volunteer army). I'd rather have South Korea's military (or anybody's military for that matter) trained to mash buttons to kill mutalisks, instead of pressing buttons that drop bombs on cities.
Then again, I hate mutalisks. I don't hate North Koreans.
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I'm surprised the leading response is "I see your point but I think you overreact," because I don't really see the point at all. What's the point, that we shouldn't try to stir up too much support for our military because we don't want to have blind patriotism when they start burning jews? Or is it that the military can be harmful to your well-being so advertising it in a kid's game is like advertising cigarettes on spongebob? Or is it that all militaries are inherently evil, even when you're living next to a hostile country with one of the largest standing armies in the world?
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Only a German could care about this lol
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Because serving the military there in mandatory I don't see a problem with it, but it would irk me a little otherwise.
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EPT
