Paid to play: Korea's gaming gods
They are idolized like rock legends. They often earn more money than movie stars. And like sports heroes, their fans fill the stadiums to watch them play. Meet South Korea’s e-sports athletes: professional gamers who have taken computer entertainment to a higher level.
South Korea prides itself on being the digital capital of the world as well as being the planet’s most wired country with almost 80 percent of households having high-speed Internet connection. With this level of access to cheap, high-speed broadband service, it’s no wonder Korea has become a nation of devoted gamers. The most popular PC title in Korea is Starcraft, a futuristic real-time strategy game, wherein players choose from among three races in a battle for domination in various types of terrain. Starcraft in Korea has an active professional competition circuit with teams sponsored by several major companies. The competitions draw thousands of fans who watch on giant indoor LCD screens or on one of two gaming cable channels that broadcast matches between professional teams 24 hours a day.
Most of the players in a sponsored team stay together in the company’s training camp. The regimen is rigorous, with members of the team often playing up to 10 hours a day to hone their skills for the individual and team events. Despite the pressure, they have the most enviable job in the world — getting paid for playing computer games. In a country where the average annual income is $20,045, top-ranked pro gamers can easily pull down almost $200,000 a year in combined salary and winnings. They have legions of fans, mostly teenage girls, who flock to e-sports stadiums carrying posters and streamers of their idols. During my stay in South Korea for the Seoul National University-LG Press Fellowship, I had an opportunity to watch the competitions in the Starcraft league. The people at LG also helped arrange an interview with the league’s top player, who had a scheduled match at the e-Sports Stadium located at the I-Mart Mall in Yongsan.
Lee Young-Ho, nicknamed “Flash,” is No. 1 in the Korean e-Sports Players Association rankings. At 16, he holds the distinction of being the youngest pro gamer to win a title. Playing a major telecom carrier in South Korea, Flash is one of the most feared Terran players, known for strong defense and quick counter to enemy attacks. It was a difficult route to the top for Lee, whose parents had initially disapproved of his decision to become a pro gamer. “My parents kept telling me that there was no career in playing games, but I told them to give me six months to try it out,” he said. “If things didn’t work out, then I would heed their advice.”
Pitted against older and more experienced players, Flash learned the ropes the hard way. He made mistakes, adjusted his gameplay and steadily improved his game while creeping up in the rankings. In the six months he set as a timetable, he earned a reputation of being a superb defensive player who could anticipate his opponent’s moves. “To be a top Starcraft player, one must have good judgment and be extremely cool and not panic under pressure,” Flash said. “The game can turn around quickly and matches can be lost with a single bad decision.”
His coach Lee Ji Hoon agreed. “Starcraft is basically a mental game just like chess. It’s about proper management of resources and units, taking advantage of the terrain and knowing when to attack,” he said.
Lee, once a former pro gamer himself, pointed out that the toughest part of his job was getting his players to maintain their focus. “The players are all very young. They’re basically still kids and there is tremendous pressure on them to keep winning,” he said. “I can give them advice and offer them tips on strategy, but in the end, it’s all up to the player. You have to be mentally tough to stay in this game, and that’s asking a lot from these youngsters.”
At the player dugout, Flash and his teammates try to relax by listening to music on their MP3 players while waiting for their turn to compete. Starcraft has become a way of life for Flash, who is also known as the “Ultimate Weapon” in gaming circles.
The RTS game, developed by US game studio Blizzard, is over 10 years old but remains the most popular PC game in South Korea. So why do Koreans still embrace the game when there are dozens of newer games with better graphics now out on the market? “For me, Starcraft is the perfect game,” Flash said. “No other game, except probably chess, has the perfect balance in terms of strengths and weaknesses of units.” It must be noted that a vast majority of gaming in Korea is based on the PC platform. Koreans don’t patronize Japanese electronic products like the PlayStation because of their history of hatred toward their neighbor. Flash admitted, however, that he plays other games like Tekken, football simulator Winning 11 and Warcraft, another RTS game. “But I concentrate on Starcraft most of the time,” he said.
In the main event of the evening, Flash is pitted against a veteran player and a former league champion. The match is held on a stage with the players seated in booths in front of several rows of seats. The audience is made up mostly of Flash supporters. Three announcers give the play-by-play in between the two computer booths. Flash makes short work of the “God Fighter,” repelling his opponent’s numerous attacks before launching a crippling attack to end the match in just a little over 20 minutes. A match in Starcraft ends when a player types in “GG” on his keyboard. The letters stands for “good game,” signifying a player has accepted defeat much like a resignation in the game of chess. The well-earned victory further cements Flash’s hold on the top ranking. He hopes the victories will keep on coming, knowing full well that to stay on top of the world he has to be at the top of his game.
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Philippine STAR associate editor Romel A. Lara was the Philippine representative to the 2008 Seoul National University-LG Press Fellowship Program, which also included journalists from Poland, Brazil, India, China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
