The real scars of Korean gaming • Hacker News Board

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#11

Post by EC1 » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:23 AM UTC

panorama wrote: post #2

Sometimes you pay a price to be able to do the things you love. However, the plight isn't necessarily with Lee Young Ho (aka "FlaSh"), who was winning $50,000 tournaments multiple times a year while on a 200-300k per year salary (I stopped following after the end of professional Brood War, not sure what it's like now). The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject…

I spent four years of my life dedicated to StarCraft. I made GM several seasons on NA ladder. I made GM on Korean ladder for one season. I played many top tier players, and I beat them. Repeatedly.

Then I decided to invest in flying myself down to Dreamhack. All the people I played online and beat about 50% of the time and made connections with, I lost to every single time.

There's many like me, top tier players but who can't win a cent. The disparity in skill from bottom of the Grandmaster ladder to top 100, from 100 to top 50, then top 10, and finally top 5, is massive.

Stopped gaming altogether around that time.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#12

Post by nims11 » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:24 AM UTC

The analogy is simple, gaming is a sort of sport. The professionals are fully into it, the fans play the game as well, support their favourite teams and watch tournaments, just like any other sport. When comparing games like dota and chess, the similarity is even more evident. But it will take some time for this analogy to be accepted worldwide.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#13

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:24 AM UTC

panorama wrote: post #2

Sometimes you pay a price to be able to do the things you love. However, the plight isn't necessarily with Lee Young Ho (aka "FlaSh"), who was winning $50,000 tournaments multiple times a year while on a 200-300k per year salary (I stopped following after the end of professional Brood War, not sure what it's like now). The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject…

[deleted]

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#14

Post by throwaway9324 » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:26 AM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #6

panorama wrote: post #2

Sometimes you pay a price to be able to do the things you love. However, the plight isn't necessarily with Lee Young Ho (aka "FlaSh"), who was winning $50,000 tournaments multiple times a year while on a 200-300k per year salary (I stopped following after the end of professional Brood War, not sure what it's like now). The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject…

> The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject to the same amount of physical and mental stress and grueling 12 hour practices while making welfare wages That's also no different from other pro sports.

It's plenty of different from other pro sports. The "pro" part largely means getting paid more than it takes to sustain the activity. With some exceptions like pro boxing which isn't exactly a poster boy for ethical practices.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#15

Post by blumkvist » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:26 AM UTC

fijal wrote: post #9

Did the authors never meet any professional athletes? If you do any sort of sport (actual physical sport) on a competitive level, even in a local league, you do get hurt. And you work through your injuries and you keep training.

Did you read the article past the headline?

>One of his colleagues later suggested that if I'd been interviewing the world's most-decorated marathon champion, I wouldn't be surprised if they had damaged knees.

>Nor would I suggest a footballer needing surgery was "too far", the phrase I'd used to describe Mr Lee's arm.

>He had a point.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#16

Post by culturestate » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:33 AM UTC

throwaway9324 wrote: post #14

pdpi wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject to the same amount of physical and mental stress and grueling 12 hour practices while making welfare wages That's also no different from other pro sports.

It's plenty of different from other pro sports. The "pro" part largely means getting paid more than it takes to sustain the activity. With some exceptions like pro boxing which isn't exactly a poster boy for ethical practices.

It's not as different as you think. Base salary in minor league baseball, for instance, is ~US$1500 per month, and they only get paid during the season.

That obviously changes with service time -- and any service in the majors bumps it up disproportionately -- but guys who toil for 5 or 10 years in the minors without making it to the big club aren't getting rich.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#17

Post by lohengramm » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:34 AM UTC

VintageCool wrote: post #8

It is still incredible to watch the Starcraft Brood War games played by FlaSh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLSlqG9f4AQ

SC:BW was so hard. That's all I have to say.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#18

Post by panorama » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:38 AM UTC

dylanjermiah wrote: post #4

panorama wrote: post #2

Sometimes you pay a price to be able to do the things you love. However, the plight isn't necessarily with Lee Young Ho (aka "FlaSh"), who was winning $50,000 tournaments multiple times a year while on a 200-300k per year salary (I stopped following after the end of professional Brood War, not sure what it's like now). The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject…

>"who are subject to the same amount of physical and mental stress and grueling 12 hour practices while making welfare wages. " They aren't subject to anything. They choose.

While true, it's not adults getting into pro-gaming, it's usually teenagers. Kids who would rather play Starcraft than study, and, despite being very good, lack the foresight of knowing what kind of hole they're digging themselves into.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#19

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:39 AM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #13

panorama wrote: post #2

Sometimes you pay a price to be able to do the things you love. However, the plight isn't necessarily with Lee Young Ho (aka "FlaSh"), who was winning $50,000 tournaments multiple times a year while on a 200-300k per year salary (I stopped following after the end of professional Brood War, not sure what it's like now). The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject…

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#20

Post by johnchristopher » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 9:53 AM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #6

panorama wrote: post #2

Sometimes you pay a price to be able to do the things you love. However, the plight isn't necessarily with Lee Young Ho (aka "FlaSh"), who was winning $50,000 tournaments multiple times a year while on a 200-300k per year salary (I stopped following after the end of professional Brood War, not sure what it's like now). The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject…

> The plight lies with those who aren't among the top 1% in their already elite field who are subject to the same amount of physical and mental stress and grueling 12 hour practices while making welfare wages That's also no different from other pro sports.

Question: why are the top of the top players earning so much more than the top (excluding advertisements and sponsorship incomes) ?