The real scars of Korean gaming • Hacker News Board

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#21

Post by bobcostas55 » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:01 AM UTC

johnchristopher wrote: post #20

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.

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

The classic Rosen paper The Economics of Superstars provides a solid explanation.

http://users.polisci.wisc.edu/schatzberg/ps616/Rosen1981.pdf

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#22

Post by jamesvang86 » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:25 AM UTC

What about regulators, I did not understand

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#23

Post by dylanjermiah » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:28 AM UTC

panorama wrote: post #18

dylanjermiah wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"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.

I agree, in my opinion there are more productive and 'healthy' uses of ones time. But, my opinion doesn't mean anything. Forcing/coercing kids into doing what you think is best for them is not productive either.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#24

Post by throwaway9324 » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:28 AM UTC

culturestate wrote: post #16

throwaway9324 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is kind of an exception though when it comes to popular team sports and far as I know E-sport is still far from even those relatively bad pay and terms.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#25

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:29 AM UTC

johnchristopher wrote: post #20

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.

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

[deleted]

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#26

Post by frik » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:37 AM UTC

I wonder why real-time-strategy (RTS) is dead outside of the StarCraft 2 e-sport niche. RTS used to be the best selling game category around 2000.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#27

Post by louithethrid » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:48 AM UTC

frik wrote: post #26

I wonder why real-time-strategy (RTS) is dead outside of the StarCraft 2 e-sport niche. RTS used to be the best selling game category around 2000.

Opening of the market- gaming was suddenly less important then a consumeable story. Everyone can consume a actionflick- not everyone can become a general and really keep a battlefield coordinated. The genre is also not so ideal to tell a story.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#28

Post by solicode » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 10:52 AM UTC

culturestate wrote: post #16

throwaway9324 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, you see this in a lot of sports actually. I feel the biggest differentiator is whether there's a players union or not. The Minors appear to not have their own (I did not know this). Maybe this has to do with how much money the league generates, but I can't say because I don't know the details.

Boxing was already mentioned, but there's also MMA which is in the news right now for this very reason. If you're interested, look up the recent deal between the UFC and Reebok and how nearly all the fighters got screwed by this. Only the top players are getting taken care of, while plenty of others can't even get proper healthcare despite the fact we're talking about a combat sport here. It's unbelievable.

I imagine forming a union must be harder in individual sports rather than team sports. And with e-sports, most players' careers seem to be very short, which can't be helping matters if they ever wanted to form a union. Not much leverage for a variety of reasons.

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#29

Post by xentronium » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 11:01 AM UTC

frik wrote: post #26

I wonder why real-time-strategy (RTS) is dead outside of the StarCraft 2 e-sport niche. RTS used to be the best selling game category around 2000.

Maybe it's MOBAs catching up?

Re: The real scars of Korean gaming

#30

Post by rwallace » Sat, Jun 06, 2015, 11:07 AM UTC

blumkvist wrote: post #15

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.

I would suggest a footballer needing surgery is "too far". The purpose of sports is to provide a framework that motivates healthy exercise. Once it gets to the point where it's frequently causing harm rather than benefit to the participants, the purpose has been lost along with any reason society should consider the activity normal or tolerable.