Cheating Scandal Rocks South Korean StarCraft Circuit

[John Funk]

Yeah, Starcraft is srs bsns in korea. You'd think this is a parody, but it's real footage of some of the SC commentators:

There are TV channels for STARCRAFT?! That's incredible!

yeah... incredibly useless and unneeded. =/

What do you mean useless and unneeded? Granted, it does feel a bit funny since there aren't even shows dedicated to eSports here. But if people want to watch SC matches, why not? Some people like to watch other people who try to kick a leathery orb into a net and who cry and fake getting hurt if someone happens to run a bit too close by.

Okay, that video made me crack the hell up.

 

[ark123]

So it really is like we treat competitive sports over here

 

[SaunaKalja]

meh. sports never really appealed to me and... come on... it's a video game...

Well obviously if you're not interested in sports or video games, you're propably not going to watch either on TV. But if some people are interested in them and they want to watch some competitive games on TV, I wouldn't call a channel dedicated to those things "incredibly unnecessary and unneeded".

I wouldn't mind seeing Starcraft 2 (since I really don't see SC1 happening here anymore) competitive games on TV, so long as the players don't cheat >:|

 

[fenrizz]

meh. sports never really appealed to me and... come on... it's a video game...

You do not care, therefore it is unneeded and useless?

I beg to differ.
Just because you do not see the value of said sport (or eSport for that matter) does not mean that other people can't enjoy it.

It's just a game..
Rally is just cars, and chess is just a board game.
/sarcasm

 

[Weaver]

More proof that Korea is a very silly place.

 

[8bitmaster]

geez! illegal betting? scandals? being compared to baseball? Starcraft is becoming more of a sport every day! WHY CAN'T IT BE A SPORT HERE?!?!?!?!

 

[Arachon]

Stop bursting my goddamn bubble of hope!
And they like Starcraft!
Surely, that must be a good thing... although this devotion seems somewhat... ummm, zealous.
But zealots have psi-blades!

To make you feel better, Korea gains awesome points by the fact that Seoul is pretty much Cyberpunk: The City. See? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gangnampicturefromtheoffice.jpg]

 

[puffenstuff]

Say it ain't so, Jaedong.

(Note: I have no idea if Jaedong was involved. His name just starts with J)

For those of you who are curious about Pro Starcraft go to http://www.gomtv.net/ to see english language commentary of the games or search youtube. VoleTAK [http://www.youtube.com/user/VioleTAK] is one of my favorite commentators but there are lots of others.


And here for your viewing pleasure is the best game of all time. (This one is an hour and a half. Most pro games are nowhere near this long. More like 20 minutes.)

Edit: Fun fact: the South Korean Air Force has its own pro Starcraft team. [http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/Air_Force_ACE]

 

[Tharwen]

... sometimes I'm scared of the East.
But then I remember katanas.

Wait, that's Japan... well surely, Korea must have something similarly awesome... right?

Yes.

[a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death"]Fan Death![/a]

It's genuine.

Stop bursting my goddamn bubble of hope!
And they like Starcraft!
Surely, that must be a good thing... although this devotion seems somewhat... ummm, zealous.
But zealots have psi-blades!

You know what else they have?

Regular missile drills because of the dicks living up North.

 

[Mr. Mike]

Because. In South Korea, Starcraft is serious buisness.

O

In South Korea, everything is serious business. Their musicians don't only have rabid fans, they have rabid anti-fans that try to poison them and get into brawls with the fans. The fans all have their "band scarves" of different colours depending on the band to show their support. It's insane. My girlfriend follows this and told me about this one guy in a band who got a girlfriend. The fans, dejected that they couldn't be his girlfriend, hated her guts and she had to be protected from them. It's insane!

So I'd be very worried if I was one of the cheaters on SC there. My house might be zerg-rushed by nerdraging SC players.

Man, that's intense. I wonder what it is about their culture that has given them such a devoted mindset.

 

[Mumorpuger]

Because. In South Korea, Starcraft is serious buisness.

O

In South Korea, everything is serious business. Their musicians don't only have rabid fans, they have rabid anti-fans that try to poison them and get into brawls with the fans. The fans all have their "band scarves" of different colours depending on the band to show their support. It's insane. My girlfriend follows this and told me about this one guy in a band who got a girlfriend. The fans, dejected that they couldn't be his girlfriend, hated her guts and she had to be protected from them. It's insane!

So I'd be very worried if I was one of the cheaters on SC there. My house might be zerg-rushed by nerdraging SC players.

Wait.... that doesn't just happen to my girlfriends after all??

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

meh. sports never really appealed to me and... come on... it's a video game...

You do not care, therefore it is unneeded and useless?

I beg to differ.
Just because you do not see the value of said sport (or eSport for that matter) does not mean that other people can't enjoy it.

It's just a game..
Rally is just cars, and chess is just a board game.
/sarcasm

What are you talking about? Games never evolved into sports...

oh wait...

 

[spartan773]

meh. sports never really appealed to me and... come on... it's a video game...

Well obviously if you're not interested in sports or video games, you're propably not going to watch either on TV. But if some people are interested in them and they want to watch some competitive games on TV, I wouldn't call a channel dedicated to those things "incredibly unnecessary and unneeded".

I wouldn't mind seeing Starcraft 2 (since I really don't see SC1 happening here anymore) competitive games on TV, so long as the players don't cheat >:|

i am a gamer... i'm not the type who understands why people competitive game. =/

 

[spartan773]

meh. sports never really appealed to me and... come on... it's a video game...

You do not care, therefore it is unneeded and useless?

I beg to differ.
Just because you do not see the value of said sport (or eSport for that matter) does not mean that other people can't enjoy it.

It's just a game..
Rally is just cars, and chess is just a board game.
/sarcasm

... i have no idea whether that's a burn or something else so i'm only going to reply with this. ...

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Damn..why would you take StarCraft that serious as to have to cheat?

Same reason people can take things like horse racing that serious as to have to cheat. Or Poker. Or Black Jack. Or even the Olympics. Starcraft in Korea isn't just some hobby that some teenagers play in their parents' basements. There's big money, and big fame in Starcraft over there.

 

[kingcom]

meh. sports never really appealed to me and... come on... it's a video game...

Well obviously if you're not interested in sports or video games, you're propably not going to watch either on TV. But if some people are interested in them and they want to watch some competitive games on TV, I wouldn't call a channel dedicated to those things "incredibly unnecessary and unneeded".

I wouldn't mind seeing Starcraft 2 (since I really don't see SC1 happening here anymore) competitive games on TV, so long as the players don't cheat >:|

i am a gamer... i'm not the type who understands why people competitive game. =/

Same reason we have competitive basketball players, soccer players, football players, and any other sport.

Damn..why would you take StarCraft that serious as to have to cheat?.

Gee i dont know, why would anyone take life seriously enough to rob a bank or commit tax fraud or certain companies (wink wink nudge nudge americans) who commit accountancy fraud with the use of false assests. TO GET RICH.

 

[revjay]

I regularly watch videos replays from sc 2 and the difference between non korean and korean players is like night and day. Korean pros are off the fucking hook with their macro and micro skills. Kind of let down to hear about this though, kind of like hearing that your favorite (insert sport figure) does steroids or cheats in some manner.

 

[Explodinator]

Man, that's intense. I wonder what it is about their culture that has given them such a devoted mindset.

If you're wondering about WHY StarCraft is so competitive in South Korea, there's actually a very good reason.

Around the late 1980s, South Korea was in a huge economic slump. Then, along came StarCraft with its deep strategical gameplay. Lo and behold, thousands of Koreans ended up falling in love with the game. It became so popular that the extremely strong players began to go commercial. This new eSport industry actually brought South Korea out of its economic slump and helped it into its state today.

This is of course, an abridged version. You could always search this up yourself if you're interested.

 

[Ego13]

i am a gamer... i'm not the type who understands why people competitive game. =/

Then you're not really a gamer. You might enjoy games but you're not a gamer. That's like saying you're a basketball player just because you play horse a couple times a week and watch it on television.

 

[romitelli]

i am a gamer... i'm not the type who understands why people competitive game. =/

Then you're not really a gamer. You might enjoy games but you're not a gamer. That's like saying you're a basketball player just because you play horse a couple times a week and watch it on television.

I disagree, my good sire. I am also not into competitive gaming, yet I consider myself a fraught gamer, having played since I was but a child. I prefer single player games, and I am not into such culture.