The Life of a South Korean Pro Gamer 133
chajath writes with this excerpt from a South Korean newspaper about the lives of professional StarCraft players:
"Prospective gamers take tests based on the skills they have picked up in PC rooms, and passing scores allow them entry into 'clans,' or guilds. Those who aspire to become pro gamers pay move-in fees and go to live at group dormitories, where they practice playing games all day long. Following a 'courage match' for semi-pro certification, the hopefuls must take a test to become apprentices in a pro-gaming group. ... 'The standard in pro gaming groups is for people to live together 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with no traveling to or from work, and for those ranked Group 2 or lower, their entire daily routine consists of eating, cleaning, laundry, and games,' said Kim Jeong-geun. 'Because of this structure of bringing in young people, developing them, and then replacing them when their lifespan is spent and they have been squeezed dry, it has earned the name of "the chicken coop."'"
Re:More like work (Score:5, Informative)
What do these guys do in their spare time if any... code?
Surprisingly, yes!
A lot of the SC Original Pro's write their own AI scripts to make the AI in Starcraft a lot harder, capable of advanced techniques and deeper theory. Those little nifty tricks they've learned to beat PC's can now be done to them
Re:Like porn? (Score:5, Informative)
"for all who draw the (sword) Wikipedia will die by the (sword) Wikipedia"
Matthew 26:52
"Some girls are used in nine months or a year. An 18-year-old, sweet young thing, signs with an agency, makes five films in her first week. Five directors, five actors, five times five: she gets phone calls. A hundred movies in four months. She's not a fresh face any more. Her price slips and she stops getting phone calls. Then it's, 'Okay, will you do anal? Will you do gangbangs?' Then they're used up. They can't even get a phone call. The market forces of this industry use them up."[5] Some film studios encourage their actresses to have breast implants, and offer to pay for the procedure.[5]
[5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/mar/17/society.martinamis1 [guardian.co.uk]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porn_actor#Female_performers [wikipedia.org]
Re:Would South Korea's draft be part of the proble (Score:3, Informative)
The Korean Air Force has its own pro team which competes on a regular basis. This means they can jump right into the loop after their term is up. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Yo-Hwan [wikipedia.org].
Re:More like work (Score:1, Informative)
Some old-school foreign pros like Testie used to code their own AI, but the Korean pros haven't done this since the very early days (if ever). Why write AI when you can just get a B-teamer and tell him what strategy to do against you?
They basically get kids at 14, 15 yrs old, and train them all day every day until they burnout at age 18/19. At that point they are an expert at the game but knowing nothing else and having a poor education. A few rise above the rest to fame and glory, but for the vast majority of progamers it's a pretty dismal existence with no future.