Korean Professional Starcraft

This post will be an introduction to the global phenomenon of eSports, and will (hopefully) explain how it all works, where it came from and where it is heading. It will include a little bit of history, but the main focus will be on understanding the larger picture. This will include how the leagues and tournaments fit together, how they differ from each other in different games and parts of the world, and what impact eSports of various genres have had in mainstream mass media. The series is laid out like this:

6 Reasons Why Starcraft is the Manliest game on Earth

1) Balance - the key to making an ever-challenging game

2) Clarity through graphics - why less is more when things get hardcore

3) Professional Korean Starcraft

4) ‘Foreign’, i.e. semi-pro/skilled-amateur Starcraft

5) Enjoy Starcraft as a spectator - where and how

6) The Rebirth of online gaming - Starcraft 2

The first part is dedicated to what I would like to call the birthplace of progaming, or simply ‘The Holy Land’ - Starcraft in South Korea. The story behind why professional computer gaming became the national sport of South Korea, second in amount of viewers only to soccer, is interesting and inspiring. For a more in-depth version of this tale, I deeply recommend that You read the articles by Daniel ‘Super Daniel Man’ Lee at Starfeeder, here, as he was there from the very beginning and helped shape the phenomenon to what it is today. Also, and in videoformat, Peanut of sgg.com has made her own and very enlightening introduction to the birth of eSports in Korea, part 1 and part 2.

To make a long story short, Starcraft became the leisure of choice for the many unemployed, but IT-savvy, young men of South Korea in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Due to the widespread access to high speed-internet in Korea and through the entrepreneurial spirit of some, the raw talent for gaming by a dedicated few and corporate sponsorship - this became more than just an easy escape from reality, it became a spectator sport.

Professional Starcraft was born, and today it has developed into a massive enterprise with hundreds of licensed progamers divided into twelve teams (each with a major sponsor, such as Samsung), where gaming is the full time-occupation of the players and perfection is consistently pursued. There are four separate and ongoing leagues, all

broadcasted on TV in South Korea, with additional crowd pleasing-events taking place throughout the year. In this article the league-format will be explained, so that You may more easily understand how this eSport works and why it is an inspiration to the rest of the world. The tournaments are known as the OSL, the MSL the Proleague and the Gom TV Averatec Intel Classic.

OSL - The Ongamenet Starleague: This tournament first took place in 2000 and is the oldest and most prestigious in Korean Starcraft, a player has not truly carved his name into the walls of the hall of fame until he (or she, there are female progamers) has won an OSL. This is a tremendously difficult task, yet some players have managed to do it twice, and two exceptionally gifted progamers have claimed the title three times. These are Nada, playing Terran, and JulyZerg, indeed a Zerg-player, who thereby are the only winners of the ‘Golden Mouse’ (a solid gold mouse, yes).

The OSL is a continuously ongoing event - each season is between three- and four months long, running throughout the year with some overlap. Each season is named after its corporate sponsor, which is the only easy way of remembering what season we are in. The actual TV-broadcasted part of the event involves 40 players, all of which (except the four best players of the previous season, who are automatically seeded into the later half of the league) have to go through a gruelling preliminary stage that is referred to as the OSC, the Ongamenet Star Challenge. In the beginning of every season, some of these games may be televised, and You may find them on Youtube. The details of the league-format are better explained by Team Liquid, where there is a comprehensive guide.

The OSL is the number one league where legends are born, where rivalries are played out and legacy is cemented. Like the MSL, explained below, it is an individual league - meaning that every player competes for his own sake, which sometimes causes team mates (who practice with each other all the time and know each others’ strategies inside out) to face each other in finals, to everyone’s amusement. In the words of the Emperor himself, SlayerS_`Boxer`, as he wrote in his autobiography about how dreams were made when he claimed his first OSL victory in 2001:

Because I was close to being anonymous as well as being a Terran that entered the Ongamenet Starleague for the first time, there were not many that predicted I would beat Jang Jinnam who was recognized as a cho-gosu of the Zerg. However I did not give up a single game and embraced the championship cup with three straight wins.

From that moment on, people started to call me the ‘Hope of Terran.’

MSL - The MBC Game Starleague: This tournament, like the OSL, is named after the TV-network which on which it is broadcasted. MBC is, however, owned by Ongamenet as well, and as both these networks each sponsor a proteam - OGN Sparkys and MBC Game HERO - there is, allegedly, a fierce rivalry going on between them. The MSL was created in 2003, evolving from the KPGA-tournaments (Korean Progaming Association) as a response to the growing market for Starcraft broadcasts. Though there are differences in how the MSL plays out compared to its bigger brother the OSL, but the basic formula is similar: they run for about as long time and there is an offline (as in ‘not broadcasted’) preliminary event where the best, or the luckiest, qualify for the actual tournament.

As a method of creating more buzz and fuel the rivalries between players, the MSL allows those progamers with better ranking to pick their own opponents in the group stage. This is usually a cause of much excitement among fans and resentment among those players that have to stand the humiliation of being picked by their nemesis, as when FireBatHero once chose sAviOr, the former master whose spirit he broke. That was a good one.

The MSL is a grand and fiercely competitive individual league, but it is the lesser of the two in terms of prestige. However, that is only comparatively so - when the finals of the MSL draw near, every Starcraft fan around the globe sit by their screens while cheering for their favourite player.

Proleague - The Battle of the Teams: This tournament goes on for roughly twice as long as any of the other leagues, and pit not just individual players against each other, but the honour of their teams as well. After the conclusion of the two yearly seasons, a final tournament is held between best ranked teams, determining which gaming house is the best.

The format of Proleague changes now and then, as it in the past used to include a 2 versus 2-element, where two team mates of each house fought united against two other foes. This type of gameplay required completely unique tactics, strategies and maps, and was vastly different from the standard 1 versus 1 type of matches. I personally miss this element, but I’m not sad, since the latest version of Proleague is indeed called the Winners league.

In this format, each team battle is a best out of seven-series, and every player that wins a game gets to stay in the booth to meet the next player from the opposing team. This creates the option of ‘All-Kills’, where one single individual may take home four straight victories, winning the series for his house. It’s intense, believe me.

GOM TV - the most recent addition to the blooming Starcraft-scene in Korea, and the world. This is so because the GOM TV Averatec Intel Classic-tournament is, apart from being broadcasted on domestic Korean television, also available for the international community. They have gone to great lengths in order to provide a stable high resolution stream of their tournaments, which enables You to watch these matches via Your computer live or at any later time. As if that was not enough, GOM TV also has employed two knowledgeable English-speaking commentators that greatly enhances the experience and makes it into a true sport event. These are the aforementioned Daniel Lee and also the Baller-Toss, Nich ‘Tasteless’ Plott.

At the time of writing, March 2009, GOM TV is just about to launch its third season - something that promises to be nothing less than spectacular. In terms of format, the Averatec Intel Classic (got to have sponsors) is a 256 man-tournament, though not all of them are broadcasted. The bulk of the matches are, however, and the tournament stretches over three- to four months where players meet each other in best of three series. From the semi-finals and onwards, the format changes to best of five, and I deeply recommend that You watch the intense previous finals of season 1, here (Jaedong versus Flash), and those of season 2, here (Bisu versus Jangbi). Also, there is a truly epic special show-match between the winners of each season, here.

These tournaments are the main stages for professional Starcraft in Korea. There is a lot more however, such as various show matches and invitational tournaments where the best of the best fight each other for money and buckets of glory. Also, there are TV-broadcasted game shows where progamers play against fans online, often using unorthodox and/or silly strategies in a less than serious manner.

Finally, there is the grand challenge known as the World Cyber Games, the WCG. This tournament, the cyber-equivalent to the Olympics, originated in Korea but is truly global and encompasses other games than just Starcraft, and the finals are held at a different international location each year. However, so far no one without a South Korean passport has ever won the Starcraft-gold medal.

There is a lot more to say, but this will do for now. For those of You that are thirsty for more information on Korean pro-Starcraft, and/or prefer the audio-visual format, I deeply recommend that you check out Cholera of sc2gg.com, who has made a thorough video-guide on the topic, here.

I would love to hear Your feedback on this article, if You liked it or thought it was not so good, or if You think that I am just plain wrong. Do let me know, and leave Your comments below