Starcraft in Korea

Blizzard’s sci-fi strategy war game Starcraft is hugely popular in Korea, with thousands of games taking place in computer cafés all over the country, and tournaments of such high profile that good players are able to make a living as professionals. In these tournaments, players, sponsored by technology companies and wearing trendy F1-style leather sportswear, compete on stage in huge arenas holding thousands of fans.

Lee Yoon Leol: DOUBLE VICTORY!

The high level of the gameplay has been well described by Tycho from Penny Arcade:

I’ve seen world-class Starcraft played, and it looks nothing like the game I played with my friends. They aren’t just doing the things that we do, only faster. They are operating some kind of Zergling circus; they appear to have taught them tricks. There is a zergling with a ball on its nose, walking on a wire with a long stick. Gabriel and I watched Yellow play at Blizzcon and couldn’t really understand it. It was as though he thought in an alien way.

To me, it’s the amount of support that the sport can generate that is most amazing. Parents of the players turn up to the matches and have their own special place to sit as honoured spectators. It creates an atmosphere somewhere between a piano recital and a boxing match, and leads me to the bizarre realisation that not only do these supportive parents earn less than their professional gaming offspring (who can earn more than $100k per year), but that these parents probably know a lot more about Starcraft than I do, having followed so many high-level matches.

In one event I saw the fans of a particular player so in awe of his skill and wanting to show their support to such a degree that they were wearing cardboard masks of his own face on theirs.

Here, Terran marines (with a tank in the top left) attack a Zerg base

In a warped fantasy future I imagine a high-profile general being consulted by the current Prime Minister and offering this advice:
“Declare war on Korea? I don’t think so. I saw first hand their Starcraft players back in the 2000s.” [his eyes glaze over] “It wasn’t pretty.”

It infuriates me when I read comments from gamers who don’t understand how Starcraft could be taken so seriously in Korea. It is really just like a modern day Chess – a game so well balanced and with so many strategic possibilities that the potential for mastery is almost endless. Here’s one typical comment completely missing the point:

I am just amazed that they are so rabid about one game. Granted that Starcraft was a good game, but it’s pretty old. You’d think that they could expand their horizons a little bit and step into this decade.

Fans hold a banner on which is the face of their favourite player

The following video demonstrates the sheer spectacle of Starcraft games in Korea – it’s an outdoor match, complete with a crowd bearing strange stick things for cheering (I have only seen these in Starcraft matches), and on stage streamers/fireworks for the winner!

Video commentary:
This is one of the most famous matches and is a masterclass in hurting the opponent enough with an early rush that they give up because they realise they have too big a disadvantage to be able to catch up. One of the reasons it is special in this case is that Boxer is using Terran (humans) against Yellow using Zerg (bug-like aliens). Traditionally, Zerg are most effective at early rushing and Terran have more difficulty, with success generally only if they manage to build bunkers on the edge of the enemy base.

0:20 Both players stay tight in their bases concentrating on building up resources. Yellow, using Zerg, has an overload so can begin scouting a little north of his base in the bottom-left corner of the map.

1:10 Boxer sends out an engineering unit (SCV) to build structures south-east of his base, so he will have advance warning of attacks and unit movement from Yellow. He is building supply depots which are needed to support SCVs, troops and vehicles (each supply depot gives 8 extra food).

1:35 Yellow sends out a drone to scout the area east of his base to see if that is where Boxer has his base situated.

2:15 Satisfied that he knows the surrounding area well enough to place a new building in a good location, Yellow begins construction of a second hatchery just north east of his starting base to breed more units and expand his territory.

2:25 Boxer builds a barracks farther down from his command centre, to train marine units, which should be able to stop a possible early attack from Yellow.

3:00 Boxer sends a single marine down south to explore and look for any units of Yellow’s that may be trying to expand out and claim new territory. Boxer will be hoping here to bump into drones, which he can attack to put (economic) pressure on Yellow.

3:15 One of Boxer’s SCVs (that he placed so cunningly we couldn’t easily have noticed until now) comes into contact with a drone of Yellow’s just north of Yellow’s main territory.

3:20 Boxer attacks this drone with his SCV and decides, in a split second, that the lack of retaliation from Yellow must indicate he has been concentrating more on economy than an offensive army of zerglings (clawed creatures that are the basic Zerg soldier), by building a second hatchery and trying to mine more resources from north of his base. This means that Boxer has a troop advantage (he built barracks and some marines already, remember?) so he sends all his SCVs and marines down south to rush Yellow and destroy enough units and buildings to make it impossible for Yellow to catch up in the rest of the match.

3:38 Boxer’s marine already down south at Yellow’s second hatchery is able to begin shooting at the two drones gathering resources from this area. To save the drones, Yellow has them begin converting into defensive buildings next to his hatchery. He also frantically begins incubating some zerglings to stave off this early rush.

3:45 The other marine catches up, as do the SCVs.

3:50 Yellow sends out all his drones to try to stall the small attacking force while he waits for zerglings.

3:56 With the hatching of zerglings and the arrival of the drones, Boxer pulls back his marines and uses his SCVs to engage Yellow’s units. This means that the marines can shoot into the mess, picking off offensive units (such as zerglings) while being safe from harm behind the SCVs (the only zerg units that Yellow has at this point are melee units so cannot hurt the marines if they are not adjacent to them).

4:00 Two more marines arrive, giving Boxer even more offensive power, quickly taking out Yellow’s units and defensive buildings in the area (still the second base, just north east of the main one).

4:20 Even more marines turn up and Boxer begins to move deeper into Yellow’s territory, forcing a retreat to protect the main zerg base.

4:30 Boxer continues his brilliant tactic of engaging his SCVs with the offensive zerg units and shooting at them with his marines.

4:40-4:59 Boxer moves deeper into Yellow’s starting base, taking out drones and a few zerglings, leaving the base completely defenseless.

5:00 Yellow types “gg”, meaning “good game”, the standard resignation comment. The crowd goes wild and flares launch on the stage.

James Miles : 10 Jun 2007 17:00 |  Tags: Competitive Gaming Cultural Comment Gaming Korea Starcraft |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem