E-sports in China and South Korea

E-sports in China and South Korea

I used to be a semi-professional player when I was in China. I had heard a story that if a Chinese Starcraft professional player go to South Korea, he may be lost by a child who walk in the street. At first, I thought it must be a joke, but I started to believe this story when I learn more things about Electronic sports in South Korea.
E-sports in South Korea started at 1999, the first sports event is Starcraft. During that year, the first professional E-sports league that named OnGameNet(OGN) star league was established. There are two E-sports TV channels in South Korea, one is OGN and another is MBC, there are also lots of webcast channels to live E-sports match in Korea.
Chinese E-sports started at 2001, Chinese general administration of sport announced E-sports would be 99th sports in China. PLU, NeoTv, Games TV are 3 famous game channel in China. China has the largest groups of enthusiasts in the world.
Electronic sports is a new sport in the twenty-first century. Its contest platform is most on PC system. This new kind of sport need use more brain force. Players need focus on the match every second. Not all the video games are E-sports, only competitive and balanced games may be called E-sports like Starcraft, Counter-Strike, Warcrafte and so on.
In this essay I will talk about the difference between Professional league, Government support and E-sports stars in Chinese and South Korea.

The first different thing is professional league in China and South Korea. South Korea has some very famous E-sports professional league as OSL, MSL and GSL. OSL and MSL has more 10 years history. OSL and MSL are Starcraft professional tournaments. OSL is most popular in South Korea. In OSL 2008 final match, there were more than one hundred thousand audience went to match site to be witness. OSL usually can attract big company to support them, like Coca-cola, Korean air, LG, Samsung. Its bonus also very high. When Starcraft 2 published, Korea started the first Starcraft 2 professional league GSL in the world. In first three season, every season's champion bonus was one hundred million won as seven hundred thousand dollars. A large numbers of professional players in the world go to South Korea to join the GSL. In 2011, the GSL is supported by Sony and LG, it has more 12 tournament to make Starcraft 2 amazing in 2011.

South Korea's E-sports professional league is really very well in the world, but it also had some bad news in recently years. In 2005, Warcraft 3 League was very popular in South Korea and the Korean Warcraft 3 players are the best in the world in that year. In the famous match Prime league, MBC's staff modify the balance in game, he change the time for Druid of the Talon Master upgrade. At last, in the semi-final Freedom was lost by Dayfly. After match Dayfly and his friend found the problem and published this news. From 2005, Warcraft 3 league started to at a very poor situation in Korea. There was also very bad things for Starcraft league. In 2010, South Korean media found there were some false match in 2008, the players include the legend player IPXZerg. This news shocked whole gaming circle in the world.

In China, there are also lots of famous gaming league as NSL, G League. NSL is hold by NeoTv, every year NeoTv will invite the best players in the world to join this match. G league has 4 seasons in every year, most Chinese good players join G league. From 2010, Chinese general administration announced to hold two large matches ESL and CEPL. When Starcraft 2 published the Chinese E-Sports league is still develop to a high level.
For those contrast, we can found that Korea E-sports league started earlier and develop more comprehensive than Chinese E-sports league. Most important thing may be the sponsors for E-sports League. In China, lots of sponsors are personal or small company. But In south Korea, their league usually can attract very big company like the Korean air, LG, Hyundai Motor. It may cause of the publicity of matches or public attention on the matches. In South Korea, it has OGN and MBC two TV channel to publicize OSL and MSL, TV channel achieve much patronage from advertisement which also drives to extensive propaganda, it greatly reducing the viewing crowd. Big company take more attention to the benefits of the tournament.
There is another very important point to create the difference. It is professional systems for teams. In Korean Starcraft professional teams, every team has their own echelon and young reserve. A team join the high-level league and B team take part in second-level league. Young reserve train the young athletes to their main team. Every team has a very complete system. The good teams can also promote the professional league's development. In China, there is few teams has a good system, most teams cannot has a complete system. Most Chinese parents do not think E-sports will be a good job in the future, so the young reserve is hard to launch in China. Chinese E-sports team usually cannot has fresh blood, although Chinese E-sports amateur leagues are very well, it cannot like the young reserve to be very vocational. For recently year, Chinese E-sports team make more and more link to Korean E-sports league, it may help Chinese team learn more information about how to manage a successful team. Now, Chinese team WE, Ehome, Nv are very famous in the world now.

In the first point, I said the TV channels can help a lot for professional league. TV channel is a very important element to promote E-sports developing. Every sports cannot leave the media. For example, if NBA leave TNT and ESPN and it cannot find new channels to live it, NBA will be collapse in a very short time. TV channel can help a league to attract large numbers of sponsors, the money is really a very important thing for sports' developing. E-sports is just start, so it need more support to promote its developments. So if Chinese E-sports can has its own TV channels to broadcast the matches, it must help Chinese E-sports to has a quantum leap.
Audience group is another main point for E-sports league. In South Korea, each age groups have a large numbers of fans. But in China, most amateur are from 15 to 30. In Chinese parents' opinion E-sports do not like a real job, they usually confuse on games and E-sports. They think games may affect children's study and adults' work. In South Korea, E-sports like soccer and other sports, most people think it is a very good job.

After the difference of professional league in China and South Korea, there is another discrepancy that the support of government. If a event want to be popular in a country, it must need government's help. Government's support for E-sports will be really important in any time.
Government's support can promote companies to support E-sports. In South Korea, lots of big companies like to support E-sports team and matches, because Korean government strongly supported the development of E-sports. Korean government define E-sports is one of three most important sports in South Korea as soccer. The biggest E-sports event WCG( World Cyber Game) is hold by Korean E-sports organization. Because of Korean government's support, Samsung support lots of money for WCG every year. In China, government thinks E-sports may affect children's study, so government do not advocate E-sports to be strongly develop. Lots of companies cannot get the good information that E-sports can help them get large numbers of money, so most big companies do not like to support this new kind of support. The most sponsors only can be some small company and person who like gaming. But from 2010, Chinese government started to help E-sports developing, they spent large numbers of money on the tournament CEPL and ECL. The CCTV also reported this important news. After that, Chinese E-sports fans saw a colorful future for E-sports.
The positions in national's opinion is also necessary for E-sports in any countries. In Chinese traditional thinking, most people who older than 35-year-old think E-sports is just a game, it cannot be a proper job and cannot give child a bright future. Most Chinese parents do not like their children play games, they do not want their children choose the E-sport way. In a report, I get the information that more than 80 percentage parents do not want their child go to join E-sports professional team. In South Korea, it is different from that in China. Most part of parents they do not combat child to choose E-sports, because they think this is a good job, it can also earn lots of money. The professional player can also easy to find a girl friend, because they have lots of girl fans if they play very well. In China, there is not too much girl like the E-sports players.
Government's support will also affect young people's choice. When a person who has just graduated must want to find a job that can has good prospect. If Government said E-sports is a nice job in the future, it should encourage young people to choose E-sports. More and more young people go to help E-sports development, it will make a virtuous circle. But if government do not suggest people go to choose E-sports, it should cause more and more people leave E-sports circle, it will make a vicious circle. Whatever government's support is really very important for E-sports in any country.

The third things I want to compare is E-sports stars in China and South Korea. First I will introduce several E-sports stars.
If you talk about NBA, people should know Michael Jordan. When you talk about Starcraft, the E-sports fan must know Slayers.Boxer. Boxer is the legend of Starcraft, he won 2 times OSL championship and 2 times WCG championship, he taught lots of Terran players as iloveoov. All the Starcraft fans call him 'Terran King'. He is one of the best E-sports player in the world. He made a great contribution to E-sports, we can say Korean Starcraft's successful cannot leave his contribution. Now he has changed to play Starcraft 2, Intel support him a lot of money to help him to make a new strong team.

In E-sports professional league, a girl is hardly ever can play as good as a guy, but there is one incredible girl player STX.TossGirl join the professional league to beat large numbers of famous players as F91,SUPER. She has won most girl's matches in Korea and she has large numbers of fans in the world.

In Chinese E-sports circle, everyone will know a name Li Xiaofeng whose ID is WE.Sky. He is the legend of Warcraft 3, he won 2 times WCG Warcraft 3 champion, his rewards strongly promote E-sports' development in China. He invented 'Sky tactical' to beat ORC players in 2006 by a 90 percentage winning. He is the member of WCG's hall of fame.

The stars creating system is different between China and South Korea. In South Korea, it has a complete system to make a E-sports star. Most stars when they are very young, they need practice in young reserve. When they be strong they can join the B-team, if they can get good mark in the matches they can has the chance to be a member of A-team. Then they can go to join lots of high-level games to find their dream. In China, the E-sports stars like the civilian heroes, most stars are from the amateur teams at first. When they can get the crazy performance, they will have chance to join the professional team to try to be a E-sports Star.

E-sports Stars' life in China and South Korea are not similar. Although they all has large numbers of fans, but Korean players' wage are more than Chinese players'. Because Korean professional teams have the strong sponsors. Korean players has greater pressure, because they are too many good players to compete. Chinese professional players will hardly ever to worry about their situation if they are not play too bad.
The professional league system's discrepancy, the government's support force and E-sports stars' situation made the different between E-sports in China and South Korea. Now, we can get the result South Korean E-sports circle is much better than Chinese E-sports circle. After Chinese government's support, Chinese gaming also has a very well future.
There are more and more cooperation between Chinese E-sports and Korean E-sports also the other countries' E-sports. E-sports develop in a high speed in the world now especially Starcraft 2 has been published. Not only the match management but also the players' competitive level are all develop in a wonderful way. More and more big companies start to support Electronic Sports in the world. GSL, NASL, TSL, DreamHack, more and more huge bonus matches has been hold. We can image, if more and more people make their contribution to E-sports, E-sports must have a colorful and incredible future.

1. Cornnelius, Osgood. The Koreans and their culture. New York: Ronald Press, 1951. 387. Print.
2. Chen, Sophia H. Symposium on Chinese Culture. New York: Paragon Book Reprint Corp, 1969. 316. Print.
3. Gina Lee, Barnes. China, Korea and Japan : the rise of civilization in East Asia. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993. 288. Print.
4. Luo, Xian. (2009, April 3). Starcraft legend. E-sports, 20, 32.
5. Fei, Le. (2008, August 20). save e-sports. WETA, 32, 10
6. Sha, Junchun. (2010, October 11). New storm. S.C. Paper, 3, 22.
7. war3.tatazu.com
8. sc2.com.cn
9. www.esl.eu/eu
10. www.mymym.com
11. sc2.tatazu.com
12. ocwu.tatazu.com

Book resouce

Cornnelius, Osgood. The Koreans and their culture. New York: Ronald Press, 1951. 387. Print.


Chen, Sophia H. Symposium on Chinese Culture. New York: Paragon Book Reprint Corp, 1969. 316. Print.


Gina Lee, Barnes. China, Korea and Japan : the rise of civilization in East Asia. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993. 288. Print.

Outline for final project

Outline for final project

Compare E-sports in China and South Korea

I. Introduction

A. A short story about E-sports in Korea.

B. Introduce E-sports in 2 countries simple

C. Thesis statements-difference in Professional League, Government support, E-sports Stars

II. Body

A. Professional League in two countries

1. The different between sponsors for the professional League

2. Profeesional systems for teams in both countries

3. The broadcast for Professional League

4. Audience group

B. Government support for E-sports

1. Government's support promote company to support E-sports

2. Make a position in national's opion

3. Teenager control E-sports' future

C. E-sports Star in two countries

1. Introduce some E-sports Stars

2. Creat Stars

3. E-sports Stars' life in two countries

III. Conclusion

1. Summary the main points in 3 difference

2. E-sports' development

3. E-sports' future

The Third Score Board

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArZdWUjmQs43dHlZcUpSS1NhSmhQUWdQX0JYTFZ6U1E&hl=zh_TW&authkey=CMjfg9YC TOP3 No1. Lu Shan No2. Meyer Jordan R No3. Nan Yingying

My third interview

Preparation for interview

[A] The preparation before interview

The preparation for this interview is similar as the second interview, because I think the preparation for the second one was good. Before the interview, I write two copy of the questions and also prepared some food for the interview. One copy was for the interviewee and another one was for me. For the same thing, I went to find Devin and asked him to give me some suggestion for the interview. I discussed with my roommate to cook which thing for the dinner.

[B] How did I find the interviewee

I asked Jang and HyoSung to help me to ask their friends who could be my interviewee. Lim Soo Yoen receive my interview to be my interviewee. I also asked Jang and HyoSung something about Lim Soo Yoen, because I think it will help me to do the interview better. For the same, we decide the time to be afternoon at Saturday. Jang will drive HyoSung and Lim to my apartment to do the interview and have the dinner together.

[C] How did we do during the interview

Before we started, we talked about the school life for a little time. Then we started, I give Lim(Linda) the copy of the questions. I use my iphone to record the interview and write the key words. In the evening, we had dinner together.



Description of interview

In my opinion, the third interview is at least as well as the first one and the second one. Linda is really a very cute and kind girl. She is also very good at speaking, Jang and HyoSung also gave me some help on the interview. During the interview we are both very happy and relax. We talked about lots of things, something were really funny. During the interview, I keep the good part in the first two interviews that I did and I also improve some parts that I did not do very well. When I cannot understand what she said, I can find the way to deal with it. I learn more things about South Korean and I mad friend with Linda. We had the dinner together and have a fun day.



Interview Report

Interviewer: Hua Yunfei(Ni)
Interviewee: Lim Soo Yeon(Linda)
Interview Date: Apr.2nd.2011
Interview place: My apartment

Ni: Hi, Linda. I'm Ni, can you introduce yourself a little then we started the interview.
Linda: My name is Lim Soo Yeon. My English name is Linda. I came from Seoul, South Korea. I like singing, my favorite color is pink.

Ni: Now, let us start the interview. How do you think about the difference between Korean and US?
Linda: The culture. For example. In US, if you saw a boy is handsome , you can tell him ' you are handsome. In Korean, if you say the same thing, it might be some kind of rude. The boy may think you love him. The food is very different between Korean and US. The US food has lots of cheese, it will easy make girls fat.

Ni: Hah, Candy told me the same thing about the food. So I heard you like the spicy food.
Linda: It must be told by Jang. Yeah, I like spicy food very much. I think there are also some place in China like the spicy food.

Ni: You are right. My roommate like spicy food, too. He cook some spicy food for the dinner.
Linda: Really? It's so cool. I may can help him to cook.

Ni: You know how to cook?
Linda: Yeah. I cook every day. I like cooking.

Ni： Hah, there is few girl like your age know how to cook.
Linda: I'm 22-year-old! I'm not a child.

Ni: 22? It's truth? You looks like 18-year-old.
Linda: Yeah. I'm 22-year-old. I'm very happy, I'm so young in your thinking. I like my friends tell me 'Linda you are looks under 20'.

Ni: That's nice. After interview, we may cook together. It must be fun.
Linda: Sure. I'm glad I can cook with your roommate. Candy told me your roommates is good at cooking.
John: Thanks! I heard that!


Ni: You said you like singing. I like singing, too. Whose song you like singing?
Linda: Girls Generation. Do you know them?

Ni: Of course. I'm their fan. I like the song ' Gee'.
Linda: hmm, I may sing the song to you after interview.

Ni: Hah. It sounds nice. Thank you, Linda. HyoSung said she like Super Junior, do you like them?
Linda: Yeah. I buy all their CDs.

Ni: Last interview, I got the point that Candy is crazy in handsome boy, how about you?
Linda: I think most girl are crazy in handsome boy. I need ask you a question, do you like beautiful girls?

Ni: Compare to beautiful girls. I like the cute girls much more.
Linda: Like me?

Ni： Hmm. You are really very cute.
Linda: Thank you, Ni. But do not love me, remember you have girl friend. Just a joker.

Ni: I think you are not only a cute girl but also a humored girl. Can you make the joker like this in Korea?
Linda: For our age people, it's OK. But you cannot make joker like this for elder.

Ni: I get that. It's same like China. The Korean TV program is really very popular in Asian countries. How do you think about this?
Linda: I like it. When I'm free, I usually watch the TV program.

Ni: Which kind of the TV program you like?
Linda: I like the romantic TV program. Sometimes I will cry when I watch the impressive parts.

Ni: My girl friend like the romantic TV program, too.
Linda: You may introduce your girl friend to me, I think we can be good friends.

Ni: OK, I will. Do you know the E-sports? I'm really crazy in that.
Linda: Some of my friends play the games. They often tell me something about it. But I do not often focus on it.

Ni: I see. Some girl do not like the games. I think South Korea is a good country. Why you choose here and who support you?
Linda: Because I want to get more experience. I think study abroad can give me lots of experience. US' university education should be the best in the world. For support, my father support me to study here.

Ni: When you came here. What is the hardest thing for you to adapt?
Linda: The relationship. I feel here is different from my hometown on the relationship. At first, I feel it's really hard to make friends with others.

Ni: What do you usually do after class in US and also in Korea?
Linda: I like go to mall for shopping here. In Korea, I usually go to club or watch movies with my friends.

Ni: Most girl like shopping, Hah. How long have you learnt English and How do you think about English?
Linda: I started to learn English when I was 7-year-old. I think writing is hard for me.

Ni: The same for me. What is your major and which job do you want to do after graduate?
Linda: My major is finance. I will go to find a job in bank after graduate.

Ni: I study finance, too. How do you think about Chinese?
Linda: I like China, most Chinese are kind. I have plan to visit China in several years.

Ni: That's cool. Let me know before you visit China. I also have a plan to visit Korea, can you give me any suggestion about it?
Linda: Sure. You must go to visit Seoul, because it's my hometown, I can be your tourist guild.

Ni： I will thank you first. I'm very glad that you and HyoSung that two beautiful girls can invite me to Seoul. At the end of the interview, do you have something want to tell to Jang.
Linda: Thank you, Jang. I like this interview. But next time do not say I sing bad.

Ni: That's all my interview. Thank you, Linda. Let's start the dinner.
Linda: Let me sing ' Gee' first!
Ni: Sorry. I forgot that, please show me the song. It must very nice.



Country Report

South Korea's real name is Republic of Korea. Statehood Day is August 15th,1948. Country code is R.O.K.. The population of South Korea is about 50 million. Their official language is Korean. South Korea is located south of the Korean peninsula. The Korean Peninsula is located in the northeast Asian continent. South Korea's total area is 99,600 square kilometers. South Korea's weather is temperate monsoon climate. Winter is very cold, Summer is hot and Spring and Fall is really short-time. Seoul is the capital of South Korea and the population is about 10.5 million. The GDP of South Korea in 2009 is 800 billion dollars, in 15th place in the world.

Seoul

The Korean TV drama program and their E-sports professional league is very famous in the world. South Korea's entertainment industry is also very well. There are lots of big company in South Korea as Samsung, Hyundai-motor, LG, Kia. Korean people like the spicy food. Korean's cosmetic industry is the best in the world. Super Junior and Grils Generation may the most popular combination in South Korea.

Girls Generation

Slayers.Boxer is the greatest play in SC1 in Korea, even in the world. He was in SKT1 when he played starcraft, he won 2 OSL champion, 2 WCG champion and lots of other rewards. He changed to play Starcraft 2 in 2010 and he hold his own team Slayers, he won the 4th place in GSL open-season 2. oGs.MC is a very good Starcraft 2 player, he won the GSL open-season 3 champion and now he is in GSL season March Round 16. MC is the best protoss player in the world now. OGN and MBC is two biggest E-sports TV station in Korea. They hold the famous professional tournaments OSL(OGN Star League) and MSL(MBC Star League). If you win 3 OSL champion you can get the golden mouse, July,NaDa, iloveoov, Flash, Jeadong and some others get it. If you win 3 MSL champion you can get the golden badge, Flash,Bisu and some others get it. Now the biggest Starcraft 2 tournaments in Korea is GSL(GomTV Star League), the first 3 open-season's champion in 2010 are Tsl.FruitDuler, IM.Nestea, oGs.MC, the G-Star 2010's champion is Kyrix.Zenith, the first season 2011's champion is IM.MVP, the March season 2011's champion is oGs.MC.


Slayers.Boxer VS oGs.NaDa


GSL LOGO


oGs.MC


STX.TossGirl