Starcraft — a real-time strategy video game that was created by the same publishers as World of Warcraft — has been around since 1998, and while us American gamers have given up the game for the greener pastures of raids and PVP Battlefields, don’t tell that to the Koreans, where professional players and teams participate in matches, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised tournaments with appropriately screaming announcers, never mind the game has last longer than most marriages.
And if you live in San Francisco, you too can hire a hardcore Korean Starcraft player for only twenty five dollars an hour! I’m not just being a stereotyping asshole either; his Craigslist ad is actually titled “Starcraft lessons from authentic Korean.” For only $200-$350, you can learn everything from basic Starcraft resource building to telling someone to “QUIT QQ” in basic Korean. And lest you think that ByunTae is being somewhat ironic that a couple hundred dollars worth of lessons will lead to “Korean girls [being] intrigued that you’re such a good Starcraft player,” this CBC documentary available on YouTube points out that, yes, professional Starcraft players do have female fan clubs. Groupies for playing Starcraft? Gives the term Zerg Rush a whole new meaning.
(Flickr photo credit — and apologies — to brad_bechtel)
