Before Esports Had a Clear Career Path, BoxeR Took It Anyway

In South Korea at the turn of the century, StarCraft gave competitive video games an audience I had never seen before. League of Legends later drew another generation of fans. What I remember most about the StarCraft years is the feeling of discovering a sport while people were still making it.

The later scene has different audiences, salaries and ways to make a living. The early tournaments mattered because they gave players a place to compete and spectators a reason to learn their names.

When BoxeR was the face of StarCraft

For many League of Legends fans, Faker is the person who comes to mind first. In the early StarCraft scene, Lim Yo-hwan, known as BoxeR, became that kind of recognizable figure.

There were players before him. Shin Ju-young was an early professional gamer in South Korea, and Lee Ki-seok, who played as Ssamjang, already had fans. Lim remembers watching Lee and beginning to imagine a career for himself.

Lim became a face of the televised leagues. His career helped make it possible for a wider public to see professional play and tournaments as work.

A memoir from 2004

Lim’s memoir came out in 2004. He writes from a time when the career was still taking shape and somebody who wanted to follow it had to explain what he was doing.

Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” turns up repeatedly. I do not know whether the references came from Lim or from the people putting the book together.

I can see why the poem belonged there. What looked like a career to a reader picking up the book was still an uncertain choice for the person making it.

Matches Lim wanted to remember

Lim kept playing after the book came out. His November 12, 2004, EVER Starleague semifinal against Hong Jin-ho became known for three straight bunker rushes. Fans still have a shorthand for it.

In the book, Lim looks back at matches that mattered to him before publication. He also writes about what it was like to prepare for them.

• 2001 Hanbitsoft Starleague — an early breakthrough for Lim.
• 2001 Coca-Cola Starleague — a defining early meeting with Hong Jin-ho.
• 2001 World Cyber Games — Lim recalls using a nuclear strike against Bertrand.
• 2001 Starleague final against Kim Dong-soo.

For the final against Kim, Lim had worked out a tank drop for Incubus. In his account, a change of map disrupted the plan. He finished runner-up. I liked reading about the preparation that could not be seen in the final score.

Imjinrok, Lim Yo-hwan against Hong Jin-ho

Fans call the meetings between Lim and Hong Imjinrok, a play on their names and the title of a Korean historical tale. Lim’s Terran and Hong’s Zerg made a matchup people came back to watch.

Lim won notable finals between the two, including the Coca-Cola Starleague. Hong’s runner-up finishes became part of his public image, even as the rivalry depended on how closely he could challenge Lim.

The tournaments I played in

I never played professionally. Before and during Lim’s peak, I was good enough at StarCraft to enter tournaments and sometimes come home with something to show for it.

I lived outside Seoul. In local offline events I won a few prizes and had finishes ranging from a title to the quarterfinals. Once I qualified online for a Seoul event while I was still in school.

I went to the final offline qualifier for the experience. I was a teenager and got so tense that I barely played the way I knew I could.

I used to wonder what would have happened if I had put everything into trying to become a professional. Now that question belongs to the years when a trip to a qualifier could feel like a glimpse of a whole other life.

The work before the match

The memoir gave me some sense of what it took to choose that path and to keep choosing it when results did not go his way.

I still think about the work a player can do before the match and what remains uncertain when it begins. Lim’s book makes me remember both.

Book details

Try Being as Obsessed as I Am

Author

Lim Yo-hwan (BoxeR)

Published

October 25, 2004

ISBN-13

9788991239159

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