I started playing StarCraft ever since it came out in 1998 when I was living in South Korea, and naturally progressed to its expansion StarCraft:Brood War. I picked Zerg as my rain race because they were so intriguing to play, I liked their alien looks, and also liked the idea of making units from three larvas that came out of hatcheries. I used to play lots of fun maps such as Big Game Hunters, Fastest Map 4v4, Micro Tournament maps, Macro/Micro maps, and etc.
After about 5 or 6 years later, I began to play on iCCup server. There were so many great players on iCCup server, and I was motivated to become a better player. I didn't mind if I didn't become the best of the best; I just enjoyed playing competitively and learning new strategies and tactics. I made some friends with Perk (?), Stropheum, and Sayle (currently konwn as iCCup.Sayle). We liked to play each other while streaming our games on Teamliquid, and back then streaming was not very popular compared to now. Then, I joined a team called PrO), but it didn't last long when the team leader had to go on with his life. But it was a fun experience to play and to practice with each other to improve our skills and understanding of the game.
Then, I thought about joining the iCCup Training Program. I met iCCup.nOoNe, and he was always eager to help me when I was in the chatroom. He was very, very picky; whenever I had an idle drone for like 2 seconds, he would immediately see it and tell me to make it mine. He also told me that scouting is the most important thing to do before taking any big actions, told me to keep looking at the minimap, told me to keep making units nonstop, etc. He was very helpful, and I felt like I was improving despite the fact that my iCCup rank stayed around C-/C level. Thank you very much, iCCup.nOoNe for helping me on improving my techniques. After many months later, StarCraft II came out, and the world changed forever.
Lots of professional gaming teams were eager to add new StarCraft 2 pros to their roster: oGs, SlayerS, TSL, Prime, Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, RootGaming (now non-existant), Vile, CompLexity Gaming, Sixjax Gaming (now disbanded), ReiGN, It's Gosu, Mousesports, Empire, and many more. It's no question that 2011 was the year for the rise of E-Sports, and it's continually growing stronger. The emergence of GSL in South Korea attracted so many foreign professional gamers like never before. Also in the USA, the MLG Pro Circuit helped many professional gamers from worldwide to compete and gain fame. TeamLiquid website also gained tons of users from around the world, and the number of streamers exploded to over 100, and those streamers stream almost every day. Featured streamers, most of them who are professional gamers, have thousands of viewers consistently. Number of online tournaments such as Playhem Daily also exploded, providing more opportunities for no-namers to become recognized to professional teams.
I hope that E-Sports will continue to grow in 2012 and onwards so that general population will have a chance to appreciate its enthusiasm and excitement. Long live E-Sports!
