I don't know a whole lot about the pro gamer scene, but I was just wondering, do American (and I guess anyone else that isn't Korean) pros compare in skill to the Koreans. Is it about even or are the Koreans far better? I just wonder this because obviously the game is a huge deal in Korea so there's probably a larger number of skilled players, but are the very top players that much better than over here?

Yes they are. In the past there have only been a handful of foreigners who were able to play with the Koreans, and there hasn't been any that can really stay close to their level for several years now.

Some of the notable foreigners who moved to Korea before are ElkY (France), Grrr (Canada), Nazgul (Netherlands), Rekrul (USA).

But Korea is far and beyond the best nation, and all the top players are Korean.

That being said, other good countries are: Poland and Canada.

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Do pro-gamers get paid for playing games?
I know that programmers don't..!

Yes, which is why they're called "pro" and not "amateur". I hadn't been into the pro-scene for quite some time, but I believe the top players are making over a million a year from sponsorship deals and the like...

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... maybe that's some incentive for you to stop using cheat codes

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Hmm, this sparked my interest so I started looking up SC pros online. I knew the game was big in Korea, but I had no idea it was THAT big. For example, the most popular player there 'Boxer' has a fan club of arond 600,000 people. He even released a DVD of replays of his greatest matches (wtf). I attatched a picture of the final match of one of their competitions. Omg, it looks like they're there for a concert, not to watch two dudes play a video game. Who knew an entire country could be entirely populated by super-nerds.

Attached Images

SkyProLeagueFinal.jpg (87.1 KB, 17 views)

It may seem "super-nerdish" at first, but if you get into it you may quickly grow respect for how big is it in Korea. There are now leagues, similar to... sports teams, that play against each other, and as a result it's easier for sponsors to sponsor leagues than individual players.

The league system has turned professional SC into really more of a mainstream sport.

Watch some of the videos here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/view...topic_id=50875 to see how good players are.

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No matter how much I would ever get into it it will always be nerdy to me. Sure I respect that they put a lot of time and I guess effort into it, but something where people sit around at a computer screen right clicking for hours should never be called a sport. A competition sure.

Anyways I'm not here to argue with you, just giving my two cents on it. Those players definitely are talented and some of them make more than I ever will I'm sure.

Maybe I can randomly become uber good at SC2 for no reason at all and compete for money? *fingers crossed*

yeah right, I'll try to... but no promise!
I'll just be pro at something else and stay amateur on gaming.

I'm from China and I can only speak a little English...
There are also some pro players in China such as "BeT.Legend(Protoss)" "[SvS]Chinatttt(Terran)""MYM)F91(Zerg)""Super(Terran)"" GP).Eva(Zerg)""PJ(Protoss)"...
"Bet.Legend" are paid 7,000 yuan every month.Every Pro Team are supported by some company such as Intel,AMD_ATI,aigo...
Some of the top players had been to Korea to develop their playing in starcraft.
Although they are the best players in China,they still have a little chance to win when they are playing with Koreans top players.
Koreans wins 1st 2nd and 3rd prize in WCG every year.Chinese players had won 4th prize for 2 times.
OSL(Ongamenet star league) MSL,Superfight,STL are the most famours competations.
Now the best players(I think) are Bisu[Sheild] Ipxzerg Nada July Iloveoov Nal_ra Boxer [Oops]Reach.You can see their performance in WCG this year in USA.
At last,I'd like to make friends with all starcraft fans. I'm poor in English Forgive me...