You know how Korean male needs to serve in the army, and it’s mandatory for all male unless you have a serious, chronical medical issue. Kudos to North Korean dictatorship administration, Korean male needs to spend 2 years (which is shortened a bit nowadays) completely shut from modern civilization during their best, energetic time of their lives (normally from 19 to 25 unless you have a solid reason to postpone).
Despite the honor of protecting your country, the truth is, (most) everyone hates it. It’s not hard to find a Korean male speaking of his military time in a subtle condescending tone with a bit of cynicism too when speaking to a fellow military goer. It is such a big deal when the public finds out about a hot celebrity or a famous political figure has not served the army (especially for a fishy reason), and the targeted public wrath is sometime just too overwhelming. Having learned the lessons, the idol celebrity producers and labels nowadays make sure to put their precious members on hiatus when it’s time to go serve the military, no matter how famous they are — We have seen all the Big Bang members going in like G.Dragon and Top. Putting patriotism aside for now, just imagine the great loss of economic value and the cost of being off the scene for two years and trying to come back in shape once the duty is served..
Perhaps not as famous as Big Bang and not the kind of stardom that they have built, but the esports star players has the same fate as any other Korean male citizens. As we know, the competitive gaming scene is extremely competitive — they may debut in early age like early 10s but they also retire early compared to other industry, mid to late 20s are usually the considered retirement age for Starcraft. Yes, it sounds closer to a professional figure skate scene. So 2 years in a military for a esports professional player is more or less of a death sentence to his career.
So what happened? As the title implies, the Korean government established a “special force” just for these esports professionals!
More detail to follow later.
Just eSports 