Korea - The Hyperbolic Time Chamber

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. In Dragonball Z, a year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber was equivalent to a day outside of it, and the gravity was many times greater than Earth, making it the perfect training environment to increase your personal skills and ability. Goku and friends would often use the Chamber in anticipation of a great challenge, be it Cell or Majin Buu. As we get closer to Worlds, more and more LCS teams head to Korea for practice against the region's best teams. But what is it about Korea that is attracting all these professional teams, and what is it about the Korean scene that has people thinking of it as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber of the esports world?

Work Hard, Be the Best

We often think that Koreans are the best players in the World. But it’s not a mystery that the reasons of Korean dominance in esports is more related to Korean culture and work ethic than their ethnicity. PC Gaming is so ingrained into Korean culture that you will find PC Bangs (LAN Cafes) in Seoul about as often as you find Starbucks on the streets of downtown Seattle. You can find PC bangs like this all over Seoul Korean players have packed schedules where teams scrim upwards of eight hours per day. In addition to their intense scrimming, they also watch tape, discuss strategy and play solo and duo queue. They also get a limited amount of free time, but even during that, players are expected to play League of Legends for the lion’s share of it. Overall, a Korean pro gamer can be expected to play League about 12-14 hours per day. Players sign up for this type of environment because (most of them) have a burning desire to be the best players in the world. But the adaptation of Korean culture isn’t exclusive to native Koreans. There have been many recent examples of Western players living in Korea to improve their skills. StarCraft II giants TeamLiquid famously sent most of their roster to train in Korea in 2010. Players such as HuK, TLO, Ret, HayprO, and Jinro had great success back in the West, often winning major championships, and some went as far as the semifinals of the Korean GSL (the most elite Korean league at the time), despite Korean players making up greater than 95% of the tournament field. Liquid sent many Western players to Korea for several months to improve However for many of these players, their skill did not endure when they went back to the US and Europe, and their dominance soon faded. Similarly, CLG and CLG.EU lived in Korea for months and competed in early seasons of OGN Champions. Collectively, the CLG teams went as far as 2nd place in OGN - the best a non-Korean team has done in OGN Champions in its history. After CLG’s return to the United States, they soon found themselves behind Team SoloMid in nearly all tournaments, both domestic and international. Both of these examples demonstrate that it is culture, environment, and dedication that make a great pro, and not their birth place or nationality. Both Korean and Western players have historically improved their gameplay by living and training in Korea. However in most cases, this ability faded shortly thereafter. More on this later.

Counter Logic Thinking

More recently, Counter Logic Gaming decided to return to Korea to train in the weeks leading up to the NA LCS Summer Playoffs. OGN host and CLG team mom Susie Kim was asked by CLG to assist in their transition to Korea and oversaw their entire stay in Korea. “I volunteered in helping CLG; not only am I a fan, but I’m very good friends with MonteCristo their coach. The evening that CLG arrived, Monte had to cast, so I went out to the airport to get them and then just kinda ended up helping around with other stuff… mainly contacting Korean teams for scrims and arranging the schedules.” The goal of CLG’s trip to Korea was to enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber as it were - scrimming against teams regarded to be the best in the world, to dramatically (and quickly) improve their gameplay. Although she wouldn’t comment on the specific teams CLG played, Kim said, “[CLG] got very good practice and learned a lot from the teams they scrimmed.” Internal issues were unfortunately on public display in Chasing the Cup for CLG There was also a fortunate side effect to their trip to Korea. Prior to going, their team synergy and personality issues were on display for the world to see. But Korea may have done more than just make them better players. “I think more so than the scrims versus Korean teams, [going to Korea] gets teams out of their comfort zones. They are experiencing something completely new (for most players) but they are doing it together - and that bonding experience is surprisingly important,” Kim explained. “I think teams will learn new strategies, but also more about one another too, helping grow team synergy.” So did CLG's Korean training environment differ from their American one? “The boys were in close quarters all the time which I think as really good for team-building,” Kim said. “Since no one had their own room, if there was conflict, there was no space for them to hide away in; the boys ended up learning how to communicate with one another which is essential in and out of the game.” CLG believed their time in Korea would put them in a better place for Regionals, but it didn’t seem to be worth the trip. They clearly returned with a greater sense of strategy, but their synergy problems remained. They went to Korea and came back with a bunch of new toys, but forgot the instruction manuals in Seoul. In the end, they were swept by Curse in short order. While the Hyperbolic Time Chamber didn’t immediately pay off for CLG, how will it work out for other teams?

Trend Setting

There is the question as to whether the Korean training environment is for everyone. “It’s a good concept,” Kim says. “Of course you want your team to train with the best in the world! Especially since the event is going to be in Korea and surrounding countries, it’s good for the players to overcome jet lag and be comfortable in their given time zone before competing.” Other teams feel the same way as CLG and Susie Kim. Sources have disclosed that several Western teams, including Alliance, Fnatic, SK Gaming, Team SoloMid, and Cloud9, are interested spending time in Korea before the Worlds group stages in late September. It’s possible that Kim will help them out as well. “I’ve been contacted by a few different teams from both NA and EU about helping them when they get to Korea. I decided that I might go ahead and help one or two more.”

Why the Change in Commitment?

While it’s a recognized fact that many Western teams “boot camp” before major events, its a mystery exactly how much that differs from their regular practice schedules, and why that difference exists. This work ethic was reportedly called into question by Evil Geniuses jungler Helios recently, when he complained that some of his teammates didn't spend nearly enough time honing their skills in Solo Q. This lack of practice reflected poorly on their devotion to pro gaming, he said. (And for what it's worth, that complaint motivated EG top laner Innox to take action, stating, "it was an issue that was addressed and I have been playing more solo queue.") CLG discussed a variety of topics on the True LoL Show “I don't know about commitment but there's a bit of truth to it,” Kim said. “Seraph said something similar on the True LoL Show, that western players don't practice nearly as much as the Korean players do. I think it's a difference in work ethic. I'm sure Western players are committed, yes (I mean, they have to be, it's their jobs!) but Helios' comment does resonate with me a bit.” Kim believes this calls back to Korean culture. As a native Korean who has spent many years in the States and traveled to Europe frequently for esports events, she has a unique perspective. “I think culturally, Korean people tend to go hardcore into things more. They (We?) have addictive personalities and it’s been instilled in us that we need to be the best at whatever it is that we are doing, so if you apply that mentality to gaming, it makes sense.” Susie Kim doing translations for Travis Gafford & OnGamers for All-Star Paris 2014 Why does the increased work ethic and gameplay skill quickly dissipate after leaving Korea? Logically, it would make sense that teams who have visited Korea would bring that sense of work ethic back to the US and Europe, but Kim doesn’t believe that the magic of Korea can be recreated so easily. When asked whether the Korean training environment can be replicated outside of Korea, she said: “Hm… I’m going to say no. The whole idea of coming to Korea in the first place, hypes up the players. Just knowing that they are in the same environment as some of the greatest players and teams in the world drives NA/EU players to practice harder. It’s the expectation that Korea brings that helps fuel people.” At the heart of the issue is the work ethic and desire to improve. Korea seems to do a lot to improve people’s work ethics, because of the culture and environment, but those skills only last as long as the work ethic persists. As demonstrated by the CLG example, a short stint in Korea does not make a team better. While a team does improve by playing against better teams for prolonged periods of time, the amount of improvement is relative to time spent. So is Korea a Hyperbolic Time Chamber? No. In the real world, and the esports one, only hard work and dedication makes a champion. Nothing can substitute for it - not even Korea. Frank Fields is a Senior Web Content Coordinator for Riot Games. You'll find him in solo queue on Ahri trying to DFG charm his way back into Diamond, or on Twitter where he'd love to talk to you about esports.

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