Seoul Grandmother Defeats Three Teenagers In A Starcraft Match, Coaches Them Afterwards, They Offer To Pay For Dinner

Mrs. Park, 71, A Retired Banker, Has Played Starcraft For Twenty-Four Years, Mains Protoss, Does Not Apologise

Reported for Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Mrs. Park Jin-hee, 71, a retired banker and Starcraft Brood War player of 24 years standing, defeated three teenage opponents in consecutive ladder matches at a PC bang in the Hongdae district on Saturday afternoon, coached the teenagers through their errors in a 35-minute post-match discussion, and was subsequently offered dinner by the group, which she accepted. The dinner, at a nearby dakgalbi restaurant, lasted two hours. Mrs. Park paid for her own portion, over the teenagers’ objections.

The Matches

Mrs. Park, per her account, plays Starcraft Brood War approximately three evenings a week at a PC bang approximately twenty minutes’ walk from her apartment in Yongsan. She mains Protoss. She has, she said, played “the same build order, with minor variations, since approximately 2004”, which she characterised as “a classic Reaver-based Corsair-supported late-game approach” that remains, per competitive analysis on specialised Korean forums, broadly valid.

The three teenagers, aged 17, 16, and 17, had, per the PC bang’s attendant, been “the strongest players in the shop” for approximately six weeks. Mrs. Park matched against the first at 2:14 p.m. The game ran 27 minutes. She won. She matched against the second at 3:04 p.m. The game ran 19 minutes. She won. She matched against the third at 4:02 p.m. The game ran 41 minutes and included, per the third teenager’s account, “approximately twelve moments where I was, in retrospect, actually ahead”. She won.

The Coaching

The 35-minute post-match discussion was, per the teenagers’ subsequent reports on a Korean gaming forum, “extremely valuable”. Mrs. Park identified, in each of the three players, a specific strategic weakness. To the 17-year-old who had played Zerg, she noted that his macro was “strong but undisciplined, in the manner of a player who is imitating Flash without having built the underlying habit first”. To the 16-year-old who had played Terran, she recommended reviewing “the 2012 ProLeague season’s Mech builds”. To the other 17-year-old, who had played Protoss, she said simply: “Your probe management is bad. Fix that first.”

A Cultural Context

The story has, per the reporter’s tracking, been circulating on Korean gaming forums since Saturday evening. The Korea Times picked it up Monday. Mrs. Park has, since Saturday, been asked to coach by four additional players, all of whom she has, politely, declined.

A Parallel Noted

Mrs. Park’s story is consistent with The London Prat’s recurring interest in the individual keeping the system operational while the institutions around the system prepare their own reports. The teenagers, in this case, are the report; Mrs. Park is the system.

The Dinner

The dinner’s dakgalbi was, per all four participants, excellent. Mrs. Park has, she said, no plans to play against the three teenagers again this week. They have her phone number.

More: NewsThump. SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/