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ElkY: I think video games are popular because they're so easy to play. You can play from anywhere, with all your friends. That's why [eSports are] so popular in South Korea. You don't have much space there to play soccer or to have a soccer field or anything like that—that's why [eSports] got so popular in the first place. But it will become more popular in the future, especially with Twitch. You can all watch on your phone, play games on your phone—everybody's connected all the time, so it's the future, I think.It's like a snowball effect. With League of Legends, we all play this game—everybody's playing, so it's like, "Come, play with us!" You're not going to play a game on your own. It's free, anybody can make an account—it's accessible to everyone. It's on the internet now and it's a team game, five against five, so it's really fun to play with your friends. It's kind of like poker, there are so many possibilities—it's never the same cards, never the same game. There are 150 characters, and my favorite is the Phantom Assassin, so there are many different possibilities. You can buy things to progress faster or unlock characters or play better. It's always changing.
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When you play these eSports now, in a team, are your teammates of the same pro standard that you used to be?"If people are going to be violent and crazy, they are going to do it no matter what—it's not because they are playing video games."
My friends I play in a team with are not all pro gamers! The caliber in gaming is really high. To be one of the best, you have to play all the time, especially now—because it's so popular, the players are so good. It's not possible to be the best at poker and video games too, because it takes too much practice—I don't have the energy! There are so many strategies to react to, so you have to practice a lot to win.
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Some people blame video games for violence and kids getting fat, but I don't think that's true. Playing video games doesn't make you obese. It's more diet—that's the number one factor, that and lifestyle. We live in cities much more [than we do the country], and everything is automatic now. We do fewer physical activities and a lot less in day-to-day life. Transport is getting so much better—everything is getting easier and technology is helping us in so many ways. So I think it's that, and the fact that we eat unhealthier food than before. Also, now you can find food everywhere, especially in London, at any time of day—it's too convenient; you have to have self-control!If people are going to be violent and crazy, they are going to do it no matter what—it's because they are that way in the first place, it's not because they are playing video games. I think people always try to blame the newest thing, the thing they don't really understand. That's why video games are blamed for violence and obesity.
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People think gamers are unhealthy, but I do CrossFit, weight training, and I love to run. I ran a 10k when I was a pro gamer in Korea and I would love to run a marathon. So far, the furthest I have run is 18k.If you're out of shape or you eat the wrong food or too much of it, it's really bad for your focus—you feel sluggish, and you get tired faster. It's not that you're going to play better when you're in good shape, but you're going to play closer to your A-game.Sometimes I fast. If healthy food isn't available, then fasting is definitely better than eating crap, but there are other benefits too—I find my focus is better and I have more energy. I can be a little obsessive, so if I'm really focused on the game and I'm using all my mental energy for it, I'm not hungry. Now I'm used to fasting, I really like it. I don't usually fast on workout days, but it doesn't matter much if I do. My performance will not be as great, but I'm not training for performance, I'm training to be healthy and in good physical condition.Sleep is so important, too. It's probably the number one most important thing for preparation. Missing out on sleep is counter productive—it won't make you a better player.
What was it like living in Korea?"I miss the competitive gaming scene. I want to get back into video games."
I always loved video games and back then it was basically only in Korea that you could play video games for a living, so I decided to do it—I moved to Korea.
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I haven't played games professionally for a while and I miss the competitive gaming scene. I want to get back into video games now because it's so big, and I also started doing it on Twitch. People in poker have also got into Twitch, and they have music—they are going to expand into everything. You can do whatever you want, basically, as there's so much freedom. Video games are so popular, it's crazy—Twitch has 100,000,000 visitors a month. You can engage with your audience a lot because you're broadcasting and they can talk to you via a chat box. They're like, "Hey, high five!" and you're like, "Hey, high five!" So you can interact with them and it's really fun and you can tell them what you're thinking about.With poker you can talk through what you're doing, so, "With this hand I'm doing that because I think the guy is playing tight," or if I think a guy is bluffing, I can explain everything I'm doing. The only slight problem with poker is that obviously you're playing a tournament for money, so there's like a four-minute delay. When they ask a question, about what they see on the screen, it's what happened four minutes ago, usually. With gaming you can do it live, so it's much more fun—they ask me questions and I reply straight away.Follow Samantha Rea on Twitter.