| Lee Young-ho, a StarCraft pro-gamer, plays the real-time strategy game during the final round of this year's Afreeca Star League 2, at Yonsei University in Seoul, Jan. 22. / Courtesy of AfreecaTV |
By Lee Min-hyung
The nation's most successful StarCraft gamer Lee Young-ho has a ton of confidence to pull off a sweeping victory against an artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer in possible matches of the real-time strategy game.
“On a real-time basis, StarCraft players can make hundreds of different decisions every second, which is the biggest difference from turn-based go matches,” Lee said in a recent interview.
“StarCraft is not all about unit and resource management, but more about an endless war of nerves against an opponent throughout the match. This is why I am sure of potentially beating the AI supercomputer in the game.”
The prediction comes amid growing attention here and abroad for the next AlphaGo matches, after the AI go player achieved a complete 3-1 victory against human champion Lee Se-dol last year.
The historic matches took the world by storm, as experts had predicted the almost “infinite” number of possible moves that can arise during a go match make it impossible for computerized systems to beat humans.
“I would say go is a more structured game than StarCraft,” he said. “This is because an AI system can watch the whole match processes with go, whereas it cannot collect data or information about what its human counterpart does in StarCraft.”
It is true that an AI supercomputer may be able to control hundreds of units at one time without any mistakes, by which humans cannot defeat the AI, he said.
“But that is just a part of the game,” said Lee. “Much more important is how to keep setting specific and opportune strategies in real-time.”
Google's DeepMind team has yet to unveil a specific schedule for the upcoming StarCraft versus human matches. But the AlphaGo developer remained upbeat over the next project, calling StarCraft a more challenging partner as it is the “pinnacle of one versus one competitive gaming.”
Second chapter of Lee's life
Lee debuted as a professional gamer in 2007 when he was only 16. He has since set an astonishing winning record by grabbing tens of titles in the nation's major televised and renowned StarCraft competitions.
Due to his dynamic yet systemic playing style, he is also commonly called by his nickname, the “ultimate weapon,” by his fans here and abroad.
He retired from his eight-year career in December 2015. After taking three-month break, Lee made a comeback as a content creator for the nation's largest real-time internet broadcasting platform, AfreecaTV.
“I have felt sorry for my fans, as I could not communicate with them during my professional gamer career,” he said. “My short-term goal is to have enough talks with them through AfreecaTV before I go to serve my 18-month military duty.”
The remark reflects that all able-bodied men aged 18 or older here are subject to a mandatory military service. Lee said he plans to apply for duty sometime in the next three years.
“This is not a huge hiatus for my career,” he said. “After serving my duty, I want to start a new career as a professional team coach or manager because it is realistically hard for me to continue to remain as a gamer.”
StarCraft was launched in 1998, and has led the nation's e-sports industry for about ten years. Since then, the game has slowly lost its luster due to burgeoning rivalry in the online game industry, with other online games such as League of Legends or Overwatch dethroning it.
“As long as we continue to play StarCraft, the game will continue to be loved by fans,” he said. “People have always said ‘StarCraft is over' whenever it lost its ground to other games and declined in popularity,” he said. “Even if there are no televised StarCraft leagues anymore, it moved to the internet platform. This proves so many people still enjoy the game.”
Lee is considered a second-generation gamer here, enjoying his heyday in the mid-to-late 2000s. The most successful first-generation players include Lim Yo-hwan and Hong Jin-ho who have changed careers and become TV entertainers after their retirement in the early 2010s.
“I do not have public speaking skills like them, so becoming an entertainer is not an option for my future,” he said. “I want to continue working in the game industry.”