European powerhouse, Fnatic, recently signed an agreement with Hui-Chul "Garfield" Jung that would see him working as the organizations general manager in Korea. Jung is a former employee of SK, NiP and more recently Lunatic-Hai where he played various roles in management. However, with his signing to Fnatic, he is about to undertake his biggest job and we knew little about him until now.

Hi, Hui-Chul "Garfield" Jung. Can you tell us about your childhood, school and how you came to play computer games?
Hi Andrew pleasure to meet you :). Well actually I was born, and raised in Germany. Furthermore I graduated high-school there before moving to Korea, due to study. Guess it might be easier to think of me, as just an ordinary student, who just loves E-Sports and the competition.

Computer Games? Hmm..I used to play a lot FIFA and NBA but one day, a couple of friends were playing Counter-Strike, and I joined them, as well, even though I was really bad.

What is your favorite game of all time? Is it an esports game or something entirely different?
Commander Keen was really amazing, and it’s still fun to play. Besides, I would go for CS and Kart Rider (a casual racing game in Korea)

Which of the “esports games” do you prefer?
I actually prefer watching all esports games. I mean they are all exciting and fun to watch but if I had to pick one, I would stick with CS1.6.

What do you do on a “normal day” and how much of that day is dedicated to playing games or games related work?
I usually wake up, take a shower and get some breakfast. Afterwards, I read some news, and go to university. After university, I’m mostly working for fnatic, meeting my girlfriend or just hanging out with mal (Lunatic-Hai Team-Captain) or some other university buddies. Boring, isn’t it?

In 2005 you lived in Germany to work as a marketing assistant at SK Gaming. Before this move, how were you involved in esports?
Like I mentioned above, I was born in Germany, and thereby, was always involved in the German e-sports community, but back then, it was all about fun. Just playing gathers and trying prevent 10 consecutive games in a league. SK-Gaming was actually my “first” semi-professional experience. I learned a lot while working for them, and after my time in SK, it was pretty much clear that I would love to remain in this business.

What did you do during your time at SK? Which, if any, big announcements at SK were due to your work?
Unfortunately None, I guess. It was a whole new experience to work in such an environment, so almost everything was new to me and I really had to learn a lot, in order to be helpful. I mean I did interpretation for Zacard during his stay in Germany, as well as in Korea. I also took care of the partnership reports but overall, I wasn’t able to contribute, as much as I expected from myself, and that's actually something I really feel sorry about. The only remarkable work I’ve done was actually a coverage of the WEG#2 Korea qualifier.

Do you speak German? Would you live in Germany again or are you happy back in Korea?
German is actually my native language. Of course, and I’ll go back to Germany in two or three years, depending on my study. Don’t get me wrong, Korea is a great place to live with a lot of lovely people, but Germany is the place, I feel home.

Did your time in Germany have a big effect on your esports career?
Definitely. I mean Europe, especially, has become an opinion-leader on this market. ESL is providing the Germans with a great competitive league infrastructure, there are TV-Broadcasters, but most importantly, E-Sports in Europe isn't partial. They provide a great platform for all types of games contrary to Korea, which only provides an amazing Starcraft platform. Thereby, to learn from and work with people, who have been actively contributing to this market over the years, has been an irreplaceable experience.

How much of an effect did your time in Germany have on your life outside of esports?
As I said, for me Germany is the place I feel most comfortable. Although my origin is Korea, Germany is the place I feel home. E-Sports only was an integral part of it.

Esports in Europe is different to that in Korea, what do you think is the biggest difference?
I think it's pretty hard to examine "biggest" difference, because Europe and Korea are two completely different cultures, thereby it would take too long to compare each and every aspect of both markets. From my point of view, I think two things are aggravating different. Firstly, the procedure of becoming a professional player, I'm referring to those who earn money by playing games, and secondly, the competitive infrastructure, briefly competitive leagues.

Korea has without doubt, a lot of top-gamers in various games (excluding Starcraft), but if you look closer, expect those players, who are contracted to international organizations, none of the Korean gamers are earning money. To be more specific, none of them benefit financially, by playing games. E-STRO, is in fact, the only gaming organization in Korea, which is supported by a national sponsor. In Germany, or Europe, a lot of teams are able to pay their players. Due to that, many potential hot-prospects in Korea stop their careers, because they simply lack support. Secondly, Korea doesn’t have any stable league systems, besides Starcraft. Thus meaning, there is no platform to promote your sponsors, partners and build up a fanbase.

I’m not saying that European E-Sports is better, but it’s a pity that Korea missed to improve its infrastructure. Once Korea was the crop of cream in E-Sports, but now they’ve become “one” great E-Sport nation, among many others.

You have recently been announced as Fnatic’s Korean General Manager, what exactly is your role?
I will build up a platform for our Korean users and our sponsors. Last year, we had a great year, based on success and promotion in Korea, and it was too bad that we could not use it efficiently. My job will be to make sure that those things won’t happen again. Furthermore, I will also support our Warcraft 3 Players.

Although working in Korea, you will be working for a European organization. Does this make your job any more difficult in Korea?
No, actually, it feels pretty good to work for a European organization again.

At the moment, how big is Fnatic in Korea? Is its brand size comparable to any of the professional Starcraft teams?
Fnatic, the brand itself, is very popular among gamers. We’ve been featured on newspapers,TV and, our CS1.6 team has been doing PR-tours for Korean games (Point Blank and A.V.A) but we aren’t as popular as a professional Starcraft team. To be honest, on the Korean e-sports market nothing is as popular as Starcraft.

How do you intend to grow the brand in Korea?
It will take time, but we got a plan and I’m pretty sure that we are going to stick to this plan. Enough said.

As far as I know, Fnatic is the first European organization to have a member of staff working in Korea to strengthen their brand. Does this place extra pressure on you?
No. If I wouldn’t believe in this project, maybe I would feel pressure, but honestly I do, and our management supports me in each and every aspect.

At the moment it appears that SK Gaming has monopolized the “esports news” market here in Europe. Now that Fnatic has a base to work from in Korea, therefore providing unrivalled access to the Korean community, will you aim to regain a share of the market?
No, not at this point. Of course market share is very important, but for now, our highest priority is to provide our fans and gamers with the content, they’re asking for. This will be our biggest challenge.

Perhaps Fnatic will create a European news site in Korea?
A homepage will be available, but it’s hasn’t been decided yet, what types of content we are going to publish.

Do you think a community website an important part of an esport’s brand? Will it play an important role in your work?
Yes. In order to enter a new market, you always need to adopt and consider cultural elements to/in your strategies. You need to ask yourself “How can we convince the people, entering and using our site”. Korea has the highest PC/broadband penetration worldwide; therefore, a community website is one of the most important tools to communicate with your fans, visitors and potential customers.

Korea has a much larger infrastructure than Europe; will this lead to a lot more face-to-face promotion than one might expect in Europe?
We will see what happens in the future. We are already working on some exciting features.

What have you been doing during your first week at Fnatic? Has it been more challenging than your work with the likes of SK, NiP and Lunatic-Hai?
Exciting?  I mean I met a lot of people for the first time thereby it was really exciting. I also worked on a gross roadmap for Q4 2009.