Social worker wins 'Tekken 7' global contest

Son Byeong-mun, a 30-year-old social welfare worker in Seoul, poses after winning the finals of video fighting game “Tekken 7” contest during the G-Star 2017 game expo in Busan, Sunday. / Courtesy of Actoz Soft

By Yoon Sung-won

BUSAN — With skills accumulated through experience and an innate sense of action, a video game master doesn’t necessarily have to be a full-time professional player to win a global championship.

Son Byeong-mun, a 30-year-old social welfare worker in Seoul, proved this by clinching the victory at an international e-sports competition for fighting game “Tekken 7” during the G-Star 2017 game exhibition in Busan, Sunday.

Son, who is better known by his nickname “Qudans” among fighting game fans around the world, defeated Alexandre Laverez from the Philippines 6:0 at the finals of the World Esports Games & Leagues (WEGL) Tekken 7 Super Fight: Last Standing. The event was organized by Actoz Soft on the sidelines of the game expo.

Son said he hopes for more diverse major e-sports events to be held for fighting games on the global stage, reviving the popularity of the genre.

“In the earliest days of e-sports, fighting games hadn’t been at the center stage. At that time, computer online games such as StarCraft dominated the love of all game fans here. Fighting games, which were mostly played at arcades, continued to lose ground,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times.

“Though it is not enough, the situation is getting better recently with the diversifying landscape of the e-sports scene reaching out to fighting games such as Tekken 7 as well. From the heated responses from visitors at the WEGL finals, we think I saw a glimpse of hope there.”

Son started playing fighting games at arcades when he was a high school student. He clinched his first victory at an international fighting game contest in a U.S. competition at the age of 19. He bagged about 30 victories over the following three years.

“As a part-time gamer, I rely on the experiences and memories of my best times in the past,” he said. “I don’t consider myself a professional gamer. Still, I always try to stick to my philosophy in playing games. I spend much time in setting a competitive mindset before starting a competition.”

Son has been working for the last four years as a manager at a community child center under Gangbuk-gu Office in Seoul. His role is to teach children from underprivileged families through public after-school programs.

“I invited young students I teach and my colleagues at work to the finals event in Busan. It was a meaningful and entertaining experience to show my favorite interest to the people close to me,” Son said.