The Daum OSL from 2007 (GGPlay vs Iris in the finals) had the following prize money:
1st place cash prize: 43,668 $US
2nd place cash prize: 21,834 $US
Of course 30k means something but the thing is that in Korea the field of competition is much bigger and since it's clear to them that Koreans will do best they don't see much of a chance to win this. Then they also see that they have to travel quite far in order to play there, they also know that it's definitely not as professional as the Korean leagues and they see the big evil named "bo1" combined with K.O. system and they'll probably tell themselves "Why should I do this? It's a lot of work and my chances are too small!"
So only if they get some lucky wins in the qualification they'll change their mind and travel all the way there to the WCG and try their best since it's just 3 Koreans left, that's much better!
Tell me why would they start practicing those maps before the qualification is over? They play on their own maps anyway so what's the gain? Right nothing, and since they believe that they probably won't lose to foreigners they aren't afraid of playing those unknown maps for 1-2 days and then just walk over everyone until they have to K.O. each other.
They see no gain in practicing those maps. If one progamer is motivated enough to focus on practicing for the WCG ok that's his own beer but why should the rest do the same?
Even if the prize money is ok all the other circumstances put together make it not worth to put so much effort into the WCG when they see good chances of getting 2nd or 3rd at least anyway which is good enough for them considering how much more they're focusing on Korean events.
I was exaggerating when I said WCG means nothing to them, but it definitely means much less to them than you believe.
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Do you think more events between the Korean pro-scene and the foreign community should be organized? (Example: Spirit Tournament, World-Wide Invitiational) (873 votes)
Yes, it will help both communities grow stronger!
(74%)
Yes, but it will do very little for both communities or help only one of the two
1
