Docile... Fingers?

Foucault argues that discipline creates 'docile bodies', which can be more commonly applied to things like the military, education and factory work. However, there is an unorthodox career that fulfills the constructs given by his theory. Very intense, rigorous training happens for upwards of ten to twelve hours a day various institutions that cater to this specific career. People travel from all over the world to this specific place in order to receive the best training, teaching a multitude of techniques in order to fill their war chests. This, and all of their training is generally self-regulated and isn't heavily 'enforced' or thrown onto them. They do this because they want to do this. What is the career?

Playing Starcraft II professionally.

There are various articles and even amazing (I'm using it somewhat loosely), video of people playing this game. Most of us can type with an admirable pace with enough accuracy to get us through the day. With our limber fingers, we could probably click around the screen (with intent), around fifty to one hundred times. Those numbers seem fairly average. Nothing to much to scoff at. If we combine them, it'd probably average out to be around fifty or so actions per minute (clicks of the mouse and keys typed, simultaneously almost). According to this video and several articles, the average professional Starcraft player has an APM (actions per minute) north of three hundred, just falling short of four hundred. This is their body practice.

General American culture would not label Starcraft as a sport. Football, Basketball, Hockey, etc. Those are sports. However, this is a culture that widely accepts playing this very game as a sport, with APMs being the equivalent of running yards, free throw percentage and pucks blocked. In Korea, where this is essentially their national sport, professional players are placed on a pedestal and are treated very much like any athlete here in America; Fawned, renowned and regarded the very same.

Some could even argue that this career is a pursuit without terminus. Strategies evolve, gameplay gets patched, things get buffed/debuffed (stronger/weaker), and eventually expansions or continuations are created and a whole new metagame is created. All an endless cycle with the body practice of pointing and clicking in order to create docile bodies.

For a nice read about Starcraft II as a career, try: http://www.cracked.com/article_18763_5-insane-true-facts-about-starcraft-professional-sport.html