It recently came to my attention, although i've always kind of known it, that people don't quit starcraft like they quit other games. When I quit mario, quit katamari damacy, quit counterstrike or whatever it may be, it was something very different from whenever i or anyone 'quit' starcraft. Here at UC Riverside i constantly meet people who used to play starcraft. I bring it up, mention some of the units and how cool they are, suggest that they play, and then they do. They say "hey i kind of feel like playing now" and then theyre back into the game. What is it about starcraft that keeps drawing people back. What is it that when I see it on my shelf one day, I feel like reinstalling it and getting into it again. Ive looked at my Ocarina of Time game many times in the same way i did my starcraft cd, but i never had the same kind of longing I did when i looked at starcraft.
What is it about starcraft?
Maybe, just maybe, it's just that freaking good of a game. People call it the best rts of all time, but if it was only the best rts, then why can't we feel the same way about other games like ocarina of time, counterstrike, or goldeneye or anything we could call the best of its genre. Is it possible, perhaps, that starcraft isnt just the best rts of all time but the best game of all time? On online websites they all put SCBW somewhere, but at the top no one ever really wants to put SC there. But honestly, what other game has this kind of effect? Starcraft: Brood Wars. Honestly its not even that great of a name. A name like Oblivion. thats a name worthy of best game ever. But anyways Im really curious. What is it about Starcraft?
It's kind of beautiful to me though. Starcraft, because of this trait, has the ability to bring people together. At least here in California where there is such a huge population of asians, I feel like Starcraft unites people. there are total strangers i meet all the time here on campus and its just so easy to bring up an interesting conversation. "Hey im a part of the UCR Starcraft team, have you played starcraft before?" Most of the asian strangers that i talk to would say "yea, a long time ago". and I always follow the same way. "thats great man, you dont have to be great, if you enjoy starcraft, then play starcraft! come play with us itll be some fun." And it works o.o
No other game has this power. I cant think of a single other game where I could say "hey remember gta III? wasnt that fun? we should play that!" nope.
Im not even sure the reasoning of why its impossible to truly quit starcraft. But one thing about this issue is kind of encouraging to me. This concept, the concept that starcraft is impossible to truly quit from - it encourages me that Starcraft will live on forever. If Starcraft keeps this power and Starcraft II doesnt have it. I have hope in a Starcraft future.
P.S. Im not REALLY a SC2 hater, just a skeptic and a pessimist.
I basically repeat this cycle a lot. I'll quit cause I realize I suck and have hit my skill level limit. I realize I don't *really* understand whats going on while in game and just kind of macro. So it's not really fun for me, so I quit. Then I'll just watch a bunch of random pl games and like..genuinely feel like I understand whats going on and the timings and things, and then say hey, I can do this shit. So I'll play again, rinse and repeat. I honestly think it proves I'm either psychotic or retarded to go through this over and over.
to me.. it's mainly cuz of progaming. i don't follow counterstrike progaming or anything.. for starcraft.. they have actual TEAMS that gets PAID like LOTS of $$ and broadcasted regularly... so i cant stay away and must watch the lives... then watching the lives makes me want to play
Truly quit? As in never play or check results again? Yeah I could do that. I'd need another time sink/hobby though to kill the extra hours. And until a better one comes along I'll stick with SC.
I think it's quite simple. You have, the addicting qualities of a game (That's extremely strategically rich and deep), a competitive ladder that makes it seem like there IS no end and you can play indefinitely, and finally having the atmosphere of a real, competitive, solid, sport (With its own rich history filled with legends and epic stories) with a very active/interactive community (Again with its own rich history) to facilitate and reinforce all this... and you have starcraft.
I don't play starcraft:broodwar anymore but I do miss it. Just yesterday I had friends asking me to reinstall the game and play.
When SC2 comes out I'll be back and so will my friends. We hope to be involved in more Bay Area California community events. I'm really excited to see this community grow once the new game drops.
So I guess I truly did quit playing broodwar. That doesn't mean I'll stop following starleagues foreign or pro.
It's not the game so much as it's the people playing the game... that's my experience from games anyway. That's why you'll quit games like Ocarina of Time easily -- it has no online mode and well, when a game gets old enough, people will stop talk about it and move on to discuss a newer game.
As for games with a big community like SC or CS, it's so much harder to quit. It took me 8 years to quit Unreal Tournament completely, and the reason was my friends stopped playing. Cus let's face it -- after playing a game for such a long time, you're not playing it for the game itself but for the people you came to know and are good friends with, who share the same 'hobby' as you.
As for SC, I have just played it for 2-3 years, and I never been in a clan, so it doesn't have the same effect on me as UT had. I just play it sometimes when I feel like it, but usually the people I play with are nice even though I don't always know them, so the human factor is a big part of keeping my interest for SC alive.
On February 06 2010 09:39 Zoler wrote: No it is impossible.
Starcraft is the best game and if you ever get into the community. You cannot leave it. For life.
we come for the game but stay for the community, and it really is hard to leave.
I'd wager 1/4 of us don't even play anymore, at least not really.
Actually I'd say 2/4 or even 3/4 sadly
I don't play that often (maybe a few games once a month, sometimes going a few months with no games) but I don't feel like that means I don't play anymore. It just means that I either don't have anyone I feel like playing with, or that I'm busy. SC is still my game of choice.
I think the fact that people make a big deal about leaving StarCraft shows they've never really left it. Only way to leave StarCraft is to slowly drift away from it because you'd rather do something else.
Personally, I distracted myself with other things, school work, friends, etc. I never stopped browsing TL though. It's just like... since SC is so time consuming, with such a skill curve, if you never have excessive free time, and you stop playing for a month or so, you'll be so much worse than you used to be. That's what diminished my motivation to play... I was playing at D-- level.
I stopped playing a few months ago, just occasionally logging on ICC, realizing that I suck and logging off again after getting stomped one or two times. But TL I visit almost everyday, either to just check some results or when I'm bored watching a couple of VODs.
It's impossible to truly quit starcraft, at least for me, because starcraft is not only a game, starcraft is a group of friends i met in real life, a bunch of websites i used to browse every day (and some i do still browse like this one), an average of 10 replays per day, and 10.000 names of players still going through my mind. And for me starcraft was even more than that, it was a period of my life (now i think is more than 9 years), a lot of dreams about the perfect match i would've eventually been able to play, or about a tournament i would've been able to win, about my parents trying to prevent me from getting addicted (how much they were right....)I have too many memories related to this game to be able to erase it completely from my life.
Now i'm living abroad, and it's a lot i've not been playing, but i'm sure that as I'll get back home I will run starcraft, maybe just to whatch a replay, or maybe to deceive myself one more time that I will eventually become a good player.
Shit I don't even know why i'm writing this to anybody's else blog, it's late here and I'm a little drunk
EPT
