EPTa couple months ago I posted a blog about how I felt sc:bw begin to slip away. (some people mistook that as a retirement thread...) When the sc2 beta was announced literally overnight it seemed like almost all the top foreign sc:bw players left sc1 immediately. pandamic shut down, tot shut down citing an increased focus on sc2 beta, mouz closed down (and then announced an sc2 lineup right away) friends of mine who had beta keys left sc1 literally overnight. Many other teams either reduced lineups or immediately withdrew from clan wars and other events to immediately focus on sc2. Overnight it went from me logging onto iccup having a friends list with 15 friends on at average to having 3-5 if I was lucky. from 20+ people hanging out in op tot) to like 5 on average if you were lucky. This immediately made me quite sad at the time. I saw something like this coming from over a year away and was one of the reasons I made sure to fully enjoy 2009 (one of the best years for foreign sc:bw ever) going to wcg usa, hosting monthly bw lans in my area, playing massively on iccup and in random tournaments here and there. massing for the TSL ladder. and generally just trying to enjoy the sc experience. meeting as many different people in the community I could and doing all I could for the community. It was a blast and totally epic, so many good times and fun moments in the past 1.5 years for me especially.
One thing that didn't immediately shut down overnight when the beta came out was CSL season 3. I coordinated a team for my university for CSL season 3, (George Mason University) and after losing last night to Cornell which eliminated us from playoff contention I can now say pretty confidently that I've truly played my last meaningful game of sc;bw. Unlike February though, I have no sad feelings whatsoever right now. In fact I feel happy to have been able to grow up with such an epic game. I'm so happy to have met so many amazing people and had so many amazing times though playing the game. If anything just talking about this stuff makes me feel nostalgic but definitely not sadness.
CSL is great. Everyone who puts work into making things possible deserves major kudos. Xeris, hazelynut, DarthThienan are just the three names that I know. there are so many others who put in a ton of work (writers, admins, refs, coordinators, division admins, web admins. the list goes on and on) the CSL took care of issues promptly, emails were replied to right away, refs were around to take care of issues. Overall to have a way to compete against other universites through starcraft is something that's really amazing and some 70 odd schools signed up for this season. To see such support and coverage is quite amazing and awesome and wouldn't be possible without alot of effort and work.
Regardless of what the future holds with starcraft 2 nothing will ever take away all the memories and epic times we had with sc:bw. VOD's of epic finals of various tournaments will always exist, memorable games, epic moments, all the friends I've made and met through playing, and all the communities I've been a part of will remain... regardless of what happens, the game itself will live on forever in memory of those who loved the game. And it will always be there to load up for an occasional game for old times sake. It will always be part of discussion and conversations... Nothing will take away these things which is very awesome and makes me glad to have been a part of it.
As I think and talk about past starcraft memories, it's noteworthy to announce I'm about to reach a milestone I never dreamed of. Starcraft 7 years in 7 minutes is nearing 500,000 unique views combined on the sites it's currently uploaded to. (Youtube and wegame) This is ridiculously amazing. I'm so proud to be part of the starcraft community and to see and hear stories of other people who love the game. hundreds of people have contacted me over the years via youtube, comments, emails, PM's, even through name recognition on bnet, telling me that because of that video (or other various things) they were inspired to continue playing following and loving the game of starcraft broodwar. I've been so fortunate to have an opportunity like this to experience and help promote the "life" of the starcraft community, the core, the major mass of fairly casual users who play purely for the love of the game. These kinds of players are what really allowed major tournaments, large coverage and all the various starcraft communities to simply exist. Top players practice so hard to showcase skill and epic moments for fans of the game to experience and enjoy. Fans were able to connect with different top players, the drama, the heartbreak, the shocking upsets or outcomes... All made possible by the masses of people who show support and love for the game. It's impossible to thank anyone individually from this group, but this goes out to everyone who's been inspired to continue playing starcraft, who's watched vods, who's enjoyed the game and have followed the scene for as long as they have... THANK YOU. Without the tens of thousands who care so much and are so passionate about the game nothing would be possible. Sponsoring prize tournaments, organizing events, everything is made possible by people working together.
As I take this sort of farewell moment, looking back at my starcraft playing days I have to thank some of the most influential people that I've run into over the years.
HmM.britney (also aka SexyMedic and various other aka's) for being one of my oldest friends on sc:bw. Many many nights spent over years and years and years discussing literally everything about starcraft and life on useast from days long before iccup existed.
jimminy_kriket for being a replay guru, progamer hunter and also one of my oldest friends from useast. spent many nights over the years hosting 1v1 play/obs for hours on end. My go to guy to send replays when I played anyone gosu on iccup... he would pass the reps along to romad and zimp... good times. Thanks to jim, romad and zimp I was able to find out I had played on iccup against, upmagic, firefist, julyzerg, light, stats, grape and history and other various B teamers over the seasons... The hotkey and replay gurus on TL are all totally amazing and really made my iccup laddering so much more epic..
I need to thank all the players who would play practice games with me, help me improve as a player and be there to discuss stuff at one point or another over the years:
koreanair, semih, kawaiirice, avi-love, mikoel, louder, slog4, tossim, penn, freaky, octzerg, oystein, and so many more. As well as all the gosu koreans who people would dig up on west and play me... and everyone else who would play practice games with me over the years, be awesome friends and discuss and help me become a better player.
also I have to thank everyone else who were influential in my sc:bw experience in other ways than just playing. (team leadership, event planning, travel buddies, DC LAN supporters, people who drove me to starcraft lan's and events, or hosted events, or were just generally awesome for one reason or another...)
xeris, gretorp, caucasianasian, storrzerg, magnum, sentenal, hazelynut, haemonculus, hatchetwound, torenhire, lordweird, wc8, psyonicreaver, and diggity and rise for giving me commentating help and advice in my early fpvod days years ago.
also have to thank the various communities. from modding communities like campaigncreations to content reporting like sclegacy to progaming reporting like TL, sc2gg, gosugamers, although there was (is?) some distaste between communities I'm proud to say I've met starcraft enthusiasts from all corners of these communities and nothing would be possible without the people who run these sites, pay the bills, and allow the community to greater connect and follow events and tournaments covering ALL aspects of sc;bw.
thanks to the TSL, the birth of livestreaming which basically changed the way we watched progaming, made it ridiculously easy to watch progames, to watch top players practice, to share the game with people on a more massive level. to make starcraft the most epic game ever.
I'm sure I missed some names and some things. There's simply too much to be able to cover it all in one blog. there are so many names so many faces... All I know is I've been super fortunate to run into people from all corners of the community. and as I look back now I've loved every minute of it.
I plan to continue playing starcraft 2 now that my starcraft 1 days have all but come to a total end... I think starcraft 2 will be an awesome game and I really look forward to seeing the starcraft franchise take the next successful step in the world of esports.
GL HF!
-LF
