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Hey TLers,
Update:
Well, some of you have given good suggestions, so I'm considering these possibilities:
- The StarCraft phenomenon and how it redefined Korean culture / foreign esports
The good thing is that there are a lot of sources that I can get my hands on, but it may ultimately turn out to be too academic or dry for the masses. I could certainly interview the likes of Day[9] and others in the foreign community to add more spice to it though.
- The Rules of Life: StarCraft Edition / 101 lessons from StarCraft
Kinda like those self-help books, with lots of parables and quotes in SC that you can apply to in life. I feel this would be disconnected and probably have more of a novelty value than anything, but still quite doable.
- Fan fiction
Copyright and legal stuff most likely? Need to figure out how to make it engaging and relateable to non-SC readers.
- Series of children's storybook (similar to Aesop's fables, but instead involving SC-lore)
Lot's of pictures, not so much on words. Ironic that the game is all about killing and this book would be advocating all the virtues of life  Probably only good if sold in Hangul in Korea.
I would appreciate if you can help me choose which one through this poll. It would also greatly help if you can post your choice and why, since you may have thought of other reasons that I didn't think of in terms of its viability.
Poll: Which topic should I write on?SC Phenom (12) 71% Fan fiction (2) 12% Children's Storybook (2) 12% Lessons from SC (1) 6% 17 total votes Your vote: Which topic should I write on? (Vote): SC Phenom
(Vote): Lessons from SC
(Vote): Fan fiction
(Vote): Children's Storybook
April 15th
+ Show Spoiler +One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to write a book about...well, anything really! And SC is one of the possible topics that I'm seriously considering to write about. I'm aiming it to be more for the general public and light-hearted, so nothing too serious or high-level stuff I guess. Currently I have a lot of other RL commitments, so writing a book would be an exciting side project. My mum is a local writer who has written two books and is writing her third one, so she's also part of my inspiration to get a book out. If you have any great ideas of what an SC-related book would be about, but don't have the time yourself, maybe you can help contribute! One of the reasons that I want to write a book about SC is I saw this Korean book about teaching English using SC, and I thought it was pretty neat that you could apply a video game to such an application. I'm sure you all know also that SC game theory is taught as a subject at some uni (cant remember the name). And of course, the main reason is that I love SC Will I need permission from Blizz? I don't know yet; it really depends if I have enough material first to write a book! If the book does come into fruition, I'll definitely credit whoever provided me the idea to spur the writing of the book! 
 
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is awesome32274 Posts
Call it Zielly Starcraft and the Spider-Mines from Aiur.
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Write a detailed guide on how to survive and thrive in an online community, including things like, trolling, how to tell if someones trolling, and just all the crap that in the end, doesnt even matter.
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On April 15 2010 19:49 Ziel wrote:
Will I need permission from Blizz? I don't know yet; it really depends if I have enough material first to write a book!
Depends on what type of book. If you're writing, say, a fiction set in the Starcraft universe, then probably it would constitute a derivative work and need permission of the copyright holders.
If you were writing a book about the Starcraft phenomenon, or Starcraft culture, or a strategy guide, then no.
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A self-help book, with sc theme of course. How everything that gets you proper at sc, also gets you a proper life.
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On April 15 2010 20:21 Ftrunkz wrote:
Write a detailed guide on how to survive and thrive in an online community, including things like, trolling, how to tell if someones trolling, and just all the crap that in the end, doesnt even matter.
i c wut u did
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You should make a novelization of a game involving TheRock.
Protoss should be despicted as a stubborn and territorial alien race relying on aircraft technology to defend their homeworld.
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On April 15 2010 21:19 Boblion wrote:
You should make a novelization of a game involving TheRock.
Protoss should be despicted as a stubborn and territorial alien race relying on aircraft technology to defend their homeworld.
I support this
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Well, you know what they say: fan-fiction is just a kind of copyright infringement.
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Write about a Terran Marine and his Medic girlfriend as they fend off hordes of lings, zealots, dragoons, hydras, lurkers and mutas, while dodging carriers and guardians.
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Fanfiction isn't copyright infringement if it falls under the fair use laws, which is determined by the intent of the author.
Here i'll help contribute to your book can I be listed as a co-author
"Jim Raynor waited. The lights above him blinked and sparked out of the air. There were zergs in the base. He didn't see them, but had expected them now for years. His warnings to Cernel Joson were not listenend to and now it was too late. Far too late for now, anyway.
Jim was a space marine for fourteen years. When he was young he watched the spaceships and he said to dad "I want to be on the ships daddy."
Dad said "No! You will BE KILL BY ZERGS"
There was a time when he believed him. Then as he got oldered he stopped. But now in the space station base of the UAC he knew there were zergs.
"This is Joson" the radio crackered. "You must fight the zergs!"
So John gotted his palsma rifle and blew up the wall.
"HE GOING TO KILL US" said the zergs
"I will shoot at him" said the hydralisk and he fired the acid missiles. Jim plasmaed at him and tried to blew him up. But then the ceiling fell and they were trapped and not able to kill.
"No! I must kill the zergs" he shouted
The radio said "No, Jim. You are the zergs"
And then Jim was a zombie."
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On April 15 2010 22:22 floor exercise wrote:
Fanfiction isn't copyright infringement if it falls under the fair use laws, which is determined by the intent of the author.
Well the OP seems to want to write a published commercial book, so that's going to be a mighty big 'if', if he's writing something using copyrightable aspects of the Starcraft universe.
Even if he's not trying to make money, offering a free fanfiction based around Raynor or Kerrigan or whatever could easily be seen as directly competing with the official, licensed, Starcraft books that are out there, and since the intent of the author here is to make money by selling things like that, it's really very dubious as to whether 'fair use' would apply.
Of course it would be bad politics, and therefore quite unlikely, for Blizzard to send their roaming packs of bloodthirsty attack-lawyers off to scour the internet and legalistically savage all those Jim Raynor/Fenix slash fanfics out there, but it's still possible. Despite what the internet often says, calling out 'fair use' is not really a good catch-all defence for claims of copyright infringement.
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Well, I guess it depends on what kind of book you wanna write. I myself have tried a hand at a couple of fan-fictions involving StarCraft, some of which were good and some of which deserve to remain buried in the multitude of files within my computer.
Still, like someone above me said, you seem to want to write a proper book on StarCraft. And most above me have talked about the problems of getting copyright licensing and all that shit, so I won't talk about that either. Instead, I'll give you ideas on things other than that of the StarCraft universe itself.
One of the other things you could do is write about StarCraft as a community. You know, do a fictionalised biography of a StarCraft player. Day[9]'s My Life of StarCraft cast just a couple of days ago would definitely help you with source material, and hey, if you do get this published, then it'd be great for e-sports in general. Good stuff. Related to that would be writing about a progamer rising through the ranks in South Korea itself, and all associated experiences such as sleeping with a bunch of other smelly progamers, etc.
If you really want to go crazy on this, create something new. Something so completely mind-boggling and outrageous that it actually sounds cool. Like, for example, a future where StarCraft is played "on-the-ground" and in real life. Players duke it out in real battlefields with real machines and lives on the line. Oh, think of the possibilities. You could always add the "These are real lives I'm playing with" twist to it, and being realistic, you can incorporate corruption into the system (much like today). You can use players from the current proscene as inspirations for your characters.Flash would play an ultra-turtly, No-Man's Land, Trench Warfare style of game, while Jaedong would employ the Blitzkrieg mentality and Fantasy goes guerilla warfare in every game. Jesus, that sounds so awesome. I'd read that.
So yeah, personally I'd say go for the latter, because that makes things a lot more exciting and you actually have a connection to the real world, which is always good because people can't really relate well to guys from the Kel-Morian Combine.
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A love story that see involved a maine and a zealot?
Brokeback Aiur
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On April 15 2010 23:04 Aim Here wrote:Show nested quote +On April 15 2010 22:22 floor exercise wrote:
Fanfiction isn't copyright infringement if it falls under the fair use laws, which is determined by the intent of the author.
Well the OP seems to want to write a published commercial book, so that's going to be a mighty big 'if', if he's writing something using copyrightable aspects of the Starcraft universe. Even if he's not trying to make money, offering a free fanfiction based around Raynor or Kerrigan or whatever could easily be seen as directly competing with the official, licensed, Starcraft books that are out there, and since the intent of the author here is to make money by selling things like that, it's really very dubious as to whether 'fair use' would apply. Of course it would be bad politics, and therefore quite unlikely, for Blizzard to send their roaming packs of bloodthirsty attack-lawyers off to scour the internet and legalistically savage all those Jim Raynor/Fenix slash fanfics out there, but it's still possible. Despite what the internet often says, calling out 'fair use' is not really a good catch-all defence for claims of copyright infringement.
You're right I was just speaking in general terms based on what I suspect his level of success will be. I don't think he should dissuaded from basing his creative writing in the SC universe for fear of legal action being taken against him because the likelihood of anything he writes being above the level of general fanfiction is very low (no offense op)
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On April 15 2010 19:49 Ziel wrote:
I'm aiming it to be more for the general public
I assume, then, that the book is going to have to do with the culture of Starcraft, not really so much the game itself? I mean the 'general public' probably doesn't give a damn about the game itself. However, I could see non-videogame players getting interested in progaming in Korea for the social aspects - the dynamic and day-to-day of a progaming team, why the game has such a strong hold after all these years, looking at how the culture of the game affects the nation positively and negatively...
There's something I think could be interesting to anyone about people making a living off of playing a computer game, something some people would basically consider a childrens' toy. The initial reaction by most non-videogame people would probably be something of disgust, like progamers are tragically wasting their lives. And, hey, disgust is one way to capture the attention of an audience! You could feed it by saying "They're like SLAVES playing TWENTY HOURS a day and only eating RAMEN NOODLES". But then you could also challenge it by pointing out some good aspects like team-building, career opportunities, etc...
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"How SC Improved my sex life"
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What about "The Life and Death of the Panda Bear Guy"? It could be some epic story told from the perspective of a critter!
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On April 15 2010 20:21 Ftrunkz wrote:
Write a detailed guide on how to survive and thrive in an online community, including things like, trolling, how to tell if someones trolling, and just all the crap that in the end, doesnt even matter.
You certainly have experience in this; I humbly suggest you write your own book on it as you're definitely the subject matter expert.
On April 15 2010 20:17 IntoTheWow wrote:
Call it Zielly Starcraft and the Spider-Mines from Aiur.
Actually, I was entertaining the possibility of writing a series of children's storybook. You know, something like "The little probe that could" and some kinda moral towards the end. I've no idea how popular that would be unless it's in Hangul and sold in Korea only though.
On April 16 2010 00:15 Pinnacle55 wrote:
Well, I guess it depends on what kind of book you wanna write. I myself have tried a hand at a couple of fan-fictions involving StarCraft, some of which were good and some of which deserve to remain buried in the multitude of files within my computer.
Still, like someone above me said, you seem to want to write a proper book on StarCraft. And most above me have talked about the problems of getting copyright licensing and all that shit, so I won't talk about that either. Instead, I'll give you ideas on things other than that of the StarCraft universe itself.
One of the other things you could do is write about StarCraft as a community. You know, do a fictionalised biography of a StarCraft player. Day[9]'s My Life of StarCraft cast just a couple of days ago would definitely help you with source material, and hey, if you do get this published, then it'd be great for e-sports in general. Good stuff. Related to that would be writing about a progamer rising through the ranks in South Korea itself, and all associated experiences such as sleeping with a bunch of other smelly progamers, etc.
If you really want to go crazy on this, create something new. Something so completely mind-boggling and outrageous that it actually sounds cool. Like, for example, a future where StarCraft is played "on-the-ground" and in real life. Players duke it out in real battlefields with real machines and lives on the line. Oh, think of the possibilities. You could always add the "These are real lives I'm playing with" twist to it, and being realistic, you can incorporate corruption into the system (much like today). You can use players from the current proscene as inspirations for your characters.Flash would play an ultra-turtly, No-Man's Land, Trench Warfare style of game, while Jaedong would employ the Blitzkrieg mentality and Fantasy goes guerilla warfare in every game. Jesus, that sounds so awesome. I'd read that.
So yeah, personally I'd say go for the latter, because that makes things a lot more exciting and you actually have a connection to the real world, which is always good because people can't really relate well to guys from the Kel-Morian Combine.
My initial thought was definitely to go with something of a fan fiction. But now I realize that as you've pointed out, people probably can't relate very well to the units. Actually, even when I read the short stories over at the SC2 website, I don't 'feel' it as much as when I'm playing the game, so it would probably be harder for me to write an appealing fanfic.
On April 16 2010 00:26 floor exercise wrote:Show nested quote +On April 15 2010 23:04 Aim Here wrote:On April 15 2010 22:22 floor exercise wrote:
Fanfiction isn't copyright infringement if it falls under the fair use laws, which is determined by the intent of the author.
Well the OP seems to want to write a published commercial book, so that's going to be a mighty big 'if', if he's writing something using copyrightable aspects of the Starcraft universe. Even if he's not trying to make money, offering a free fanfiction based around Raynor or Kerrigan or whatever could easily be seen as directly competing with the official, licensed, Starcraft books that are out there, and since the intent of the author here is to make money by selling things like that, it's really very dubious as to whether 'fair use' would apply. Of course it would be bad politics, and therefore quite unlikely, for Blizzard to send their roaming packs of bloodthirsty attack-lawyers off to scour the internet and legalistically savage all those Jim Raynor/Fenix slash fanfics out there, but it's still possible. Despite what the internet often says, calling out 'fair use' is not really a good catch-all defence for claims of copyright infringement. You're right I was just speaking in general terms based on what I suspect his level of success will be. I don't think he should dissuaded from basing his creative writing in the SC universe for fear of legal action being taken against him because the likelihood of anything he writes being above the level of general fanfiction is very low (no offense op)
No prob. I'm just exploring what are my options right now. Should I go on this direction, I'll definitely find out from Blizz directly about the legal stuff.
On April 16 2010 00:54 hoborg wrote:Show nested quote +On April 15 2010 19:49 Ziel wrote:
I'm aiming it to be more for the general public I assume, then, that the book is going to have to do with the culture of Starcraft, not really so much the game itself? I mean the 'general public' probably doesn't give a damn about the game itself. However, I could see non-videogame players getting interested in progaming in Korea for the social aspects - the dynamic and day-to-day of a progaming team, why the game has such a strong hold after all these years, looking at how the culture of the game affects the nation positively and negatively... There's something I think could be interesting to anyone about people making a living off of playing a computer game, something some people would basically consider a childrens' toy. The initial reaction by most non-videogame people would probably be something of disgust, like progamers are tragically wasting their lives. And, hey, disgust is one way to capture the attention of an audience! You could feed it by saying "They're like SLAVES playing TWENTY HOURS a day and only eating RAMEN NOODLES". But then you could also challenge it by pointing out some good aspects like team-building, career opportunities, etc...
Hmm this could actually be a good base to build on. However, apart from social psychologists and lawyers who hate video games, I'm not sure how it can appeal to the general public just by that though.
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Why do you want to write a book about SC? What about SC are you most passionate about? Follow that.
I've written and read some fanfiction and noticed that fanfics that are written so they'll be noticed... suck. Fanfics that are written cuz the author has a super sweet idea that they've spent a lot of time developing and are totally enthusiastic about it (as has been said Day 9's romance with SC) tend to succeed.
Of course you could always write a book called The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Zergling and make it about balancing being a uber nerd and... wait is there anything else?
Or "How Starcraft will Get You Girls" and sell it to the members TL.net.... I'd buy it...
If you really want to go crazy on this, create something new. Something so completely mind-boggling and outrageous that it actually sounds cool. Like, for example, a future where StarCraft is played "on-the-ground" and in real life. Players duke it out in real battlefields with real machines and lives on the line. Oh, think of the possibilities. You could always add the "These are real lives I'm playing with" twist to it, and being realistic, you can incorporate corruption into the system (much like today). You can use players from the current proscene as inspirations for your characters.Flash would play an ultra-turtly, No-Man's Land, Trench Warfare style of game, while Jaedong would employ the Blitzkrieg mentality and Fantasy goes guerilla warfare in every game. that sounds so awesome. I'd read that.
I've always wanted to hire the neighbour kids for the day, dress them up like orcs and dwarfs and play warhammer with my friends on a soccer field.... or play paintball in Space Marine armor
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