So I was watching MLG Dallas today on my laptop when my 7 year old sister came up and started watching some of the games with me. At first I was pretty surprised, because normally the only other person in my family who cares about Starcraft is my brother who's three years younger than me. I half expected her to just lose interest and walk away, but she stuck around. It was during the Jinro vs. Socke games, so I explained to her some of the basics. After a little explaining, she understood that one guy was the humans and the other was the aliens and that they were fighting with the armies they bought from their money.
Then came the string of PvZ games, which she really liked. She said she liked the bugs a lot better than the aliens. She would ask me at the end of each game who won (she understandably didn't get the gg system), so whenever Ret or IdrA won she was happy. Shame on Nazgul for making a 7 year old girl unhappy with his excellent stalker micro.
After that, we watched the first Machine vs. Select game. Her impression from the game: "Banelings are amazing!"
It was really great to spend some time rather unexpectedly with my little sister. She seemed to enjoy the games. Of course, she's always been a little gamer. She can beat people much older than her at Smash Bros. and plays Super Mario Galaxy for hours. It also reminded me of my Starcraft experiences when I was around her age, playing LAN games with my dad and brother. I would do the awesome tech straight to air strategy. Of course, my dad being the brilliant strategist that he is, would just build turrets, but he would never attack because we'd get upset if he beat us. Thinking about this made me realize that I would have enjoyed watching these games when I was her age, and that part of the reason why there aren't a lot of girls in gaming is that they're just not expected to like it.
I hope my little sister doesn't give up gaming in the future because it's not "girly." She could be a much better gamer than me if she sticks with it. Who knows, maybe she'll even be the next Tossgirl. Even right now she's telling my mom about the little bug aliens that are like bombs that do somersaults. So cute ^_^
Update: My sister's very happy that TLO won't get "the loser racket." Although she thought he should have made more banelings.
Haha, reading this is kinda funny because I grew up watching my brother play games (including starcraft) and it's one of the biggest reasons why I love watching starcraft now.
Erm, saying she might be the next tossgirl isn't exactly the greatest compliment ever. Hopefully she can achieve what tossgirl never really could - success.
hahaha, that's great, yes, definitely get her the baneling! Brings back memories of playing bw against comps on bgh with my sister, I held off all the comps until she massed enough carriers, then she got to go around and kill them xP
Just have a game vs. an easy comp - play as zerg, mass banelings and then let your sister take over. She wouldn't need to know much - she'd just need to attack move into their base. If she loves banelings that much, she'd love controlling them. It'd get her interested in playing too. ^^
Story kinda reminds me of the games my family used to have in BW. Mum and dad used to have pretty epic matches ... they were pretty fun to watch.
On November 07 2010 21:00 LittleeD wrote: Teach her to play. By the age of 18 She'll be the worlds best SC3 player even seen.
To all these posts: You do realize that koreans have been in this environment for a lot longer and they were likely younger than 7 when a lot of them learned sc1. I know you're not serious but its not like 4-5-6-7 year old don't learn games all the time and it doesn't automatically make you awesome ;p
On November 07 2010 18:23 0mgVitaminE wrote: Challenge her to a game and go easy, show her how to make banelings and a-move.
Then crush her.
LOL, by then it is too late she has banelings! He would need some foxer micro to escape that.
On November 09 2010 22:43 s.a.y wrote: Aww, so cute.
My sister used to watch me play Age of Empires
That is the first step. My sister started watching me play that game and then I showed her team play and we started playing together. Now we play SC2 nearly every night despite being hundreds of miles apart. Video games have probably been the most influential thing at keeping us close.
She is actually better than any of my friends and even her boyfriend who was an excellent halo player lol. It is so funny hearing her tell him he needs to be better at keeping up marine production or it is time to expand.
As Day[9] often talks about it is so important for us to convince our friends and family that esports is great if we really want it to grow. Current women may prefer games like WoW most of the time but if we can start the next generation on RTS then maybe the stigma of nearly 0 women players will disappear.
that baneling plush was not just an idea for a christmas or something, it's an order, you have to buy it now. TL has spoken. ;P on a serious note: Awesome story, not even my brother is interested in starcraft but I have some friends who are so that's ok
On November 07 2010 08:05 Kishkumen wrote: Update: My sister's very happy that TLO won't get "the loser racket." Although she thought he should have made more banelings.
LOL, this really got me. Soo cute lol. So many other good stories in this thread too, thanks for posting this :D
my little sister was like this when she was 7...now she's 20 and we have absolutely nothing in common. I hope you'll be able to keep her intersteted in the game or atleast have nice moment like that through the years. Nice blog definetely
that sounds awesome, wish my younger siblings would be like that... youngest brother is 19, is a gamer, but doesnt even now what mouse acceleration is :D he frustrates me so much...
On November 10 2010 02:39 TheBlueMeaner wrote: please get her the baneling plush, I'm sure she will treasure it forever, here is the url baneling plush
I can't seem to find out how to order it so I just contacted the shop owner to see if they are still making them.
YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY GET HER PLAYING!!! You don't have to buy her a new account, just let her use yours My little sister just turned 10 and she plays protoss, but if yours realized zerg is superior to terran, she's obviously a smart cookie so I definitely think she can handle it! I realized I was writing a bit of an essay so I popped it all under the spoiler, this is how I taught my sister how to play though. Maybe when they're both pro they can be in the same clan
My bf was watching replays while waiting for me to get ready to go out one day and my little sister, she's a couple years older than yours, plopped down with him and had a blast. He explained the basic concept and after that she'd always pop up behind us while we were playing.
Eventually I taught her how to log onto my account, set herself to away, and make a custom game. She usually just plays while I'm at work, so we don't ever clash. My friends say once in a while they see me on a custom game for an hour and a half and they know it's her haha I even find random achievements she got for me
I started her against very easy computer and she pretty much just masses an army and then a moves. I'd check up on her and she'd be sitting at 2k with only 6 probes mining, one of every building, and 5 units queued in every one so I've been slowly introducing the concepts of expanding, making more than one gateway, lots of probes.
If you started your sister off with a spawning pool and zerglings, then taught her how to make a queen and spawn larva, upgrade to a layer, she could definitely get a hang of the macro really easily, and playing against very easy comp, you don't need to think about micro or strat at all
Neat stuff. Sometimes it takes situations like this to make us realize how much alike we all really are.
On November 07 2010 08:05 Kishkumen wrote: It was really great to spend some time rather unexpectedly with my little sister.
Without trying to sound superior, some advice from somebody probably a bit older than you: make the time to spend with your sister, and all your family and friends. You never know when it ends, and when it does, you can never get it back - and it sucks.
I remember showing my 9 year old cousin WoW a few years ago. I started explaining the classes but when I got to the "cows that shoot lightning" part he lost it and couldn't understand why anyone would make anything else.
On November 07 2010 12:38 Kishkumen wrote: She really is a little zerg, though. I told her I play Terran and she responded, "Humans suck. Go bugs!"
You need to apologize to her for playing that race.
LOL wp.
My sister is better than most guys she meets at most games she plays. Though she is pretty much not nerdy at all. It's just a matter of removing artificial expectations. In a generation there will (finally) be a lot less prejudice over gaming and gender.
That's super cute!!! I hope she keeps on gaming and gets into SC2; Zerg is definitely the best. I have a 4 girl team (including myself) on SC2. There are gaming girls out there. ;3
Also I love how she plays Smash Bros and Super Mario Galaxy. I bet she'd really like Okami!
edit: I'm definitely buying one of those bane plushies! >:3
Wow that's pretty rare to be interested in starcraft at that age (and she is a girl). Reminds me when I was 8 or 9 my best friend used (who had the same age) to be very good at starcraft (he often boasted to be ranked top200 or something), but I never really payed to much attention to it, I now regret I did that, but at the time I didnt had much interest.
Also, seeing your name : Are you the kishkumen from wow who created world of roguecraft?!
Sweet story! My little 3 year old would rather watch GSL videos with me than any other kind of TV. It honestly surprises me that some starcraft can just put the little guy into a trance for hours lol.
EPT
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she definitely needs the baneling plush and to watch the artosis baneling remix! 
