EPT
Maybe I should explain when I first got into Starcraft. I got into Starcraft a little more than a year ago -- thanks to QibingZero (who is too busy running a bakery in Florida) and Harem (who I have met on another IRC server). I started watching games, and at this point everything was so new, but of course, understanding the Korean commentators was a huge "advantage" in getting into the scene. I started following the game, and what I liked the most about the Broodwar was the scene. The fact that the games are televised, with professional commentators who are so good at what they do (or in OGN's case, who WERE so good at what they did), and the fans, especially the fans. The fans would be so involved with the players, sending massive care packages to players in progame houses, sending players gifts in games, the cheerfuls... it was kinda amazing, that something that is "just a game" would go this far.
I think this is the biggest reason why I was so critical towards Starcraft 2 -- I didn't want Starcraft 2 to be just a game -- I wanted Starcraft 2 to replace Brood War. I wanted SC2 to be so good that it would be a natural evolution from Brood War. Most of you may know that I was very critical towards Blizzard's policies on how they advertised, how they ran the game, how they organized things -- this was pretty much the main motivation that drove my criticisms.
I've been thinking about that. The main criticism that I think was that Blizzard tried too hard to start a competitive game from the get go -- creating major tournaments when there isn't any good games to show for it, when the game is so young. It's no wonder Blizzard failed so spectacularly in Korea -- with SC2 failing to pick up new fans, GSL viewership plummetting... SC2 play time decreasing, there are a lot of things just showing for it. It ever so confirms my view that Broodwar was just a lucky fluke by the hands of Blizzard, because if you look at it "just" by these facts, it looks like SC2 is going in the way of WC3.
But that's not we're here for, huh?
One of the biggest things I've recently picked up is that all of this does not matter. Broodwar didn't simply start overnight either -- it was through the dedication made by so many players and people involved in Broodwar that made the Broodwar scene happen -- things like popularity, competitiveness (since Korea was so dense, it's easy to be more competitive), and "being a better game" (supposedly) wasn't the key points in building the Broodwar scene -- it was the players who put in the time, who (in the stories that are told) just ate ramen every meal and lived in a cramped apartment to practice. It was the people involved who helped organized the tournaments, who convinced the sponsors, the people who poured passion and time into the game that made the scene happen. It is these people, people like the Administrators at TeamLiquid and the hundreds and hundreds of contributors to TeamLiquid and Starcraft 2 that will play a huge role in whether or not Starcraft 2 actually develops in a sport
Perhaps I was naive to expect that the success of Broodwar would help Starcraft 2 out a lot -- maybe it did, but at least in Korea, since there are now so many other games competiting for attentions of Koreans. Of course, thanks to Broodwar many of these Starcraft 2 players have gained their dreams to be a "Progamer" as Koreans have shown that it was possible. The scene is perhaps growing right now in the foreign scenes, but there will be tests and tribulations (like Diablo 3!) that Starcraft 2 will have to suffer through before it can be a sport.
To an extent, that's kinda what I realized -- that I cared too much about what Blizzard was doing wrong, and too little on what the community was doing right -- while Blizzard may be spectacularly failing in whatever they're trying to do, in the end, it is the contributions of the community that will end up deciding whether the community falters or stands strong and grows.
And so to everyone who has contributed, I want to say thank you. To everyone who are currently contributed, I want to say that we all appreciate what you do for the scene, and I hope you realize the impact that you're making on making eSports happen. And to everyone who will contribute, I want to encourage you to help make it happen in whatever way possible.
It's been a fun year.
