EPT
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I have come across this question many times and I have each time, struggled to fully share what I truly believe Starcraft is. At the end of the day, the reality is Starcraft is simply, a computer game, a real time strategy game. One that has become the most popular RTS game ever made, one that marked the start of E-sports. Becoming the first game to have televised matches in South Korea. SlayerS_BoxeR, everyone knows him, he was the first true super-star of e-sports and since then, many have followed.
Anyway, I actually feel before I can get to explaining what I believe Starcraft is, I have to explain what gaming is. Most people in society today will simply state that play games are bad, a waste of time. Don’t believe me? Go ask your parents what they think of gaming, unless your parents are SlayerSBoxeR, Day[9]... (you get the point I think I’ll move on.)
SO.... what is gaming?
I feel that the notion that gaming is purely bad is simply wrong. I believe everything has a good and bad. There are several types of gamers to me.
1. The gamer who players for fun
This type includes many people, these kind of gamers simply play games to enjoy, they just want to have fun and relax. They are not looking into anything serious, they want to muck around with their friends, share a few laughs and go back to school or work the next day more refreshed.
2. The gamer who has nothing else better to do
This type, simply games cause, well... they don’t have much else going on for them in life and they want to distract themselves, or get away from reality. (personally I feel this is why MMORPGs are so popular).
3. The gamer - the professional gamer.
These guys are the serious nerds. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure they enjoy and have fun, but they have a purpose and they approach the games they play differently then they do with others. They do it cause they want to compete and win, both games... and money of course, everyone needs to make a living.
4. The gamer - the Inbetween.
I would include myself in this group, frankly, I take almost everything I do seriously and I have fun doing it. It might tick some people off how serious I am with Starcraft at times but I don’t really care. I will analyze games of myself and others and learn the game and understand how things work and how to be better. I am competitive but not to the point where I am going to go pro. but I have a similar mindset.
So that is gaming for you, 4 different types of definitions defined by what kind of person you are and how you approach gaming.
This leads me to my main point on gaming. The mindset, I believe that if everyone was able to just take gaming a little bit serious, they can learn so much more than what the game itself is. To a point I do agree that gaming is bad... only if you play it and not learn anything, but there is something to be learnt.. from everything. And this is where I go back to what Starcraft is.
Starcraft is a game that is so sophisticated, some people may not realize. Starcraft is a game where two people are on equal playing fields, who play one of three possible races, Terrans (humans), Zergs (like those bugs from Starship Troopers, didn’t see it? go watch it now.), and lastly Protoss (kinda like the aliens that blew up the white house in Independence Day).
It is a game that then requires the user, the gamer, to utilize what he has been given at the start and manage an economy. How to spend resources efficiently, how to do things smoothly. Aside from that, the player must also then decide when is best to attack, and what forms of armies to make to most effectively deal with the opponents.
Players do all this for the sole purpose of winning, and there are many ways to win. In Starcraft, you can win by just simply having more money than your opponent so naturally, you have more stuff, a bigger army. You could starve your opponent of money and force them to give up. You can trick your opponent with parallel attacks, or play mind games to try to pressure your opponent to making mistakes, there is just so much you could do!
So... what is Starcraft and what does it mean to me?
It is more than just a game, it is something that if utilized properly, can give someone skills that can be translated into reality. The important of minor details cannot be more pronounced than in Starcraft at the higher levels of course. Much like in real life, small details define success, small things matter in a big way. Starcraft has taught me quite a lot on a personal level, there is more than just one way to deal with things and that little things add up and that there is never the best, only better. Always seeking improvement can only lead to better things.
Thank you Blizzard. ___________-
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Twitter: DexVitalitY
blog: http://dexvitality.blogspot.com/ - All my blog posts will be posted on here and moved to TL.
thanks for the comment guys I will get writing :D
