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Introducing Starcraft watching

Blogs > Hassybaby
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Hassybaby
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United Kingdom10823 Posts
July 07 2011 22:30 GMT
#1
Hey Tl, hope you're all doing well

So I have a cousin who I think would enjoy watching Starcraft. Don't think she'd play it just yet (no this isn't a girl blog) but watch tournaments and streams in general, and have some fun with it. Thing is, she has absolutely no idea about the game. At all. She knows it's called Starcraft 2, and that it's an RTS played on the PC. That's about it.

We were all there at some point I'm sure,w hen we started off as a total noob, but at least in my case, most of us started off by playing the game before diving into watching it. I started watching GSL/streams after about a month of playing Starcraft, and yeah I was a total noob, but i sorta knew about the game. Maybe I didn't know the proper counter to a stalkers as Terran, but i knew what a stalker was. She knows literally nothing

So I ask you TL, can you think of any intro videos that a complete newbie can start watching to learn the complete basics of the game? Like what the units are, what they're remotely good at etc.

"These guys are mindfucking me into a sex coma" | "Mayonnaise is a must-have lubricant when performing necrophilia"
_hate
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
Japan112 Posts
July 07 2011 22:35 GMT
#2
try the campaign
RedJustice
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States1004 Posts
July 07 2011 22:47 GMT
#3
Uhhhh I think if you just watch enough casting you will absorb all that info. I got into sc2 because I saw a friend watching streams and got curious. It looked pretty, it looked mentally challenging, it looked like something I could play and suck at and have fun, and something I could spend years trying to get better at.

I started watching husky's casts on my own, and after a few weeks knew what all the units were, and had a rough idea of what the matchups were supposed to look like. Took some watching streams like Mr. Bitter and Day9 to start learning the basics of build orders and mechanics, but I learned a lot about strategy from watching tournaments.

Start with Day9 100 cause he's funny, interesting, and it's a personal story that anyone can relate to-- finding something they really love, and devoting their life to it.

Then have her watch something like NASL finals (or some other big tournament) with you. Explain to her stuff like-- Boxer is a legend, Idra is so bad BM, Tasteless is Day9's brother, etcetc to make the people interesting to her. Answer questions about the games as they play out.

Then let her play some of the campaign on your account (if you live nearby) so she can see the story and get a bit of a feel for the game. Have her tune in to things like Funday Monday or Kings of Tin. They are very humorous, and to a beginner, sc2 should be about having fun.

Hopefully then she will decide to get her own copy and start playing.
babylon
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
8765 Posts
July 07 2011 22:59 GMT
#4
I did this with one of my friends who had no RTS experience. I literally just flooded her with any old random vids that I personally found interesting. FD's run through GSL1 and his showmatch with BoxeR, that one hilarious TT1 vs. MasterAsia ladder match, the MVP vs. IdrA ladder match, Spanishiwa vs. TLO showmatch, etc. Anything and everything. Eventually she developed an interest in it and picked up not only the unit names and everything, but also some basic strategies. She hasn't played the game yet - I had actually given her one of my trial keys, but it expired before she got a chance to actually do anything with it - but she does watch pretty regularly now.

As for myself, I actually watched SC2 before playing it as well, though I had dabbled in SCBW and played WC3 before. Got bored one day and just hit up GOMTV. Most of my interest in actually playing the game consequently came from watching the GSLs, though I won't deny that the dying state of the WC3 ladder (which, to be fair, has been dying for years now) had something to do with my decision to switch games.
Snugglebutt
Profile Joined April 2011
England21 Posts
July 07 2011 23:08 GMT
#5
Watch streams with her and explain what you can to the best of your knowledge that doesn't make her feel dumb and answer her questions. She'll eventually get used to what's going on and find out more indepth stuff if she's interested.
kainzero
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States5211 Posts
July 07 2011 23:20 GMT
#6
how do you know she's interested?


(no this isn't a girl blog)

i hope not, it's your cousin for crying out loud
Hassybaby
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United Kingdom10823 Posts
July 07 2011 23:30 GMT
#7
On July 08 2011 08:20 kainzero wrote:
how do you know she's interested?


Show nested quote +
(no this isn't a girl blog)

i hope not, it's your cousin for crying out loud


I'm English. Everything past direct family ties is fail game.

5 of us cousins were talking about finding an online game to play together, I suggested SC2, she mentioned that she wouldn't have too much time, I remarked that she would enjoy watching pros play it, due to the skill levels shown, and the tactical aspect of the game.

When she asked where she could start I was like "Uhhhh....crap, can't think of anyone that I can link to that starts right from the beginning". Even Husky sort of assumes that you know what the units are, even if you don't know anything else
"These guys are mindfucking me into a sex coma" | "Mayonnaise is a must-have lubricant when performing necrophilia"
Ecrilon
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
501 Posts
July 08 2011 00:03 GMT
#8
The campaign is the only thing that doesn't assume you know what the units are. Start with that I suppose. Though I guess...don't rely too heavily on non-multiplayer units?
There is but one truth.
Tweleve
Profile Joined March 2011
United States644 Posts
July 08 2011 00:33 GMT
#9
Watching TotalBiscuit stream/vods is a pretty quick way to get a grasp of the basics of the game
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
3FFA
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States3931 Posts
July 08 2011 00:42 GMT
#10
She knows what a RTS is? O.O That alone is a big step.
"As long as it comes from a pure place and from a honest place, you know, you can write whatever you want."
Iranon
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States983 Posts
July 08 2011 01:53 GMT
#11
On July 08 2011 08:30 Hassybaby wrote:
Everything past direct family ties is fail game.


Truth.
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