You need to start with the fundamentals. Micro vs macro is a great place to start, as you can relate it to history. The asymetric nature of the game is a great place to start too (the fact that it's competitive without giving each player the same start units).

Talin

Montenegro10532 Posts

August 05 2011 16:08 GMT

#22

I tried to get a few friends into it, but I'm going to agree with people who say it just isn't likely unless the person was already made up for it (in which case he would probably know about it and have the game already).

I still remember myself trying to convince a group of friends to start BW on iCCup (we did actually play BW in LAN a lot way back in high school and occasionally later as well). I told them the guys who play there are so good that you won't be able to win your first 30 games or something. And they just stared at me in the "why would we ever want that" way. -_-

If you know that somebody is really attracted by difficult challenges or already playing a competitive multiplayer game (quake live, street fighter etc), you might have a shot. Or if you're Day9 himself, you might have a shot. But otherwise I don't think it's really doable.

Sinborn

United States275 Posts

August 05 2011 16:27 GMT

#23

The best way I can sell this game is to tell people how much of a value it is overall. I'd consider looking up and playing some customs just so you can explain the variety of fun you can potentially have. Esports is a small part of the package, but I think once people find interest in 1v1, exploring esports for the sake of improvement is a natural transition.

That, and, there's always the Starter Edition! Nothing quite gauges interest like a free demo that you can tag along with.

Azuroz

Sweden1630 Posts

August 05 2011 16:54 GMT

#24

i got majority of my friends to buy the game, they all enjoyed it, but they lost interest eventually.
They just arnt interested in playing to improve, and they dont quite have the same competitive attitude like myself.
So eventually i just had to face the fact that not everyone can enjoy a game like starcraft, it takes a certain person with a certain attitude to actually get full enjoyment out of playing starcraft.
If your friends arnt even that interested in gaming its going to be rough to get them interested in RTS games in particular, some people just want to play games where they can just sit down and pull their own weight instantly, like a LoL-type game or a team based fps game.

zawk9

United States427 Posts

August 05 2011 17:39 GMT

#25

I've explained Starcraft to a few close friends, but most of them aren't really the type of people who would actually get into it. I'll settle for what I get; great friends who respect the game and the difficulty involved. If you want more SC IRL than theirs ways to achieve that, but they rarely involve "converting" non-believers.

Bargil

United States141 Posts

August 05 2011 21:16 GMT

#26

I got 3 of my friends on Starcraft 2. It's really not hard, just talk about it a lot and if they're PC gamers and love the RTS genre they're obviously going to show at least a bit of interest in it.

Show them the game! Tell them how great and exciting it is to play it! One of my friends used to play lots of Company of Heroes and other military-style RTS, then I showed him SC2. It didn't really take much for him to transition, since he already loved RTS to begin with.

If all else fails, take them to MLG. I bet you they will change their mind.

udgnim

United States8024 Posts

August 05 2011 21:23 GMT

#27

show them Idra vs MMA and tell them this is how all Idra games end up looking like

if they don't believe you, show them Idra vs Huk

Wordpad

Denmark154 Posts

August 05 2011 21:34 GMT

#28

Wow so weird, sebsejr... I was thinking about making a blog about the exact same topic a few days ago, but never got to it

On August 06 2011 06:23 udgnim wrote:
show them Idra vs MMA and tell them this is how all Idra games end up looking like

if they don't believe you, show them Idra vs Huk

LOL

KazeHydra

Japan2788 Posts

August 05 2011 22:10 GMT

#29

the best way I've gotten people into sc2 was having them watch good matches in GSL, MLG, etc. seeing MC vs Thorzain in TSL3 or that game 5 of sc and Nestea were very successful. Even if they don't know much of what's happening, they still get to see all the action and feel the tension of the match. While it's much harder to get them to buy and play the game, showing such exciting games really gets them to appreciate the sc2 scene as a whole, and that's a start.

obesechicken13

United States10467 Posts

August 05 2011 22:46 GMT

#30

Tell them you got a lot smarter after playing it.

If the iphone is any indication, people like games that they think make them smarter.
Focus less on fast reactions and more on decision making and what the game has taught you. Be sure to back it up with your grades if possible, then possibly show them a good discussion on TL.