StarCraft Essay turned into my College Class

On October 20 2011 13:16 Bacon-X wrote:
I just turned in this essay and thought I'd post it here because I wrote an essay about StarCraft cause it's just that awesome.

Sorry if I have any wrong information or something let me know ^_^ ... I rushed this essay cause i had to get it done and i had no time to do it due to working all weekend.

anyways.. here it is!!! I want to see what you guys think. Also it's pretty epic huh, i wrote an essay about StarCraft and turned it in to my English 101 teacher today hahahaha....

StarCraft, the Sport of Tomorrow
Competitive gaming has existed for a long time now, but it has never quite received such tremendous recognition from society. StarCraft has been the national sport of South Korea for many years now, but in North America, it was not as widely known and culturally accepted. Recently, however, in the US and Canada, local bars have transformed their menus and entire bar for national StarCraft events to what they call “BarCraft”. The game of StarCraft is so compelling and exciting that it brings many people together to watch major StarCraft tournaments, such as MLG (Major League Gaming) Orlando. Just like in South Korea, StarCraft is slowly but steadily rising in popularity and recognition within our culture. StarCraft is more than just another videogame, it is a real-time strategy game. StarCraft requires much learning, is highly competitive at the professional level, and generates a large fan base for major tournaments. StarCraft impacts our society by leading the world of eSports.
In StarCraft, there are 3 playable races: the Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. The Terrans are the humans, with units such as marines, tanks, and thors (huge mechanical fighting machines). The Protoss are a technologically advanced and highly religious alien race, with units such as Zealots (warriors with psionic blades), dark templars (permanently cloaked units), and motherships. The Zerg are also an alien race, but they resemble bugs and lack any technology. The basic worker units of the Zerg, are called “Drones”. And they literally morph themselves into structures and buildings. The Zerg resembles bugs in the sense that they are gross, hideous, and are great in number. When a game of starcraft starts, players train more workers to mine minerals to in order to have a higher income. With this income players begin to build structures that allow them to train an army. The players will then use that army to attack and possibly defeat their opponent.
When first starting to play, players may feel overwhelmed with the amount of content they have to learn. For example, all the structures, units, abilities, build orders, strategies, and which units are good against which. This does take time to learn, but once a player is familiar with the basic concepts of the game, they are ready to experience the awesome play of StarCraft. Even at this point, after learning the basics, players are still challenged with the task of trying to counter what their opponent has, which requires them to scout their opponents base. If you dream of playing the game professionally, you must have very quick reaction times and a minimum of 200 APM (Actions Per Minute). This is not a kid’s game at all; this is a competitive electronic sport.
The game of StarCraft is highly competitive at the pro level. In a game so delicate and fragile, a single mistake could lose you the game. Professional StarCraft players make a living off of playing the game. Many professional clans, such as Evil Geniuses, have a huge budget and house their players in a training house. A very popular and respected player Greg Fields, known as “IdrA”, dropped out of college to play StarCraft professionally. StarCraft is a very real eSport. Pro tournaments give out huge money prizes for the winners. Just recently, at the IGN Pro League #3 for StarCraft, over $100,000 dollars total was given to the winners and those who made it to the higher brackets. The 1st place prize was a check with $30,000 written on it. With this much money put into the game, pro players train very hard to beat their opponents. This creates extremely high level play which is exciting to watch. Professional gaming led to the creation of companies such as Razer, a professional gaming gear company. Highly competitive games such as StarCraft created the need for professional gear and new jobs as well.
StarCraft has a huge fan base. Over 60,000 people viewed the IGN Pro League #3 online from their computers, and many others went to watch it where it was happening. BarCrafts also attract many players. On Sunday, October 16th, at Biergarten in K-Town, Los Angeles, many StarCrafters, including my friend and I, showed up to watch the event that was happening that day. That event was MLG (Major League Gaming) in Orlando, the most exciting MLG yet, with so many of our favorite pro gamers on the brackets. The atmosphere there was great. Whenever something significant happened in the games we were watching, the whole crowd cheered and made a lot of noise. BarCrafts are new and growing in numbers. We might even see StarCraft on ESPN at late night sometime in the near future.
It is common to believe that videogames lead to social isolation. Games such as World of Warcraft have players sit on their computer and spend a lot of time leveling up their character and getting better gear, but that is the nature of the game. Many other games have the same effect, socially isolate players from the world. With StarCraft it is a completely different story. First of all, it is a multiplayer game, you are always playing with people. And with events like BarCraft you meet with other people of the same interest and socialize.
Most online multiplayer video games allow players to choose avatars as a way to present themselves to other players. In the game StarCraft, you begin with four basic portraits, two male ones and two female ones. The other portraits are unlockable based on achievements and wins. A player can feel empowered with wearing a thousand-win portrait, as he perceives his “elite status” on the game. “Portraits can become more important than their subjects” (Mark Stephen Meadows, 322). This statement holds true when players feel dominance and power they do not possess outside of the videogame, all because of their portrait. This may lead many players into social isolation, as they feel better about themselves on the videogame. Thankfully, the StarCraft community is full of good mannered people who praise skill over portraits, leaving portraits almost completely meaningless in value.
Female players on StarCraft are still low in numbers, but their recognition in the game is invaluable. Many female portraits exist in the game, many of which males choose to wear as well. Females are also represented in the games units. The medivac, a flying aircraft piloted by a female, has a healing beam and the ability to load up units. Medivacs are essential for healing your army and are crucial for harassment. Without these female heroes, the entire game would be imbalanced. Many female gamers dislike female representation in games because “When the female avatar is hypersexualized, it is highly likely the female player won’t even consider the title.” (Sheri Graner Ray, 327). In StarCraft, females are not hypersexualized, in fact, they are just as important as the male characters. Kerrigan, a female known as “The Queen of Blades”, controls the Zerg, the bug-like alien race. StarCraft acknowledges its female audience and represents them equally. “Ideologically, it is vitally important that girls play and enjoy computer games because it increases their comfort level with technology, and this is essential for them to maintain economic parity with males in today’s society.” (Sheri Graner Ray, 328).
Just like South Korea, StarCraft is gaining more popularity and recognition in our culture. It is truly respected as a sport internationally and people gather to enjoy the major tournaments of the game. The future looks good for StarCraft, with its growing community and increasing popularity worldwide. StarCraft is leading the world into the next generation of sports. It is not just another videogame; it is the sport of tomorrow.


LOL ^_^