EPTIt is an extremely large, loud, funny, humiliating, exhausting, invigorating, empowering, heart pounding, ridiculous, immense, unidenish and crazy sport.
I was introduced to starcraft by HuskyStarcraft. I first heard of starcraft 2 from its announcement trailer. When i searched starcraft 2, I looked up husky. In general, during the beta, i followed starcraft as something flashy. I didn't bother with the names or score. I watched to laugh and say 'cool'.
Then, I came across Day[9]. It can be said that this handsome, awesome, nerd baller can make anyone passionate about anything. But what really took me by surprise was the detail. I watched Daily # 127 White-ra vs Maka. It was the very first Daily i ever watched. It was a vod, since I did not know when the live stream was. When i watched it, I was hooked. It was tantalizing, incredulous, to think that so much detail, refinement, thought process went into pushing buttons. It was perplexing how 'good' people got by simply clicking. I took the time to watch vods and kept watching.
At this time, I liked Day[9]'s analysis but I still went back to Husky's action paced commentating. I found myself disinterested in the play, only wanting action. The detail, the analysis felt overwhelming. That was when I came across Daily #100.
Now I must plug forward to how I feel about Sean (Day[9]) Plott now. If I were to meet the man in real life, I would forgo hand shakes and head nods and just give a man the biggest bear hug I can. The man has helped me through so much by just being happy. Its kind of strange yet 'cool' how high of a pedestal I put figures of E-sports. For some reason, I feel like that they are 'gods'. I feel like I am obligated to just give them all hugs and say thank you for being awesome ballers. I know their personality, I know their tendencies. All because i follow e-sports. You don't get that anywhere else.
But back to Daily #100. I was perusing the vods, looking for videos to watch. I still did not bother watching live because I felt it was not necessary. It was around Daily #138 when i found Daily #100. I opened it up and saw how it was an extremely long one. I thought it was some super analysis so I saved it for the weekend. When that weekend did come, I can tell you i was surprised.
I sat through the whole entire thing and did not get up or move once. It is so strange to empathize with a man who miles away, doesn't know I exist, and has his own life. It is so strange that i teared up when he did, that I laughed at his jokes so hard, that i just felt i was right next to him, listening to his story.
I have watched the whole entire thing twice. From there, I watched almost all of the Day[9] Daily live. I groan when its not up. I laugh when it is.
But what does this say about E-sports? Is it a one on one thing. Is it just a small tiny sect of people sitting in their rooms? Not at all. And once again, My previous passions lead to something new.
State of the Game.
At this point, I started to learn names of the 'famous' players. Idra, White-ra etc. But than when Day[9] told me to watch SoTG after the show, I did so. I was so surprised when i saw the players.
I didn't know who the hell J.P. Was. Idra was really smaller than i thought he would be. Who the hell was incontrol? Who the hell was Tyler? And surprisingly, That was when I discovered liquidpedia. Yes, i did not even know about that yet.
I spent more hours reading liquidpedia than studying for my midterm. I spent more hours watching streams than in classroom lectures (for college.. usually because i watch the streams during the lectures).
But as i kept watching, as i kept learning about this already growing e-sports, i felt connected. I started being biased, rooting for players to win. I started rooting for Idra. I started rooting for White-ra.
It was this kind of Bias that made me 'invest' something into e-sports. I put a weight into my opinion.
The next big thing or the next step, was the release of starcraft 2. I got my starcraft 2 by driving to two different locations, due to receipt errors.
Sadly, I did not play till 3 weeks later after my exams. I can tell you how good it felt to log on. How good it finally felt to see what players were seeing. And this was when I gained my ultimate bias, I choose protoss as my main race.
Now I re-watched Daily's for protoss. I watched husky videos for protoss. I looked up good protoss players. I looked at memes for toss. I watched vidoes. I looked up builds. I played. I practiced. And i watched tournaments.
Tournaments, the growing and maturing teen of E-sports. Starting off not weak or insecure, but strong willed but inexperienced. Every tournament, every growth. I watched IPL. I watched MLG. I watched Dream Hack. I watched Home story cup. I even watched Day9 daily funday monday.
And than i realized. I was part of the community. Some how, along the way, i was initiated into the starcraft community. I didn't know when but i could tell you some other things. I could tell you Day[9] looks like JP at times. I can tell you Incontrol has some of the funniest jokes and Idra likes to rage a lot. I could tell you the personalities of those players. I could tell you the rivalries. I could tell you about the koreans. I could tell you so many things about starcraft 2 and I was new to it.
I was a little initiate in a growing world. But that's ok. I'll grow with E-sports. I'll grow with these players, casters, teachers, people, and communities.
Because every change in E-sport, every news. From Day[9] playing Amnesia to Artosis having a kid. From MC's slumps and returns to Idra's rages and awesomeness. From rising starts to old ones. From a fan at home to the a sport in the world.
I am affected by E-sports. And I'm proud of it.
