EPTCounter-Strike, like Brood War, has been on the decline and looks like the nail in the coffin is coming soon. I was never looking to find a new game to follow nor was I trying to go pro in any other game but ever since SC2 came out I've been a casual follower of Starcraft 2. Cheering on the likes of my favorite players in my dorm room alone has been the extent to which I follow this game, despite the dislike from my girlfriend. I'm a platinum level player and play casually few times a week. Following this community is much more entertaining for me..possibly because I suck at the actual game itself. But I have to say that the SC2 community is one that reminds me of the prime days of Counter-Strike.
With a greater deal of technology and with more sponsors than ever, I have a feeling that SC2 has no other place to go except up. I admire the casters, the news writers, the organizations, the sponsors, and especially the players. Everyone in the community does their part in their role and the rest of the people, us, follow and dominate. I still consider myself just an outsider looking on the inside and spectating has been something I have enjoyed thoroughly. Long night writing essays were complemented with a nice dosage of GSL, NY-Korea Time difference, and of course weekend long MLG, NASL, IPL tournaments have always had their place in my heart as well.
While I wish success for the future of FPS games, I have really enjoyed watching SC2 much more as of late and have even come out to say that I want to write about what I see and what my opinions are of happenings in the community. I rarely write anything lengthy in forums threads but I do have developed opinions on a lot of what the community thinks and I think I can offer a different perspective to some of the content that pops up.
As someone that has been watching CS 1.6 tournaments since the CPL days, I have to say that SC2 has really done well for itself. It not only followed in the footsteps of Brood War but it has surpassed it, on the international scale. This is something that Counter-Strike: Source failed with in the FPS world. Source divided the community and then failed miserably to become the staple FPS game in the world. Ever since, sponsors have declined, teams have died, and lot of international tournaments have pulled 1.6 and Source.
There is one funny similarity that I noticed between the two communities...
The Korea of SC2 is Sweden in CS. The majority of the best players in the SC2 community comes from South Korea while the best teams in CS have come from Europe, namely Sweden. While the SC2 community highlights the rivalry between foreigners and Koreans, the CS community has (in the past) highlighted the rivalry between American players and European players. There seems to be usually one region or country that really dominates the game besides the run of few foreign teams/players (HuK, Stephano, NaNiwa, Team3D, Complexity, MiBR). It seems to me, after observing numerous fans in the SC2 community, that it has become a line of whether you support foreigners or Koreans. I have my fan favorites but I like to support the Korean players because I think they play with better fundamentals and better mechanics (of course I'm not saying all foreigners don't).
Team Liquid, being a foreign SC2 community, I see that they usually support the foreigners. While I don't really see players like NaNiwa and Stephano as underdogs, I feel that much of the foreign fans believe that foreign players are underdogs. I think it's important to see the performance of our favorite foreign players in the GSL. Many go and fail but there are always different players who excel. The early days featured Idra making good runs in Code-S and then Jinro came and blew people out of water with his unmatched performances in the GSL. A few months later we saw the prodigy that was-then Liquid HuK in Korea, who showed his strength with good placings in Code-S along with a slew of international tournament wins. Now we have NaNiwa who has had two great placings in Code-S among the best players in the world. We will soon see Stephano compete in Korea. I don't think he walks in as an underdog but someone who could easily get to the round of 8 or higher the next few seasons. The gap is closing or has been closed. The best of both communities are near the same level and the performance of champions is all that separates players like DRG, MVP, MC. Players like NaNiwa, Stephano, and SaSe have taken countless games from top Korean players. There is still a larger gap, I would say, between semi-pros and amateurs in the two communities but we only want to see the best play in the top tournaments and the games have been getting a lot better within the span of just 2 years of SC2 tournaments. I know very soon we'll see GSL vs Kespa posts as well, I actually started seeing a bunch of them in the crossover matches.
Well that was my first post and next time I'll have something more concrete to talk about. After my first few posts I'll start asking people what I should write about next. If there's anything I should fix or a certain direction you want this blog going please throw out suggestions.
