EPTThat being said I think that my first topic that I'm going to be writing about is What Starcraft II has meant to me so far. First thing I would like to point out is that I played Brood War and I was a campaign hero. I never understood why people would want to play against each other in online ranked matches but since then I have learned the error of my thinking.
I used to be a hardcore fencer a few years ago. I was in high school and I loved everything about fencing. I loved the competition, the skill involved in the sport and the people you met through fencing at tournaments. For those of you who don't know what fencing is, it is essentially the Olympic sport of sword fighting and looks something like this.
Well I was really into fencing and I was a C rating in Foil (which is one of the three weapons) which would probably be the equivalent of a Platinum to Diamond in Starcraft. I would go to tournaments and sometime's I would win it all, sometimes I wouldn't, but no matter what I would go pretty far into the tournament and I would have a lot of fun. Well one thing led to another and the amount of fencing I was doing gradually started to decrease due to school, other sports, and generally the social life of a teenager. Well one Starcraft II came out, I wasn't eagerly waiting for it like others, I got it because some of my friends were getting it and I thought it would be fun to do custom games and play the campaign. I had no idea that there is a whole industry revolving around strictly this game. Well one of my friends introduced me to HuskyStarcraft and Day[9] Daily's and I was just engrossed. I couldn't stop watching, I couldn't believe that there were actual tournaments for this game as well as people getting paid to play it. Well shortly after being introduced to the e-sports scene, I started making connections between this game and fencing. For instance, in fencing, there are three weapons for competitive tournament play, and in Starcraft there are three races to choose from. I also made the connections between the leagues in Starcraft and the personal rating you get in fencing for placing well at tournaments.
Well after playing the game for a few months and watching youtube vods, I watched my first tournament streamed and the story line was just too awesome. I neve realized that this game could be as in depth as fencing. I realized that it was fun to play, but I never realized that there was a mental aspect to the game in the same way there is in fencing. That was when things clicked, this game is deeper than I could imagine at first. From there my love of both sports has started to grow, I take things away from fencing and apply it to Starcraft and vice-versa. The key to both sports is love of the game and hard work.
The most interesting part to me about both sports is the storyline! Whether it is Stephano vs Polt or DRG vs MKP it doesn't matter, when those to players meet, everyone stops what they are doing to watch that match. Fencing may be more of a physical battle for dominance, but when it comes to the mind games played, you can believe that they are on even footing with Starcraft possibly taking the high ground in that category.
So this blog is entry is called what Starcraft means to me so far and it might have sounded like just a bunch of rambling so far but I will say this, Starcraft II is more than a game to me, it is a place to test my skill against others, to hangout with friends who have moved away, to fall in love with Fencing again, but most importantly to be part of an amazing community! The interaction between professionals in the community and the fans is truly inspiring; and I truly believe that other sports communities can take a lesson from what Starcraft is doing and just listen to the people who want to see it succeed as much as they do.
For me it's always fun to read how fans got into Starcraft. I was almost forced to buy it since a friend was hyping the release and nagging on me to buy it so we could play with and against each other. I've played the game a lot more than he has today, that's for sure!
