EPT
Like many people, when I started playing StarCraft, it was a fun (for me new) type of game which was not immediately accessible, but playable within a few hours of practice, at least in campaign mode. It was easy to find footage of good players, or friends who could show you what the game looks like at higher levels. For many, including myself, this was a driving force in developing a desire to get better. Even at low levels, this game was fun to multiplayer, but with the promise of more to come as I improved, I was hooked.
The abundance of resources for getting better is also impressive. There are (or were) several communities with active strategists and in depth strategy guides with nearly ever facet of every matchup covered down to the most grueling details. If there was some issue you couldn't find in the guide, you could always just search through the archives of old posts on teamliquid as well as other forums. If by some chance your question was still not answered, you created a thread and asked about it. It was also easy to find people to go over replays with you, and help you figure out what your main problems were if you couldn't tell yourself.
There have also been several ladders over the years, with a level of competition that has reached nearly into the pro-gaming scene itself. And of course, there's Korea.
I was amazed at the cultural phenomenon StarCraft has become in South Korea. Watching videos and Korean television of players performing some of the pimpest plays you could imagine in front of huge audiences of adoring fans is quite an experience, as most of us here surely know. For me, this was another driving force in my attempts to get better at StarCraft.
Up until this point, it's all been peachy, right? Surely StarCraft is the second coming of Jesus and an embodiment of all that is good. So why do I claim there are some drawbacks to competative StarCraft? Well by the time I achieved what most of us would consider D+/C- play, I found the majority of my matches (both on ladders and off) were not much fun. They were rewarding at times, and occasionally very exciting, but certainly not relaxing.
Why do I play a game? For entertainment, sometimes relaxation, and ways to participate with other people in fun activities; occasionally even just to pass the time. Is StarCraft doing this for me now? I played a few games today against other people in my clan, and what I discovered was that my matches were tiring without being terribly exciting, made me angry when I made mistakes, and were not in the least bit relaxing. I seem to need to relax from StarCraft rather than via StarCraft.
Of course, I don't always need to play "1:1 Luna" or "1v1 C3 I Make", since there's the choice to play against noobs, play ums, or help other people. This seems to be the path that the majority of gamers have taken over the years. Honestly, what percentage of active gamers today play in competitive games on a daily basis? I often feel like I'm in the minority when I claim that my primary reason for playing StarCraft is to play competitively at a high level.
The more I play competitive games, the less happy and relaxed I feel, yet the more I tend to play as a result. The healthy response to being tired or annoyed with a game is to take a break or play it in a different way while you recuperate a bit, yet the tendency I (and probably other competitive gamers) find is to play more in the way that is making us pissed off. I'm going to try backing off any style of addictive game playing that seems to be upsetting me or just generally isn't fun. Perhaps many of us need to make a conscious effort to avoid spiraling out of control.
