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When I read about iNcontroL's passing, I was shocked. As were all of us, I guess. I never met Geoff, but he has in some way been a part of my life since 2010. I used to listen to SC2 podcasts while commuting to university back in the day, so naturally SOTG was a huge part of my weekly routine. I also binged on the early RollPlay series with Neal, Geoff, JP, Genevieve and Ryan. Playing and watching SC2 has also been important for me. I don't have the time anymore to grind it out, but I still enjoy laddering from time to time and I'm also tuning in when there's a major event going on. To think that there won't be any HSC with Geoff anymore breaks my heart. Surely, the initial pain has gone away, but it'll take some time until acceptance will settle in.
I also watch ASL religiously as it's the closest thing to the glory days of OSL/MSL/PL right now. I started playing BW competitively in 2008, but to be honest, SC2 was the real needle later. The TSLs really got me into the foreigner scene, as did the ESL tourneys. (All glory to Mondragon, king of the runby!) After Geoff's death, I started thinking about what joining the Starcraft community meant to my life. To my own surprise, I realized how much it shaped my adulthood. Some of my best RL friends in 2008 were playing BW / SC2 and I've met lots of amazing people since then due to Starcraft. (Shoutout to Gecko, we seriously need to organize a meetup soon.)
I've been an active member on the site instarcraft.de since 2008 and have become a forum admin last year. Talk about commitment to a "dead" game. Funnily, the site is dead when it comes to Starcraft content, but the community somehow is still alive. Starcraft attracts people of all sorts, but generally, I found out that lots of them think alike. Even though political views differ naturally, there are some basic ways of approaching life that "Starcraft people" share.
Our community is small. There's anger, there's animosity, but that's part of the deal. I can't imagine a life without Starcraft anymore. Even after my final game, I'll be hugely thankful to the game and the people playing it. Before I started playing Starcraft something was missing from my life.
 
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I've consistently been a lurker on Teamliquid for years now, never really had the desire to keep playing SC after Heart of the Swarm. Instead, I've just been watching from afar. iNcontrol passing away is absolutely crushing, and it's made me reflect on just how much Starcraft has meant to me, and the quality of the community that has grown around it. TL will always be one of my favorite websites, no matter how little I play Starcraft or other games on this site.
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I spent a lot of time watching the original Rollplay too... Geoff was so entertaining on that show.
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On August 01 2019 21:09 virpi wrote:
we seriously need to organize a meetup soon.
work work sadly. possible things though: somewhen rev will do his birthday thing in september, i'm also going to moscow around the weekend of the 12th october, if you wanna join.
yet some sort of ballroom session sounds nice, especially since I'm the proud owner of a ronnie o'sullivan styled cue, that was in the lost & found box in coburg. (no shitting)
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for the amount of time we spent 'with' them, inc and tb were about as "close" to many of us as real best friends are ><
it's strange in a way because i lost a IRL best friend too (few years ago) and it's like they never really leave you, the memory or spirit of them is so strong inside you that they just live on for you
it's strange
i can say 'brendan died' or whatever, but really, it's like he's still here right beside, or inside, me
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starcraft isn't life. life is what happens in between ladder and custom games. that some people are lucky enough to blend starcraft with life is a luxury not wasted on me. i've never had the pleasure. those who do have the fortune to be around kindred spirits shouldn't take that for granted.
for most, starcraft is compartmentalized away from important relationships and ambitions that comprise 'life.' geoff taught me that you can break the mold if you care enough and love something enough. he made himself and created his own brand and that is extremely inspiring.
he was an extremely intelligent and charismatic individual who, for the most part, was able to make his environment a product of HIM and not vice versa. that is, to me, his legacy. rip iNc
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Northern Ireland26127 Posts
On August 04 2019 10:40 Alejandrisha wrote:
starcraft isn't life. life is what happens in between ladder and custom games. that some people are lucky enough to blend starcraft with life is a luxury not wasted on me. i've never had the pleasure. those who do have the fortune to be around kindred spirits shouldn't take that for granted.
for most, starcraft is compartmentalized away from important relationships and ambitions that comprise 'life.' geoff taught me that you can break the mold if you care enough and love something enough. he made himself and created his own brand and that is extremely inspiring.
he was an extremely intelligent and charismatic individual who, for the most part, was able to make his environment a product of HIM and not vice versa. that is, to me, his legacy. rip iNc
Well said sir.
It’s not sitting and indulging in the ladder grind that’s fun, it’s brainstorming ideas and arguing about optimal strategy and abusing each other over terrible ideas that’s fun. It’s friendly rivalries for supremacy in even the most parochial scene. It’s buying a bunch of booze and having the boys over for Blizzcon and supporting your respective favourites, lording it over your company when your boy progresses and having to sit and take it when they fall. It’s having a friend who’s interested in the game in 2018 and taking the time to make tailored private YouTube videos to teach them enough so they can overcome the 8 years they’ve missed out on. It’s meeting the same folks from all over Ireland after nearly a decade for a yearly LAN whose prize pool is so derisory that honour is the only thing at stake. It’s somehow casting that tournament every year despite being inactive as a player for 5.
It’s a fucking fantastic hobby in and of itself, but really in my life it’s just a vector to meet fantastic, similarly minded people.
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By saying "Starcraft is life" I was generally referring to its impact on my personal life. Not only have I met lots of awesome people, I also learned a lot about myself and about learning / strategizing in general. Of course, it remains a hobby, which is fine. I'm glad I found this game. Even though I'm not playing / watching as much as I used to, I'm still coming back from time to time.
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EPT
