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I was sending my beta submission to sc2beta@gmail.com and I went a little overboard. It was way too long to send, and I felt like I should put it up somewhere. This is my Starcraft experience.
I remember the first time I'd heard about Starcraft. I was in second grade. I was standing in the smelly lunch line waiting for my "hot lunch" which was more like a "sickly warm lunch." My friends were talking about a great new game they had seen one of their older brothers playing, particularly the unit "Firebat."
I was intrigued. My second grade imagination ran wild! A bat made of FIRE! That is SO COOL! The moment school was over I went to that friends house and played starcraft for the first time. I remember very well what drew me to the game. There were Terran unit wireframes that showed where damage had been dealt. My only game experience up until then was with a early lucas arts rebel fighter game that DIDN'T show how I was damaged! I felt so satisfied that I could monitor my units so closely. Every one felt very dear.
I convinced my parents to let me play a "Teen" rated game so young by saying that it didn't have any gore. I remember never showing them until almost a year later what the game was like. The first time I loaded the game I remember a strange face staring back at me and a video I skipped because it seemed too scary. I went straight to the campaign and playing the "Terrans." I believe it took me 20 minutes to beat the tutorial level.
The rest is history. For more than 2 years I only played the campaign. After that I joined the ranks of battle.net. I remember being confused by the changes in prices of units and buildings. It was my first patching experience. Man I was spoiled. Everything about battle.net was easy! The layout made sense, joining games made sense, and lag never seemed to bother me and my new dsl connection. I only played Used Map Settings games, for they were just so much more fun! Given time, I started playing games with a fastest clan called [XD]. (We were small. About 6 people. I mention this because I think there was an actually good clan XD at around this time.) They said they'd train me to be REALLY good! I remember wanting to beat my friend Jimmy who would always destroy me. I played Protoss. They were my first love. I only played with all my heart if I got the color teal because it was my favorite color along with the gold exterior of protoss buildings. Looking back if I had quit XD and simply made a google search for Starcraft I'd quickly find myself immersed in the early times of pro gaming. I might even have gotten good. To no avail.
I continued to play UMSes, but I drifted away from clan XD. I had been their top player after about 2 months of play. There was no way my APM was above 20. We were so bad! I didn't play public games for I had been convinced that my clan was the best on US West and I didn't even need to play public games to know it. I was so arrogant. Little did I know at around the time I drifted away from clan XD progaming was maturing... Waiting for me...
Years later I was browsing a forum called giantitp.com. It was a gaming forum about an online comic strip I enjoyed a lot. Someone posted about wanting to play starcraft! I'd stopped playing for about a year and a half and I wanted to replay my early life obsession. I joined the group and I was persuaded to play a real melee for the first time in a long time... And a non-blizzard low money map for the first time EVER! It was AMAZING! The game was so complex so great! Starcraft was reborn for me! How could I have played this game for YEARS and never venture into how it was MEANT to be played?! That very night I watched my first pro game. I don't remember what series it was from but it was an old game of Yellow's. Zerg was so sexy. Protoss used to make me feel secure with their upright and warrior-esk ways. Zerg made me feel their hive mind. Every move was so clutch! Every move was so perfect! Every move was so... ZERGY! I had no choice. I would play real starcraft as a Zerg.
My background in Starcraft is not one of a gamer. It is one of a Starcraft fan. I've been every type of Starcraft player there is. UMS only, Friends only, Fastest only, BGH only, and now a real player. I care more about this game than I do any other game ever. This is why I feel I must be in the beta. I need Starcraft 2 to be as good or better than the first. As a real player now I can look back on my older experience with an educated eye. This game must be done right. I believe I can add so much.
This is also a shameless attempt at getting a blizzcon ticket. Go to this link for more information!
http://starfeeder.gameriot.com/blogs/The-Starfeed/2009-BlizzCon-Ticket-Contest-on-Starfeeder
Other proof of my love for the game are my previous blogs:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=74358
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=74505
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=78257
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=79078
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=79427
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=80297
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=80910
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=81518
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=84348
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United States20664 Posts
My application to Blizzard Entertainment didn't elicit a response.
I'm sad.
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You are like 14, that is my guess.
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On April 02 2009 08:39 Fontong wrote:
You are like 14, that is my guess.
Flamer.
Liked the story 
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Korea (South)11597 Posts
It was back in 3rd grade, and my friend got this new modded game called starcraft. It was japanese and had the anime Gundam ships as units etc... and I was fascinated. This was fun!
I really wanted to play against someone, but I just couldn't since it was a mod and a bootleg, so I uninstalled it and wished for it that christmas. I looked under the christmas tree, and low and behold, under wrapping and ribbons, I KNEW my parents got me the game I always wanted. I rip open the box, and I got the battle chest! I was confused that there was an expansion for the game, but more excited that I got it!
So I installed the game, and I still remember my very first online game. It was maybe the year 1998 or 1999 and before the 3v3 Zero Clutter maps, there was something called, SHARED 3v3 LOTS OF MONEY or something like that, its like that SD Fastest map u see on Asia. Well, I join it, and everyone is screaming two random letters, "T" or "B". WTF? How the hell do you type? I get yelled at for not allying some people, and unaware of how to ask for help, I quit the game.
Back in the UsEast lobby, I ask and found out you type "Enter" before your message in game. Awesome. So here I am, joined another game of similar name. I didn't think I was good enough for a one on one match yet. So another 3v3 shared lots of money game. Game starts off, I figure out how to ally, and the game gets underway. Everyone is making so many units, and so many buildings. It was so hard to keep up. After a week or so, I got the hang of making more probes/drones/scv's and making tons of gateways/hatcheries/factories and just make units!
At the time, I was reading a site called www.StarcraftGamers.com (now GosuGamers.net) and I was reading about the World Cyber Games. The WCG. I found out they had a qualifying tournament only 20 minutes away from my house at Circuit City. I was excited. I could win thousands of dollars by playing this game! I registered, and the 2003 WCG was soon to be mine! I could see it all, 13 years old and the best at Starcraft!
I arrived at Circuit City, with my mouse and headphones, and was taken to a room in the back that was filled with computers. Top 4 qualify for the semi-finals the next month, and only 2 showed up. "Wow" I thought "This will be easy! I already qualified for semi finals!"
Next month comes, and I start the tournament. I start out a Terran vs Terran and I remember watching some replays of walling off, so on Lost Temple I'm at 12:00 and I build a supply depot, barracks, and a bunker to wall off. Soon, I am met with a dropship and vultures crushing my scv's and I get pissed and leave the game.
Game two starts off very similar and I am just decimated by this guy wearing a baseball hat. I sit there and watch the rest of the players play. Their hands were dancing on the keyboards, their cursors moving sporadically across the screen. They never stopped moving their hands, and I was impressed.
Turns out the guy who beat me, is probably one of the most underrated Americans (Nyoken). I was in awe of this guy. Nyoken was amazing, he stopped GGDark in the finals who built dark templars! HE STOPPED A DARK TEMPLAR RUSH!
So I trained hard every day on lost temple, so I could one day match Nyoken. (Every year since at WCG he still destroys me T.T)
Eventually, I start reading more on the new site GosuGamers.net which StarcraftGamers.com merged with. and I read a news which backlinked to TeamLiquid.net Been here ever since!
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On April 02 2009 08:39 Fontong wrote:
You are like 14, that is my guess.
I was actually young for second grade at the age of 6. Now 11 years later I'm 16 turning 17 this year.
@^ That's a great start-up story! I wish I'd gone to a WCG thing so young. ;p
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Ah, the beginning of an era!
I was around 9 or 10 when I first got the game from my cousin (I still have the same old disc btw) and my english was so bad that I pretty much just joined any game that had some big numbers besides it (the more people the cooler!) and asked "Any allies?" at the start of every game.
It took me a few weeks just learning how to do all the simple tasks, such as allying, chatting and learning what the titles of the games meant.
At first I played BGH-style maps, 0clutter and tob vs bottom maps, usually with no rush rules set in place. I just wanted to get a big base and make lots of capital ships (Zerg is weak!) I would spend hours doing huge BC vs carrier battles and learning advanced tactics (mostly just target-firing the carriers, using yamato  and hotkeys to select all the units).
At some point I got tired of 0clutter and somehow got the idea that compstomping would be great fun! I was wrong, but at least I got introduced to the art of rushing and low-money maps. I played melee 1v1 for about a year or so where I loved coming up with tons of original, new strategies. Imagine my disappointment when I found out about the proscene and replays, and that I was in fact not the first person to come up with proxy 9/9 gate. A sad day for my ego.
When I saw the first FPVOD of a progamer (NaDa I believe) I was blown away, and realised that I had to start using hotkeys and use the keyboard to make buildings. I copied the hotkey setup from NC..Yellow and Smuft and I still use the same setup today. I made some mistakes when I copied them, and the way that I positioned my hands when I played was hugely ineffective, but I've learned to make up for those deficiensies and I still use exactly the same methods today.
Starcraft was so much more fun back in those days when you had so much room to be creative, and really had no idea what you were doing. This is why I'm looking so much forward to SC2; it's probably not going to be as good as SC, but at least it'll send you back to (almost) square one, where you first were so many years ago. Naturally my mechanics will be wildly better, and I actually understand english now, but as far as strategies I'll be a fucking newbie again, and I can't wait!
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EPT
