EPTSTARCRAFT
Game Review: What Makes an E-Sport
INTRODUCTION
StarCraft is a futuristic real-time strategy (RTS) game that chronicles the struggle for galactic domination between three different races. Released in the 1998, the game runs at 640x480 with 256 colors, and thus runs perfectly on any modern hardware. The visuals are carefully crafted but obviously outdated by current standards. An expansion pack called Brood War was also released in 1998, adding more units, terrains, and single-player content. With around 10 million copies sold, StarCraft is undoubtedly the most popular and enduring real-time strategy game of all time. It is also arguably the world’s most competitive video game. In South Korea, professional players compete in televised matches and are sponsored by corporations.
Writing about StarCraft is no easy task – few other games have such enduring popularity and have undergone such thorough analysis. Although entire volumes can be written about StarCraft, this review will try to touch on some of the finer points and in particular focus on why the game has become so popular.
STORY
In the 26th century, three different species battle for survival and dominance in a distant sector of the galaxy. A group of human colonists, known as the Terrans, are a hardy and adaptable faction. The insect-like Zerg are controlled by a central hive-mind and are intent on either destroying or assimilating every other species. The technologically advanced and ideal-driven Protoss wield their fearsome psionic powers on the battlefield.
The single-player campaign tells a story about the characters and peoples who inhabit this galaxy and their struggles. Through a series of 56 missions (plus a secret mission), the player must recruit followers, infiltrate bases, survive onslaughts, destroy enemies, and wipe out entire planets. The gamer plays through several different perspectives to ultimately determine the fate of the galaxy.
GAMEPLAY
StarCraft is presented in a 2-D overhead isometric perspective. The player uses the mouse and keyboard to issue directions to buildings and units on screen. In a typical game, the player must gather resources, construct buildings, research technologies, train armies, all with the ultimate goal of destroying the opponent. Each game is played on a specific map – and strategies that work on one map may utterly fail on another. The typical game lasts between around fifteen minutes, with the majority ranging between ten and twenty minutes.
There are two different resources, minerals and gas, that players must gather in order to build their forces. Resources are spread throughout the map, and players must expand to new locations to sustain and increase their income. In addition, players must have enough supply to increase the size of their army.
In a genre-defining move, StarCraft was designed to have all three races play differently. Every unit is unique to its own race, and . Not only is playing each race different, playing against each race is different. Each of the six match-ups are distinct, so that most players specialize in one race and sometimes only excel in one specific match-up. To truly master StarCraft, one would have to learn how to play nine similar, yet very different games.
The versatile Terrans have the best defensive units in the game, and they have the highest damage output to hit point ratio. Most of their units are also ranged, so positioning is particularly crucial in battles. However, their armies tend to be less mobile. Terrans use workers to construct their buildings, some of which can float and move, allowing for some adaptable strategies.
The Zerg have the cheapest but also weakest units in the game. They rely on sheer numbers, and overall, their units are also the most mobile. Instead of training units from buildings, the Zerg produce their units by morphing them from larva at Hatcheries, allowing them to alter their army composition more quickly than the other two races.
Finally, the Protoss possess the strongest and most expensive units, emphasizing quality over quantity. Their workers are able to warp in structures, and every unit and building possesses plasma shields that automatically recharge over time. Since they have fewer and beefier units, Protoss is generally considered the easiest race for new players to play and learn.
PROFESSIONAL STARCRAFT
A decade ago, nobody could have imagined what StarCraft has become today. In South Korea, two cable TV channels, OnGameNet and MBCGame, are dedicated to gaming, and live StarCraft matches are broadcasted several times per week. Three individual leagues and a team league means that there will never be a dearth of StarCraft games to watch. Hundreds of professionals play for a dozen organized teams, living at team dorms and training eight to twelve hours a day. The top players earn six digit salaries, and even if tournament winnings and endorsements are included. Large Korean companies such as Samsung, SK Telecom, and CJ spend $10 million or more a year to run their StarCraft teams. Even the Korean Air Force has its own team. Recently, a t-shirt autographed by a professional gamer went for $520 at auction, purchased by yours truly.
While other games, such as WarCraft III and Counter-Strike, have seen competitive play in Korea and around the world, no other game has seen the same amount of fans or sponsorships. What is it about StarCraft that distinguishes it from other titles? In other words, what makes a successful competitive game or e-sport?
STARCRAFT AS AN E-SPORT
In my opinion, the following factors were key to StarCraft becoming an e-sport. I will draw parallels to established physical sports and explain how other video games have failed to meet these criteria.
- ACCESSIBILITY
“Easy to learn, impossible to master,” the saying goes. On the surface, StarCraft is a simple war simulation game that anyone can pick up and figure out in minutes. The rules are simple and few, and there is no memorization required to start playing. For example, a game in the Civilization series would simply overwhelm a new player or spectator.
The game is also spectator-friendly, with lots of action going on most of the time, which rules out chess as a spectator sport. It is also easy to focus on the battles and see the big picture, as opposed to World of WarCraft team arena or team first-person shooters, where the camera can only follow one player at a time. - DYNAMIC GAMEPLAY
Every game of StarCraft is unique, and it is nearly impossible to accurately predict the outcome of a single game, much less what will happen in each game. Bowling, for example. just gets boring to watch after a while. A dedicated fan will be able to identify individual players based on their style of play and hotkey patterns. A particularly dedicated fan will be able to identify dozens of specific games from single screenshots.
The asymmetry of the races in StarCraft adds untold variety to the game. Even to this day, in most RTS titles, the factions play almost identically. Furthermore, every season StarCraft leagues retire old maps and add new maps that are designed by professional map makers. On the other hand, games like Counter-Strike and Super Smash Bros have used the same map pool for years, so games quickly become repetitive. - STRATEGIC DEPTH
The strategy metagame of StarCraft is constantly evolving, such that strategies seen two years ago will disappear almost completely whether it’s because the maps have changed or more importantly, because opening theory and build orders have evolved. It seems that every few months, a radical strategy appears on television and takes the StarCraft community by storm. Sometimes it results a paradigm shift that fundamentally changes the openings and unit combinations for a particular matchup.
Overall, the trend has been towards strategies that favor economic development instead of training a military. Gone are the days in which gaming magazine reviews bemoaned the all-powerful rush tactics as players have become better at defending against rushes. The maps have also favored more economic openings as well, so in a sense, the maps have co-evolved along with the popular strategies of the day.
Similarly, basketball has evolved from being a big man game focused on centers and rebounds to a game that rewards ball movement and accurate jump shots. Similarly, the rules of basketball were changed to promote such play, such as addition of the three-point violation rule and adding a three-point line. - DEMANDING MECHANICS
Besides the quality of the game itself, one other aspect of StarCraft makes it stand out. It is hard – that is to say – even if you know all the strategies and know what to do, execution is another story altogether. StarCraft’s interface is antiquated by current RTS standards. For example, you can only issue orders to twelve units at a time when you may have over 100. You can also only select one building at a time, even if you need to build from ten of them.
Most professional gamers play at 250-400 actions per minute on average, which means each second they make at least four to seven clicks and keystrokes. StarCraft requires an inordinate amount of dexterity to play well. As in real sports, athleticism is extremely important. It is irrelevant in basketball to know where to position yourself and run to on the court if your opponent is that much faster, taller, stronger, and more accurate than you. In theory, an average Joe may study the game for know how to best defend against Michael Jordan in all situations, but even Michael Jordan telling Joe that he’s about take a turnaround fadeaway doesn’t mean Joe can do anything to stop it. In the same way, a professional gamer could tell the amateur player his strategy and everything he is doing in the game, and yet the professional would still win with ease.
Games such as Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution satisfy this condition, but fail the other conditions. On the other hand, games such as WarCraft III are considered too “easy” to be competitive.
CONCLUSION
StarCraft is an 11-year-old game that remains popular to this day and is more competitive than ever before. With StarCraft II on the horizon, the million dollar question is of course: is it possible to make Basketball 2? If everything is done correctly, and then improved upon, the answer is a resounding yes. StarCraft II will undoubtedly define the course of e-sports for years to come.
