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I think it's a common struggle with people playing Starcraft II to show other how their hard work on Starcraft II is worthwhile. My parents generally saw myself as simply wasting time on a video game when I sat in my room and watched replays and took notes and worked on builds and the like.
However, I wrote an essay on the usefulness of Starcraft II that changed the way they saw the game. It is my desire to help Starcraft II gamers through this essay to show people who don't play the game how meaningful it can be.
It is rather long (5 pages) so rather than posting it here, I will provide a link here to Google Docs.
Thank you very much to everyone who gives their time of day to read it.
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Let me just say that there is one direct counter to your argument, there are various more productive ways to develop the mind and the characteristics/attributes gained through playing SC2.
However, it's great that you put your effort into creating and essay and succeeded in winning your parents over.
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Brilliant essay. I'm glad you were able to educate your parents about your passion for SC, and how it isn't "just a game".
I think when most parents/adults think of "video games" they assume it means someone sitting at a T.V. mindlessly clicking buttons, and automatically assume every game is as such.
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Well, with respect, you probably didn't read the essay because I specifically talked about that in the essay.
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Wow, epic essay. Thank you very much. Im going to go show this to my parents now, as I am in the same dilemma as you >.<
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It is very well written Sir. I loved it. would like to read this out to my friends so they understand its not about just playing a video game.
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Very interesting essay, I wish my parents would speak english to read it.
However, I think you should have taken a bit more time to describe en present this "Sean Plott". You use his quotes a lot, and actually all the quotes in your essay are from him, it can be felt as "authority argument", I would have liked more broad quotes (Tastosis, manager of Gom, manager of FXO,...), right now it can be felt at "Ok, you have only one source of quotes for this, who is this nuts ?".
Anyway, deep down you express quite well why we all play this game and come daily to this forum, masturbating happily our intellect about this, thanks you for summing it up nicely sir.
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On August 09 2011 00:15 IvoryOwl wrote: Well, with respect, you probably didn't read the essay because I specifically talked about that in the essay.
Ah, I didn't see that anywhere, (Unless you mean at the beginning). Regardless, I'm glad you put time into writing this.
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The essay wasn't very long, I read the whole thing just now minute or two. Most of your arguments are refutable such as: -building good-character. eg. Combat-Ex -coaching translating into a career is psychology is more than questionable -you quote Day[9] who isn't exactly credible unless you quote from his paper which I think he wrote one on gaming.
respectable effort though
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MyKill would you mind explaining how you refute the argument on good character? I am interested in refutations.
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I enjoyed the essay, maybe I'll consider showing it to people who crotoize my hobby in the future! though I think maybe you tried too hard to fit the day9 quotes in. + Show Spoiler + I've only watched daily 100 fully and it sounds like you extracted a lot from there, though it doesn't seem to fit perfectly, almost like when I cite some obscure article multiple times for a paper just to say I used some legit research.
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When people say than videogame are waste of time; I answer: it's a hobbie like reading book.
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On August 09 2011 00:26 IvoryOwl wrote: MyKill would you mind explaining how you refute the argument on good character? I am interested in refutations.
I think he was referring to the weakest part of your essay imo, where you tend to draw generalizations out of some very precise cases, ie your coach and "becoming a good person".
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I really enjoyed the essay, but maybe use a wider variety of quotes to refine it?
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By the way everyone I WILL read your comments and I WILL revise the essay if need be based on your comments.
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On August 09 2011 00:26 IvoryOwl wrote: MyKill would you mind explaining how you refute the argument on good character? I am interested in refutations. Starcraft created Combat-Ex, a player who lied about his rank and abused wins in BW to try to obtain donations from people who thought they were being taught by someone good at the game.
Then in SC2 you have all the trolls and kids who believe that everything can be fixed with a balance patch. Basically they believe that improvement is not needed, that the problem is with the game, not themselves. They are also disrespectful, such as in many stream chats and even the booing at MLG.
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On August 09 2011 00:31 Gyro_SC2 wrote: When people say than videogame are waste of time; I answer: it's a hobbie like reading book.
I think that reading a book feeds the mind a bit more than playing a game like sc2, it engages the senses and imagination and improves the vocabulary and teaches you about its subject.
That's not to say that SC2 isn't an admirable hobby as well, I love the competition aspect of it! But I'd never drop my reading time for SC2.
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On August 09 2011 00:07 IvorOwl wrote:I think it's a common struggle with people playing Starcraft II to show other how their hard work on Starcraft II is worthwhile. My parents generally saw myself as simply wasting time on a video game when I sat in my room and watched replays and took notes and worked on builds and the like. However, I wrote an essay on the usefulness of Starcraft II that changed the way they saw the game. It is my desire to help Starcraft II gamers through this essay to show people who don't play the game how meaningful it can be. It is rather long (5 pages) so rather than posting it here, I will provide a link here to Google Docs. Thank you very much to everyone who gives their time of day to read it.
Normally I wouldn't do this, but since you said in your essay that you like getting advice on essays... I'm going to give you a little bit.
Before I give you my brief criticism I do want to point out that your analogy with basketball was perfect You did a fantastic job of not only showing how SC2 is a skill building process, but you also related it to an activity that people are used to thinking of as positive.
I typically don't care to talk about grammar with people because a lot of times they will correct such problems on their own with 2-3 more reads. That said, my advice deals with organization. For most students, especially when you're working in the 5-6 page range, it is a good idea to literally lead with your thesis. In this case I would maintain the idea that you have in your first sentence, that most people consider games a waste of time, and then I would follow with your thesis that in fact startcraft 2 is not a waste of time but a skill building exercise comparable to many other respected activities. After you make this statement if you simply use the rest of the paragraph to briefly note the skills that are developed you'll give yourself a pretty solid place to work from. The other advantage of organizing your essay this way would be that it would improve your conclusion.
In your conclusion you effectively shift from simply proving your thesis to proving that your thesis is a valid and respectable one that just about anyone can relate to. The problem is that more inexperienced readers might not catch this shift... If you lead with your thesis though and then spend most of the body proving that thesis, the shift in your conclusion (especially with a nice kickass transition sentence) will be quite obvious. Then you will be perfectly lined up for your final sentences and your final statement of your goal will be all the better. You will have taken a thesis, proven it, and then made it a bigger deal that people can relate to. (Not to throw credentials but just show you don't think I'm talking out of my ass I am working on my Master's in Literature atm)
Anyways, thanks for the essay; I enjoyed the read.
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On August 09 2011 00:18 ArhK wrote: Very interesting essay, I wish my parents would speak english to read it.
However, I think you should have taken a bit more time to describe en present this "Sean Plott". You use his quotes a lot, and actually all the quotes in your essay are from him, it can be felt as "authority argument", I would have liked more broad quotes (Tastosis, manager of Gom, manager of FXO,...), right now it can be felt at "Ok, you have only one source of quotes for this, who is this nuts ?".
Anyway, deep down you express quite well why we all play this game and come daily to this forum, masturbating happily our intellect about this, thanks you for summing it up nicely sir.
This 2x
You don't really give him an introduction that lets the reader know "Day9 is the bible."
Don't be afraid to elaborate on why Day9 is what he is, even if it means cutting other stuff out. I feel like it would strengthen mutual understanding between people who do and don't play SC2.
For quoting him 3 times, one being a paragraph, I definitely think this change is necessary.
Good essay though, best intentions anyone could have writing an essay. You deserve an A.
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