EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/R1CH/Sc2BannerFP.png)
Pass the Torch
We all knew it was coming. Some of us were dreading it, while others awaited it with breathless impatience. Most of us were somewhat in between. We played the beta, we followed every blue post since the fit that surrounded its announcement way back in 2007, and now we're finally on the cusp of a new dawn. We know what's coming, but what we don't know is what will happen when it comes.
These are questions that nobody can answer, not even the vaunted Team Liquid staff. But perhaps now is not the time for asking questions, or for criticism, or for theorycrafting. No, my fellow Teamliquid.netizens, I think now is story time. Now is story time to remind us of the game that will be succeeded in the next few days, to remind us of the pioneers who created the greatest game ever made, and the pioneers who launched an industry.
Anticipation of Starcraft 2 has brought gamers and enthusiasts of every stripe to Starcraft and the communities that surround the game. So, this one is for you newcomers as well as you old timers, and for all those in between. There is no better time than now to reflect on Starcraft and e-Sports than now, on the eve of its next step, so gather round.
Hindsight 20/20
December 10, 1995. One day earlier, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness had been released. The team of developers at the young Blizzard Entertainment took little time to celebrate its wild success; there was work to be done.
They had not taken any of that success for granted. They were still a small developer in a fragile industry. Founded in 1991 by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce under the name of 'Silicon & Synapse,' they focused primarily on porting games rather than developing their own, but with a direction change to original development in 1994 they chose to rename to 'Blizzard Entertainment.' Their flagship franchise would be the first to be released under the Blizzard label, and it would be their first PC-only game. 'WarCraft: Orcs and Humans' hit shelves in 1994, and it became immediately apparent that Blizzard had a winner.
Reviews were mixed through trended towards positive, but the sales figures were not. Warcraft may not have been a consensus pick among critics, but gamers were enthusiastic. A year later, Blizzard had pumped out Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and this time it was not only the gamers who were enthusiastic, but reviewers as well. Blizzard was ready to take its next step.
The dreamers behind Warcraft had just acquired a new studio, Condor, which was busy at work on Diablo, but they weren't done making moves yet. They wanted to do something else. Orcs were cool, and humans fighting orcs were even cooler, but they wanted to move out of the domain of fantasy, and Condor's Diablo was not exactly going to do that. So they took their ideas into outer space.
Starcraft in its first incarnation would be unrecognizable by the release. It was built on the Warcraft II engine with some modifications, but necessity would dictate an entirely new engine after a poor showing at E3 1996. Diablo had generated more buzz then ever around Blizzard, and the momentum after Warcraft II's exceedingly successful release brought unprecedented enthusiasm for any news of a Blizzard project, but Starcraft fizzled at E3. It was ridiculed by the now famous quip 'It's just Warcraft in space.' Those words had a profound impact on its development, one that would transcend graphical updates and modest gameplay adjustments. It would re-write Starcraft's foundations and future, from being just another RTS to be the exemplar of the genre.
![[image loading]](/staff/riptide/misc/pttearlyalpha.jpg)
I think I've played a UMS that looked like this
The marked unenthusiasm of the Blizzard fan base over Starcraft's public showings caused the developers to make a dramatic shift in philosophy. The Warcraft philosophy had been more or less that of chess: two ultimately similar sides that built on strategic use rather than choice or depth. In order to take the 'Warcraft in space' stigma away, the development team made the change that would be the reason for its success, the same reason I extolled in A Legacy of Distinction: complexity.
The way Blizzard implemented that complexity was an innovation in RTS at the time. Instead of the chess-like use of how pieces are used against each other, emphasizing the implementation of the similarity, Blizzard emphasized the differences between the races in Starcraft. Three distinct, equal, and compelling sets of tools, built on the tested gameplay formula from Warcraft and Warcraft II. Not only were the races different, but they played differently. The Terrans were defensive and required strong management skills; the Zerg were fast and cheap and demanded excellent game sense and positioning; the Protoss were strong and expensive, and only skills complementing their strengths would get the job done. It would have been easy to simply give them all different graphics and units, but each race felt different and had different advantages and disadvantages.
![[image loading]](/staff/riptide/misc/pttalpha.jpg)
Scatter missles?
The Blizzard team was driven further than they had expected by the pressure. A proper, powerful follow-up to Warcraft II would make them the dominant force in RTS. If Starcraft proved to be a flop, however, they would be seen as a one hit wonder. Thus, in an effort to make it the blockbuster they all felt it needed to be, they wrote a brand new engine and updated the graphics. They hired professionals for the voice acting and put more effort into the story and lore. Most importantly, they pioneered a simple, effective, free multiplayer service which they called Battle.net. The product that they shipped out on March 31, 1998 could not have been further or more different than the one they displayed at E3 on May 16, 1996.
![[image loading]](/staff/riptide/misc/starcraftcamp.jpg)
Recognize me? Didn't think so.
The response was exactly the opposite from its first showing at E3. We all know how the game was received. We were the ones who received it. Most of us had never played a game like Starcraft. At the time its graphics were impressive, its engine was smooth, and its quality of production was pure Blizzard. Things only got better when Blizzard released the expansion, Brood War, which boldly added brand new units that enhanced the strategic options available to each race without breaking the balance. Coupled with its expansion, Starcraft quickly took hold not only in domestic but foreign markets as well, most notably South Korea. Once the game hit the shelves in South Korea, the rest was history.
Crazy As Them
But here at Team Liquid, fortunately, the rest is not history. And we have a Korean boy named Lim Yo-Hwan to thank for that.
![[image loading]](/staff/Arrian/boxer3.jpg)
Boxer needs no caption, but I gave him one anyway.
I'm not here to forge the story of SlayerS_'Boxer' on my keyboard for twelve hours. Riptide's words in Return of the King will work instead of my efforts in this regard, and more eloquently and completely I might add. However, it is not enough to simply mention Lim Yo-Hwan and be done with it. It's important to note that progaming didn't truly exist before Boxer, and would not have existed without him.
But we must also know that in perhaps any other country, with a similarly inspired, attractive, charismatic character like Boxer, progaming still would not have happened. Even the concerted efforts of organizations like MLG and thousands of investment dollars have not introduced anything close to Korean e-Sports in Western societies. In reality, it was Korean culture that allowed progaming to happen.
South Korea is the most wired country on the planet, and back in 1999, after Brood War was released, it was hardly different. In Seoul and Pusan, as well as other major population centers and even smaller towns, the late 90's saw an explosion in 'PC bangs,' essentially Internet cafes. Nearly every Korean had access to the internet at the time Brood War was released, and with the fortuitous addition of Battle.net, PC Bangs suddenly had a way to make lots of money off of gaming hungry youths.
It was these PC bangs that ensnared a young Lim Yo-Hwan. Boxer, along with a host of other gamers, would spend hours hammering feverishly at the keys, honing their skills at the hottest game around - Starcraft: Brood War. PC bang owners began hosting local tournaments, bringing in the best players around, and quickly what had been merely local tournaments became a a fledgling community, centered around Battle.net and Brood War. The best players were identified by which PC bang they played in, and it was not long before larger tournaments were being organized.
![[image loading]](/staff/riptide/misc/Korean_culturePC_bang02.jpg)
The incubator of e-Sports: the PC bang
I imagine the extent to which Brood War was played surprised even the PC bang owners, but it was certainly and inarguably on the fringe. There had never been a game that allowed for players around the world to be connected with just a few clicks of a button, or a game that seemed to have so many options and so many skill requirements as Starcraft. And so, despite its fringe status, interest grew, and so did the tournament prize pools.
A new age of young people brought up in a digital era rapidly began taking interest in this game. They all had access to it, and there might as well have been no game other than Starcraft as far as the PC bang owners were concerned. Still, interested youths and PC bangs would not have been enough. Many professional gaming circuits begin this way, and wither in a few years or die completely when a sequel is released. Popular games with legions of loyal fans in other cultures have not been enough to launch cultural phenomenons like e-Sports, despite seeming to have everything it takes. But those games are not Starcraft, and in South Korea, somebody was about to notice.
The stage was set, the star of the show had been selected, but somebody still needed to bring the cameras. The man to do that was a programming director at Tooniverse by the name of Hyung Joon Hwang. Noticing the growing popularity of Brood War, he took a chance and decided to air some Starcraft matches on a program called 'Gameplus.' When the numbers came in from the first match, Joon Hwang's roll of the dice had turned up a perfect seven. He had hit television paydirt. Not only were the ratings decent, better than anybody had expected, but the matches were cheap to televise and simple to set up. Tooniverse continued to air matches periodically, but growing popularity of the game eventually spurred Joon Hwang to a bold idea: a channel for gaming and gaming only.
The earliest generation of gamers who populated the first tournaments on television and otherwise were recruited from the best among the PC bangs, and the drawing of native players brought interest from across the country. There was no Courage tournament or progaming licensing, and only a handful of players had managers, much less sponsors. Lim Yo-Hwan had not emerged as a star yet, and e-Sports needed a hero, a man to draw in the crowds to watch the games whom all could unite behind. Enter Guillaume Patry.
![[image loading]](/staff/Arrian/GuillaumePatry.jpg)
Green Eyed Monster?
A handsome, exotic French Canadian, Guillaume Patry was also the best North American player and was lured to Korea by the large tournament prizes and slipped into the progaming scene with ease. Known by the ID Grrrr..., Guillaume Patry brought star power to e-Sports in its earliest days. His presence boosted e-Sports, drawing audiences intrigued by his personality and his strong Protoss play. Although Guillaume Patry had an accomplished career, it was a short one. Eventually his passion for Brood War declined, and his interests changed.
But Lim Yo-Hwan had a passion that burned bold and bright, never wavering even in his most excruciating slumps or most devastating losses. As the Hope of Terran became its Emperor in tournament after tournament, everyone slowly converted to being Boxer fans. By the force of his personality and by the creativity he brought the game, Boxer became e-Sports. He was its face, its golden boy, and his thousands of fans relished his every win. Inspired by Boxer, a new generation of gamers set out to be professionals, and soon teams were created.
Progaming grew and grew, but it was still on the fringe. It was still regarded poorly culturally, and viewed mainly as a curiosity by many rather than a serious enterprise. The day that changed is the legend of 100,000. The man who started televised Starcraft, Hyung Joon Hwang, eventually became the executive director of the OnGameNet StarLeague, and continues to fill that role to this day. The 100,000 refers to the turnout for the Round 1 of the 2004 Sky Proleague Grand Final, and that number was concrete proof that Starcraft was here to stay, and that Progaming was not just a peculiar interest or hobby, but a serious cultural phenomenon. e-Sports may not have been founded that day, but that is the day remembered as when it moved from the fringe in public perception to the mainstream.
![[image loading]](/staff/riptide/misc/2004skyproleague1.jpg)
Everybody here should know this image
Since 2007 however, e-Sports has been stagnant. The dramatic growth in interest and revenue it appreciated from 2002 onward has leveled out, and despite brilliant innovators, strong players, and charismatic personalities, the game has grown perhaps as much as it will, an idea properly and articulated elaborated in Alethios' On Waxen Wings. So e-Sports looked to the horizon that year, and Blizzard answered the call about its future.
It's About Time
![[image loading]](/staff/Arrian/hellitsabouttime.jpg)
Well said
And so we come full circle. On May 19, 2007, Blizzard Entertainment announced that it was in development of Starcraft 2. It would not be until February 17 of 2010 that the beta would be released, but the length development did not deter the energy and excitement that built around the sequel. Blizzard knew the expectations of this game, and there is no doubt that they feel now in the development of Starcraft 2 as they felt developing Starcraft in the wake of Warcraft II's success.
To make it even harder, Starcraft 2 is perhaps the first game ever designed to be viable as an e-Sport. A favorable reception of Starcraft 2 as an e-Sport means much for the livelihoods and careers of the hundreds of progamers, coaches, and employees of OGN and MBC. Their future rests in the hands of a team put together to design a game for a purpose that a game has never before been designed for, but Blizzard is not to be underestimated.
In their amibition, Blizzard made the decision up front that Starcraft 2 was going to be designed for e-Sports, which is perhaps the greatest contrast in development between Brood War and its successor. Brood War's success in competitive play was an accident, and although Blizzard never set out to make it an unbalanced game, the strategic depth to which it can be played was not expected by even its developers. Starcraft 2 has the lessons of more than just 2 games of the Warcraft franchise to build on, with the model of the original Starcraft was there to inspire and inform its development, but they are not lessons on how to design an e-Sport, they are lessons on how to design great games. While the game has the experience of the Blizzard label to make it great, the task of designing a game explicitly for professional competition is not something that even they have done before.
How, then, has the Blizzard e-Sports team approached this? One aspect of their method has included improving replays, observer controls, and modding support but those are mere details. The extras and conveniences of watching are nice, but how about the development of the game itself? Blizzard approached the gameplay regarding e-Sports with a surprising lack of variance from Brood War itself, focusing on finding the right kind of complexity, making each race different, emphasizing offense over defence, creating counters to every unit, and working to allow creative strategies.
Taking it a step further, Blizzard shaped what skill sets would be necessary for success. They selected micro, multitasking, strategic thinking, knowledge of opposing races, and map knowledge as the player-specific factors to accentuate for success.
And yet some issues remain unaddressed. What of the large number of useless units that never or rarely see competitive play? Why a lack of LAN support or cross-realm play, or the stifling atmosphere of Battle.net 2.0? Brood War did not use bonus damage on certain units to balance its unit composition issues, so why does Starcraft 2?
Nevertheless, it seems from this that Blizzard has not changed their core philosophy, and wisely so. They still aimed for complexity in ways that few others would even dare, and Blizzard succeeded in making three distinct and fairly balanced races, highlighting and pronouncing their differences while still building them off the same gameplay principles.
But that has not saved Blizzard from criticism. I could write a laundry list here of additional features of gameplay items that have sparked controversy since its development. That every feature's inclusion or lack thereof sparks opinions has been a consequence of Blizzard's openness with the community, but there is no doubt that the game is better for Blizzard's regard for the input of its fans. They have never been secretive about their approach to Starcraft 2's development. Like the response at E3 to the Alpha of the original Starcraft, the reactions and opinions of the community factor in the development.
And yet, at times the outcries have been ignored. Some issues, Blizzard continues to budge on, issues which Blizzard perhaps considers trivial or irrelevant, or efforts which Blizzard does not wish to engage on for motivations we may never know. The greatest casualty of Starcraft 2's development has been our trust in Blizzard. Every decision they made, even every delay, we all surmised was for a good reason and the game would be better for it, but never has that been less certain than now. Glaring us in the face is the fact that this game is not quite ours yet, and that we have only so much ability to affect change in the game and the features that we want or do not want.
![[image loading]](/staff/Arrian/rock.jpg)
Still my favorite complaint image. Brings up some good points
What lies at the heart of the matter are not questions about specific features but of what the game is made of, how the game feels, and the depth to which it can be played. Blizzard has not altered the approach to development that brought the original Starcraft such success, and that is a fact that should bring us comfort, but it has yet to pass through any of the trials that will measure it in the end.
The inescapable fact is that the development has not even begun. The real development begins now, and will continue for as long as the game still has players. Starcraft did not have the entirety of its strategies and techniques mapped out and balanced in beta testing, and neither did Starcraft 2. The developers can do their best to make judgments and balance the units, tweak abilities and change build times, but creating and making the game what it can be is and always has been up to the players.
Tip of the Dawn
![[image loading]](/staff/Arrian/starcraft.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Arrian/StarCraft_II__Box_Art.jpg)
And so, where does this really leave us? While we are bidding a fond farewell to Brood War, at least as the uncontested ruler of e-Sports, we are also at a place of opportunity. The story I wrote here is a story that is part of the legacy which we enjoy every time we log on to ICCUP or watch a VOD. It is the story of how the greatest game ever made came to be, and the cultural phenomenon it inspired moved from fringe to mainstream.
And now we are at a critical point in the history of e-Sports. Starcraft 2 is a chance for the stagnant state of the Korean scene to revive and grow, and it is a chance for Europe and North America to bud and eventually grow similar scenes. But it all hinges on the development that begins the moment the game is released. The part of the development Blizzard is responsible for is over. They have done their jobs, and from the looks of it, it has every opportunity to become as successful or more successful than its predecessor.
The burden then is laid on us, the players. The majority of that responsibility is rested on active and vibrant communities like Team Liquid to share information, passion, and techniques so that the game may develop into what it can be. A few hours ago, Blizzard handed us a game, raw but full of promise, and it will be our responsibility to take it and make of it what we can.
And so, Blizzard has passed the torch, and we hold it now, burning white hot in these hours before a new dawn. Ooh, aah, and when you're done, pass it on, I say. Pass it on, because we're ready. Ready for a new world.
glhf
