EPTStarCraft and eSports: The Rise of Competitive Videogaming
As manifested by everything from the popularity of chess to modern sports leagues and television channels, people have been fascinated with contests of skill since prehistory. With videogames having overtaken Hollywood years ago in profits, the rise of competitive videogames, or eSports, in recent years is clearly a development of great significance. The game StarCraft in particular, with its profound depth in strategy, intense physical demands with respect to speed and precision, and perhaps above all its mainstream following in South Korea large enough to rival that of most traditional sports, showcases brilliantly the vast potential of the fledgling eSports industry. StarCraft II, having already garnered a massive following despite having just hit shelves late this past August, is likely to represent the future of eSports.
I have three main goals in teaching this course. I want to teach people to be intellectually engaged when playing video games so they get more out it it. I want to address the positive and negative popular opinions of the media about video games. I want to explore the growing world of eSPORTS, Starcraft, and Korean game culture.
First and foremost, video games are becoming more prominent with every passing year, and the most popular point of view is that they are an escapist, brain-mushing waste of time. Though I would have trouble arguing against the generality that the CONTENT of most games is elementary, I feel that with the right mentality and approach to gaming, there are few things as good for cultivating critical-thinking and skills of self-analysis and observation. Even without being intellectually engaged, many games will greatly tax your coordination, decision making skills, and abilities to learn unfamiliar systems (one of the main arguments in one of the core readings, 'Everything Bad is Good for You' by Steven Johnson).
Unfortunately, most people have not cultivated this mindset when partaking of games, and don't get near as much out of games as I think they could. This is where Starcraft comes in. I think Starcraft is particularly pedagogically valuable because it is nearly impossible to succeed in it without at least partially adopting this intellectual engagement. So though much of the course will address improvement in Starcraft and learning to smash people on the internet, Starcraft is really just a medium to learn skills and a mindset that can be applied to other games, or even the acquisition of many other skills outside of the gaming world entirely.
As opposed to going into more detail here, I'll provide a link to an article I wrote that more deeply addresses my point of view.
Practicing to Improve
The class will be broken up into four parts:
A discussion on the reading/lecture about video game, eSPORT, or SC history; or about the differing cultural outlooks on the positive and negative aspects of video games.
Starcraft II Drills to increase basic physical ability, become comfortable with the interface, or if the level of student is high, drilling a certain scenario that the student has difficulty with.
A lecture/discussion on something relating to the game-play of Starcraft II, such as a lecture on strategy or tactics, a discussion of applying critical-thinking and learning habits to improving at the physical aspect of Starcraft playing, or going over game analysis assignments.
A Starcraft II 'studio class' conducted in a similar manner to a music performance studio class. Students will play games against each other, observed by the rest of the class. The class will then critique the game, and discuss possible practice methods to fix problems that were observed in the play.
In addition to formal class, I'll give each student a couple of private lessons (due to the limited amount of time and number of students, a couple is all we will have time for).
Once I know all of the specifics regarding assignments and in-class topics, I'll update the OP.
I am posting this for a couple of reasons, besides just being something I thought the community might think was cool. First of all, I need to deeper familiarize myself with SC history, and I wanted to open up the possibility of asking the community for input such as what they think the most influential or important matches are (not necessarily the highest level playing, just playing that greatly influenced BW or events that are a historical marker for some reason), or if there are some scholarly articles people are particularly fond of that address Starcraft, the way video games are affecting popular culture, or some other topic that would pertain to the course. Also, I thought further down the line I might post resources I've found/created to assist in teaching the class, or maybe upload video recordings of some lectures, lessons, or studio classes.
One way or another, I'll be in touch
~Hungarian
