EPTAsians weren't the top starcraft players by being creative , they were only at the top because they played x10 more games than anyone else.
Therefore european gamers would have the edge with starcraft 2 initially because they would adapt to the new game faster, and if a pro scene arose out of starcraft2 in the west, western gamers would be just as good as asian rts gamers if not better.
This view obviously comes from historical roots where europeans have revolutionalized today's epoch and asians are seen as refiners of today's technology opposed to developers. Hence the view, europeans 'create', asians 'refine'.
Dr lynn's book, the IQ and the Wealth of Nations a contraversial book on IQ and wealth puts towards a theory that nations that with higher IQ's are more likely to become technologically advanced as well have the higher GDP. He explains that asian countries such as China were as wealthy or as powerful as european countries, till european countries expanded their trade links in the 16th century throughout the world.
What does trade have to do with this? Trade not only allows for revenue, but an influx of new ideas, thoughts that become assimilated into the culture allowing for more creative processes and ideas. It's only been 50years or so since the asian continent has opened itself to the west , not only in terms of borders, but in terms of ideas. Korea for example during the choson dynasty made it illegal to deal with foreigners for trade or otherwise. This short termed view is what allowed Japan to easily invade korea, a nation that still distrusted foreign ideas, a nation without any rifles.
Past 10 years we've seen a huge shift in the power Hegemony from that of europe towards asia. Why is this happening? Asia in general has learnt from the mistakes of the past and have adopted new ideas, new trends faster than any continent in the world. Technological adaption by the mainstream in asia happens so quickly, trends that lasts for years in the west, only lasts for a few months in Asia. This of course might create another set of problems, but the adaptation of new ideas by asians is not disputable.
What does this have to do with starcraft and not some rant about asian history?
People here cite that the foundations of starcraft were firmed by western innovators such as maynard, slayers ; strategies that would taken a lot longer had it been left alone for the asians to discover.
Back then asians were only just discovering 'online' gaming, and most of asia didn't even have internet access, bar korea. Unlike gamers in the west, asian gamers didn't have access to dune2, cnc and other rts games that allowed them to have a huge advantage over people who played those games before. The vast majority of first time rts gamers including all of korea, were playing BGH maps , this was true in west as well, except it was mainly those who played previous rts who realized rts gaming had strategic depth beyond that of massing 20carriers.
Come today, there is equal footing for all people to play at the top level of starcraft 2 without any disadvantage. Every top rts western player has transitioned themselves towards starcraft2, none of the top korean starcraft players are playing it actively. Idra got flamed to death when he spoke out something everyone with a sense of brain knew. The asian starcraft2 scene is a notch above every other starcraft2 scene. People who never played on the asian server were raging that their view that europe>asia at the beginning of starcraft 2 were proven to be false. Idra had worse stats in US than in Asia, so therefore Asia had worse players was the common argument. An argument forgetting that Idra is playing from outside US with lag, something he doesn't deal with in the asian server.
The recent 4-0 onesided results of the asian/european games shocked the masses into depression that their icons of european gaming were somehow inferior to that of asia.
Wait it's only beta! Things will change!
Starcraft1 constantly evolved due to new strategies and new patches that forced change. Creativity is simply the innovation of existing ideas, not the creation of new ones. When a dominant strategy arises, a counter is played/tested by many players, the more players that test this strategy, the faster a counter arises. When people talk about how starcraft went through 10years of evolution, they forget that it's microevolution, not macroevolution. A new strategy is innovated to counter another innovation, leading to further depth. What exists in Asia that doesn't exist in the west is, mastery of mechanics that none , but a handful of western players have. Every platinum ranked asian player has mastered mechanics, a lot of them aren't the most intelligent of gamers, but given the exact builds/timings, they will pull them off perfectly. This results in strategies being tested/trialed at the highest levels very quickly, and either being discarded or evolved. In other servers, a lot of the strategies don't get tested properly, because the opponents even while doing the perfect counter , will lose due to poor mechanics. Neither player benefits from the wisdom that would have been gained if the opponent could test out his counter perfectly.
This isn't an asian>european thread, but to stop the perpetuation of the asian has no creativity myth.
As far as I see it, asian gamers will continue to evolve and get better than their western counterparts, because they have a better range of mechanically better players to play with. In the west, the only person with near perfect mechanics is Idra, and his playing in korea.
Creativity and innovations are worthless unless you can apply them properly. Without perfect mechanics to test out strategies, strategies formulated by people have no real value, because a plan is only as good as the application of it.
