{"id":19667,"date":"2013-05-23T02:41:36","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T07:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=19667"},"modified":"2013-05-23T02:45:55","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T07:45:55","slug":"how-i-came-to-own-starcraft-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=19667","title":{"rendered":"How I Came to own Starcraft 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you didn’t listen to the podcast<\/a> last week, I’ll tell the story again only with more personal rambling, poorly-justified digressions, and editorializing asides. After all, that’s what makes me a guy who has trouble getting to the point<\/del> professional writer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I had decided not to get Starcraft 2.<\/strong> I was really into Starcraft back in the day<\/a>, but I was into LAN games, the campaign, and fights against AI. I know that’s not “real” Starcraft to most players, but it’s what I liked. When Blizzard pulled the whole game online for Starcraft 2, they were obviously focusing the game around the one thing I didn’t like or care about: PvP ladder matches. <\/p>\n

I knew if I got the game that sooner or later I’d be unable to log in to play campaign mode. I knew that when that happened, I’d want to rant about it. And I knew that when I did, I’d just get a line of jackasses telling me that I’m enjoying videogames wrong. LOL! Nobody plays the story missions! The campaign mode clearly exists for no reason and nobody is ever expected to play it, and if you’re not on the ladders and you’re not in the pro league then you’re a dumb noob who should shut up.<\/em> To be fair, this type of behavior is not unique to Starcraft. Pretty much any game with a strong PvP component is going to have a lot of rageboys who react with hostility to any kind of critical commentary or analysis. It’s not the Starcraft community, it’s just the competitive culture. You get the same thing around sports fandom. <\/p>\n

starcraft2_1.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons I really like Pro Starcraft player \/ analyst \/ commenter Day[9]<\/a>. His tagline of “Be a Better Gamer” works with the gameplay advice he offers in his show, but it also works in the more holistic sense of being a better human being who plays videogames. His positive attitude, friendly persona, and love for the game are magnificent things in a realm normally filled with anger, bickering, smack talk, and alpha male posturing. The guy is a gentleman and the Starcraft 2 community is very lucky to have him. <\/p>\n

But anyway. I decided to give Starcraft 2 a pass. I knew it would rub me the wrong way, I knew fans would try to claim my complaints were invalid, and I knew how that argument would play out. There was no reason to spend sixty dollars to get on that particular merry-go-round.<\/p>\n

But!<\/p>\n

Last week I was watching Starcraft 2 matches with my son. Specifically, we were watching BRONZE LEAGUE HEROES from Husky Starcraft<\/a>. <\/p>\n