Many American gamers acknowledge that the original StarCraft fundamentally changed the RTS genre. We have fond memories of pulling all-nighters on Battle.net in the late 90's. 10 years later this game is still widely played and as popular as ever, not many games can brag about that. But what many American gamers fail to understand is how StarCraft was the foundation for an entire online sport.
Sure, American gamers acknowledge that e-Sports spawned from the balanced competitive play of StarCraft, it would be hard to browse GamePro, GameSpot or IGN and not come across at least one article on e-Sports. But, American gamers don't truly understand e-Sports.
I'm not an e-Sports buff, I'm a fairly casual gamer, but I saw a video today of a professional match that really made me say "wow, that's crazy." And, it also made me ask myself if the second coming of StarCraft could be what it takes for the e-Sports craze to catch on in the U.S.?
Check out the video after the jump and help answer my question...
Professional StarCraft players take gaming to the next level. Sure you can call them a nerd, they are, and if you're on this blog or GamePro reading this you've obviously got a little nerd in you. (No, not like that...get your mind out of the gutter for one minute)
To understand how e-Sports takes StarCraft, and gaming to the next level, you really have to watch a match, only then can one appreciate how die-hard these players, and fans are. The game has evolved over the course of 10 years, and I'm not referring to patches. Players have developed tactics that have been given names and acronyms based on lobby chats. In fact, an entire lingo has spawned from this game, no different than chat and text acronyms like "ROFL" and "FTW."
Technology has come a long way since 1997 as well. We've seen the birth of YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace, Digg, and the dozens of other copycat sites. For years the Koreans have broadcast e-Sport matches on TV, but only in the past eight years, as video has become easy to record and upload for the average person, has e-Sport matches been talked about in America.
Panels like this resource one monitors in-game statistics for each player while a player spectates a game. This information will be important when commentators are calling a match as it helps illustrate to the spectators the differences between each player.
Korean matches are commentated in Korean, so naturally the small but dedicated American audience needed their own commentators if they were to understand what was happening in the matches.
StarCraft II is no doubt one of, if not the most hyped game of 2009, and this time around Blizzard is putting a lot of thought and development into e-Sports and support for that community. Gaming is becoming more mainstream. Is it possible that 10 years later, the predecessor to the greatest RTS of all time could finally ignite the e-Sports craze in the United States? Will online media outlets like GamePro, IGN and GameSpot cover professional events? Will G4 decide to televise competitions on TV like the Koreans do? Or will Americans go on with their lives never truly understanding e-Sports?
Check out this awesome match between Light vs. Tempest: Even if you don't understand half of what the commentators are talking about you will appreciate the micromanagement of these players and just how good they are.
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