The End.
Here's the deal. I'm trying to determine if starcraft is really worth learning and if the game mechanics are really all that good to begin with. Reading through a few starcraft forums, I see how it took some people years to finally be considered 'good'. They say they spent 10 hours a day learning the motions and memorizing the keyboard movements. I'm thinking to myself, I can't do that, at least not when I barely win anything, the small things I want to remember are forgotten in the intensity; and I'm not going to play against a computer 10 hours a day for two weeks. That's pure boredom we're talking about.
Then other thoughts come to mind. Why am I not enjoying the game much? The stress most likely arises because of how hard it is to use your units wisely and to actually THINK as you play. This is a real time STRATEGY game right? Am I getting the most I can out of this game (strategy wise). I think not.
It has come to my attention quite a few times that absolutely nobody is willing to play on a slower speed type. Now, a slower speed is unlikely to be played because it appears as if the game lags a lot, nobody seems to be able to handle the slower beginning of the game, and people want players with no life to have it easy. Yes, it may be a little boring the first few minutes but when things start being built, it gets interesting. There is something that happens EVERYONE can agree on, when a game suddenly lags, you control everything better. You will be very efficient with your moves and strategy. It's a sure thing. The best thing about slowing the speed down is that people are on a more even playing field. There's not much of a hotkey advantage. The speed hotkeying skill is perhaps the only thing that causes people to be good, it's not always the strategy. It shouldn't be such a problem because they can still keep the hotkey advantage at slower speeds.
Yes, I am a noob, I'll admit that to anyone. But this is a GAME and I want to enjoy the gameplay to the fullest without having to hotkey as if it's second nature. It ruins the game a bit. I wouldn't ask the high apm people and gosu players to play on a slower speed but want the noob players to slow it down. It doesn't have to be on normal speed. Fast and faster will do fine. Hell, the game is practically made for normal speed! People want to speed it up only because it becomes more difficult the faster you go, then they claim it makes the game more exciting. I disagree. It is only exciting if you spend 10 hours a day playing this crap.
The main point I want to get across is that the people of lesser skill should be playing on slower speed, but I know this will be impossible for noobs to get. I may try to explain 4v4 maps are more fun to play if the speed is slowed down and people can see what the hell is going on while playing. I almost wish to go back in time to when this game was first released to play the slower speeds and all the players were more open to different game types. But then again, all my partners are either too noob or too good. Lots of noobs wouldn't be able to handle a mass carrier.
I know that starcraft two is supposed to have all the things that made this game a hit in Korea. It just begs the question why a game like this took off in the first place. Turning back 10 years ago, this game had the smell of freshness and had THREE races to choose from unlike warcraft. The single player was very amusing as it included many short movies as you progressed. The storyline was indeed interesting. The game has been patched time and time again for a more balanced game. So I have to assume that it wasn't the best of games back then. But this game isn't fun for noobs unless all the noobs are together. And playing on a slower speed. That's the only way a newcomer can see the fun in this game.
I hate Korea for making starcraft seem like it's such a fun game. I see it is only fun when you play as if your addicted. I've read about how starcraft was released in Korea at just the right time computer technology became more advanced and open to everyone. Then the computer game revolution took place. Fuck you Korea. And fuck you starcraft. I am not having this any longer! At least not until starcraft 2... but even then I won't keep my hopes up that the multiplayer will be fun instead of made to be such a hotkey 'spend all the time you have to get better' sport. Seriously, it's not the need to speed up your movement that makes the game fun. I can't even explore the complexity of the game because the speed is so damn fast. I don't want to have to click with all my might every game, I just want to think about my moves and do it with at least some ease.
I made a game on bnet named '4v4 slower speed' and '3v3 slower speed'. One or two joined. No deal. I find the inability to play 4v4 on starcraft to be a big minus. I'm a casual gamer, I want a casual game. I don't want a game where it's necessary to play 8 hours a day or barely having time to think when your trying to learn. And I just have to accept that most 3v3 or 4v4 types of games are pretty unbalanced. I'm sick of 1:1.
I’ve had enough of this 10 year old game. I don’t want to make my control movements second nature, I want to casually learn the game on maybe 6-10 hours a week. And to play the game on a level playing field. Something isn’t fun only because there is always room for improvement, that is not what makes starcraft as great a game everyone is making it to be. I think I just about juiced all the fun there is in starcraft even after becoming aware of how deep and demanding it is, but now I see it’s not worth learning. All the practice and clicking isn’t necessary to enjoy the game. So I figure I’ll play the least annoying type of game starcraft has to offer (duh).
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4 comments:
Hi Mike,
I'm a bid sad to read this post. I resumed playing Starcraft back in April and I have had almost as much fun playing as I have had writing about it. But then again I like to write too, so blogging about my gaming comes natural and if I stopped, I would feel sorry that the subject I write about went away too. That may not be your situation. I don't know.
One of the pleasures about writing is that someone else reads about it. That you are part of a conversation. It has been a great pleasure that some have picked up and done as I have. Some even because of me. To see those people drop out again is annoying to say the least! Especially those who seem to have a true understanding of the game and just struggle with the mechanics of it.
It is not my ambition to be good at the game and go to Korea. Just to enjoy playing it. I do prefer to win games, but I tend to be happy as long as I loose good games and have fun doing it. IC Cup may not be the best place for amateurs to hang out and if you are from the states then battle.net maybe not either. As a Dane I get to enjoy the very small community that hangs out in Brood War DNK-1 and I often get good games with those few there. We know each other and it is fun. Maybe a clan for amateurs that mostly play games against each others are what players like you and me are missing?
You question whether the game is actually that good and worth learing. I really hope you only wrote that out of frustration. The game itself is the best RTS game ever and second to none. It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't hard. Trends like money maps in Starcraft and DOTA in Warcraft III are most players answer to the steep learning curve of Blizzard's games. They may have fun playing those maps, but I think they miss out on something bigger. Although I did really well on Blizzard's Starcraft ladder in the earlier seasons, I have always been a team player. In between 1999 and 2001 I played endless games of 2v2 and had a lot of fun doing that. Back then I realized that to do well in 2v2 you needed some special skills that you only could get by playing 2v2, but to get the necessary unit control skills, you still needed to test your self in 1v1s as well. I think that when Starcraft 2 is released the same will hold true and I hope that my practice now will give me an edge over the endless hordes that once again are going to invade battle.net.
With regards to the slower speed settings: Yeah I kinda agree. For amateurs like us, it would be better if the game was a notch or two slower. Not laggy as you write, because that hurts everyone and makes timing hard to predict, but just slower. I'd be happy to play a game on fast or normal with anyone who wants to. Not many do though and I blame impatinence among bad players for that. They don't know what is good for them. Rumor has it that the demos we have seen of Starcraft II is played on fast and I hope that they keep that for release. I doubt it, but I hope. Starting out with 6 workers rather than 4 ought to make up for it a bit, but the Koreans are probably goning to hate anything less than fastest.
I happen to think that the current Automated Match Making in Warcraft III is deeply broken, but with enough volume it ought to work and match players of equal skill. I sometimes play 1v1 tournaments in Warcraft III. I always loose the first 3 games, but then suddenly I meet people of equal skill and the fun starts. Sure I never advance past the preliminary round, but I still have fun. Ufortunately I like Starcraft better than Warcraft III so right now I have to choose between playing equally good players or the game I like. Hopefully I can have both in Starcraft II,
Well, that was a rather long comment on a blog, but still Merry Christmas and all that jazz. If you like too, I'd be more than happy to meet online and play a game. My email address is mk (at) i3m (dot) dk. I also use that for gtalk in case you use that.
Haha yeah, I understand what you mean in your second paragraph. I remember that guy you linked to on your blog; He deleted his blog much sooner than I thought. But this one here is going to stay up. It wasn't meant to solely be about starcraft, I'm glad I made the title of the blog like this.
As a matter of fact, I've been hearing good things about 'Company of Heroes', some have claimed it to be the best RTS, ahead of starcraft. I wanted to try the single player to see if I want to buy it. Unfortunately, my laptop can't take the graphics. Maybe I can steal a desktop computer :-) I planned to write about that one day.
I want to see for myself if BW is truly the best RTS, at least for a casual gamer. Do you believe this is the best RTS for the casual gamer?
I won't be playing starcraft for a while. I know it might seem like I'm making lame excuses not to play, even though I'm halfway over a wall from Noob (D/D-) to Decent (decent as in D+/C- on iccup), but I just can't do it anymore. As I said before, I'm all for the strategy aspect of the game, just like a chess player would be all for the strat. in chess, but for a chess player to play with a time limit (or a shorter time limit), it would lower the strategy aspect of the game a bit (and put the skill ceiling higher). I wouldn't think of it being more fun.
And much thanks for the comment. You're the only person that revisits my blog. It's always great to have people read what I write. Happy New Year buddy!
I think that there are no difference "in the game" between what makes it good for the professionals and us casual gamers. What could differentiate it is the community. I.e. can you find opponents at your own level?
Right now I think you have to want to be good at Starcraft to play it and if you don't have that desire, then maybe not.
But traditionally Blizzard's RTS titles have had the most comprehensive community, so I have no doubt that once Starcraft II is released it will be the game for casuals as well as pros.
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