My brother used to watch StarCraft games whenever he could find
them, often he could only get it with Korean commentators. I used to
laugh at him and tease him mercilessly regarding it. Not that I was less
geeky - I've been involved in massively multi-player online role
playing game communities, media, and events, since we were both little.
It was just that our geek tendencies ran in different directions.
When
my husband and my brother met, they played StarCraft 2 to a level that
startled me. My brother introduced my husband and I to the Day9 Dailies,
and while he was an interesting watch - I didn't understand a single
word of what he said, and sometimes he was just to bizarre for me to
watch for more than a few minutes before logging into whatever MMO I was
playing at the time,shaking my head at all the crazy.
Then
I attended Blizzcon 2011 with friends and my husband - and during one
of the World of Warcraft events a kid sitting in front of us had
signatures all over his shirt. The curiosity got the best of one of my
friends and she asked who had signed it. His face lit up and he
explained that the GSL finals were being held at the event, and that he
had gotten his shirt signed, since the players participating had never
done an event like this in the U.S.
Later,
we wandered over to the SC2 area and took some seats to watch the games
going on. My husband actually understood what was going on, but my
friend and I just sat there and watched. We thought we'd be pretty bored
- but it's pretty amazing how watching a large group of units baring
down on a much smaller group of units is easy to understand. The casters
made it even easier with their excitement and tone setting the big time
battles up in our mind.
We
watched a game where the casters were pretty much yelling about how many
brood lords were on the field. I didn't know what that meant, but their
enthusiasm was easy to follow. Something big was about to happen, and
the player without the brood lords was not in a good position. I turned
to my husband and said "This is easier to follow than I thought, they do
a good job of explaining what we're looking out for!" and he laughed
and explained that Day9 (the guy I had pretty much blown off before) was
the one yelling about the brood lords. Being the good sister that I am,
I immediately took a picture of him and sent it to my brother. What
else could I do?
The crowd gasped,
the tension was palpable - and then the flying units (the brood lords)
simply evaporated into nothing - and the crowd went *wild*. The casters
went crazy, the crowd was so loud you couldn't even hear what was going
on - and they were playing a video game!! I was hooked!
Almost
11 months later I now understand what a big deal it was that the Global
Starcraft 2 League (GSL) finals was held outside Korea. I also watch a
lot of Day9, though my aim is to be a better spectator, not a better
gamer, as I still don't actually play SC2.
Oh
sure, I've tried a few 2 versus 2 against the AI, and even some 1 on 1
against the computer. I've completed one practice game with 1V1and one
practice game on 2V2 against other players, but I don't get the rush
other people get from it. I just enjoy being a fan, watching the games,
and following the industry of SC2 competitive gaming.
I
won't argue whether it's truly a sport, I don't care. I won't argue
foreigner or Korean, as long as I get good SC2 games to watch. I have my
favorite casters, favorite players, favorite events - to me it's no
different than watching college football where I can yell at the screen
and people don't think it's weird.
I
watch a lot of the shows online, while I'm doing stuff around the house
- Live on 3, State of the Game, Real Talk, The Day9 Daily, Inside the
Game. I've watched some of Apollo's laddering videos, I haven't gotten
into anything from The GD Studio yet, and I only rarely watch The Losers Bracket from VvV gaming. I only have so much time to go around!
I
attended Major League Gaming Anaheim 2012 earlier this year, and I plan
on doing at least one event next year.But in the meantime, I watch the
competitions I have time for when the players and casters interest me.
So here it is, a place for me to write about what I'm watching and
playing, and news and information regarding anything in the gaming
industry that happens to catch my eye.
Hope you enjoy!
