My left hand is sore. How is that possible one may ask, well the answer is simple it begins with an S and ends with a –tarcraft 2. I’ve been gaming since morning till lunch then decided to stop and study, eat, take a shower and all that good stuff. So right now, I want to play the game and my left hand is sore. To be exact my palm muscle is sore and the only strenuous thing I can remember this hand doing was mashing on hotkeys.
Does Starcraft 2 live up to the hype? By now there are dozens of reviews out there that have the same general opinion as mine Starcraft 2 is a splendid game. I have some gripes with somethings like certain parts of dialogue and storyline but that’s a personal preference I can’t write a review but there is one of professional opinion that managed to express my gripes and loves quite perfectly: http://www.giantbomb.com/starcraft-ii-wings-of-liberty/61-20674/reviews/
I’ve always regarded gaming as this addiction that I should try to grow out of. Ever since high school it has been a love hate relationship, I hate it for what it takes away what I could have been doing (opportunity cost) but I love it at the same time maybe due to its addictive nature or because of my long history as a gamer since the first command and conquer, your to blame Dad. I know some most people are either ignorant about it and listen to all that stereotypical media garbage or they make ass-umptions like the douchebags they are. I detest how society places people with ‘proper’ hobbies on a bloody pedestal to be glorified. How being good at a sport is seen to be more beneficial than being proficient in a game.
Which is true. I can’t deny that no matter what reasoning I try to use to justify the benefits of gaming vs. sports, sports always comes out on top. My opinion sort of changed once I heard someone saying something along the lines of, “Anything that requires you to work hard to be good at isn’t a waste of time.”
When you apply that sort of thinking into hobbies it actually makes sense, not all I’m sure I mean if your hobby is mopping the floor does that mean you can work hard and become a professional in the sport Curling? I think not. But it does bring up the point that just because it’s a game do we put off that hard work it requires to be good at it, because it’s a video game?
Personally I like sports that are game oriented like football, basketball, badminton, anything with rules. But most of these sports are team oriented which is not to my liking. The competition in any casual sport game is bogged down by its friendly nature to play nice. The thing about starcraft is that it is very competitive, something I cannot find in any real sport unless I acquire the skills to compete at a state level .
Adrenaline running in the veins, heart pumping, palm sweating, a held breath, a trembling hand, all these happening while your mind if caught in a battle of wits and choice. Do I expand? Do I tech? Do I build workers or units? Where is his main army? What is his composition? I should be scouting. Do I have the right mix of units? Has he expanded?
Needless to say, starcraft 2 is chess with a syringe of adrenaline stabbed into your thigh. And what really bothers me is that people with no knowledge of this game will dismiss it like any other game and lump it together with the likes of massively popular games such as Halo or Modern Warfare because it’s a video game and thus mind numbing. I’m not saying those two games are bad games or stupid by nature no, no ,no ,no, no – what I’m implying is that ignorant people would make those cliché assumptions of what a game is – violent and simple.
Meeting new people you understand how non-widespread gaming is but what grinds my gear is not their ignorance or their stupid assumptions, it’s that look of pity. Like when someone says he collects anime figurines or plays warhammer 40k the tabletop game or magic thegathering. I know not everyone makes that stupid face but those that do, can go fuck themselves for all I care.
