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I don't often write about gaming. But it has been a large part of my life for a long time. My friends and I spent countless hours doing it when we were young, and I still find the time to work on my StarCraft skills (which has been compared to Chess, albeit very fast chess)
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7zMcp7EinY which features Artosis, one of the first truly famous eSports casters in the west.
If you want to see the speed required at competitive levels, you should check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbpCLqryN-Q
Quake laid the foundation for games like Halo, Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty - which have become some of the biggest games ever (as well as huge in eSports.) Quake (and the developers idSoftware) created both Doom (the first first person shooter) and Quake as well (the first 3D first person shooter.) They've also released the engines used in numerous 3D games, even up to this day. Only recently have they had any real competition in the engine department.
StarCraft though, developed by Blizzard North in the 90s, is a whole world away from these games. It has been for a long time. For whatever reason - I reckon because of the ease of purchasing a computer capable of playing it - StarCraft: Brood War has been unimaginably big in South Korea. Millions watched the league matches daily on television. One of the championships had more than a hundred thousand in attendance. The top players were making a hundred thousand US dollars or more per season. This has continued, although it has tapered off somewhat - both due to the recent switch to StarCraft 2 (which released over a decade and a half after Brood War) and the emergence of games like League of Legends and Dota, which while still attracting players who practice for 16 hours a day, attract far higher numbers of casual players.
I'm curious to see what the future of eSports really holds - I think in my heart of hearts, the truth is that games like StarCraft won't survive to see the level of viewership the NBA, NFL, Baseball and Soccer have. But there will be games that do. Technology has become such an integral part of our world, especially for the children growing up and yet to be born...it will be interesting to see how seriously they take it, compared to how we have so far.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7zMcp7EinY which features Artosis, one of the first truly famous eSports casters in the west.
If you want to see the speed required at competitive levels, you should check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbpCLqryN-Q
Quake laid the foundation for games like Halo, Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty - which have become some of the biggest games ever (as well as huge in eSports.) Quake (and the developers idSoftware) created both Doom (the first first person shooter) and Quake as well (the first 3D first person shooter.) They've also released the engines used in numerous 3D games, even up to this day. Only recently have they had any real competition in the engine department.
StarCraft though, developed by Blizzard North in the 90s, is a whole world away from these games. It has been for a long time. For whatever reason - I reckon because of the ease of purchasing a computer capable of playing it - StarCraft: Brood War has been unimaginably big in South Korea. Millions watched the league matches daily on television. One of the championships had more than a hundred thousand in attendance. The top players were making a hundred thousand US dollars or more per season. This has continued, although it has tapered off somewhat - both due to the recent switch to StarCraft 2 (which released over a decade and a half after Brood War) and the emergence of games like League of Legends and Dota, which while still attracting players who practice for 16 hours a day, attract far higher numbers of casual players.
I'm curious to see what the future of eSports really holds - I think in my heart of hearts, the truth is that games like StarCraft won't survive to see the level of viewership the NBA, NFL, Baseball and Soccer have. But there will be games that do. Technology has become such an integral part of our world, especially for the children growing up and yet to be born...it will be interesting to see how seriously they take it, compared to how we have so far.
