The Strategy Genre; Starcraft and YOU

Greetings. Τhis post highlights the start of a journey. I ask you to join me, and simply enjoy the experience. These opinions are of my own, and can be fallacious like any other. But do take in mind that these are highly processed thoughts after distilled research. Arguments welcomed as long as they belong to the constructive spectrum.

Starcraft and YOU.

Sometime long ago in a galaxy far away, Starcraft was released by Blizzard. Starcraft went to become a e-sports phenomenon; especially in Korea. After a decade Blizzard released the new entry to the Starcraft franchise, titled Starcraft 2. But before i move on to Starcraft 2, let's gain a little bit of context of Starcraft history.

Starcraft essentially is a assymetrical strategy game. Before Starcraft, the famous  franchise of the same company, named Warcraft was already released and played by thousands (if not millions).

Yet only Starcraft gained the critical mass to reach the e-sport level. 

Why did that happen?
The short answer; technology. No not the fictional one.

But first, a side trip.

Have you ever heard of Tom Cadwell? If you have, then you know that, at the moment, he is the Design Director of League of Legends, the new online phenomenon and e-sport. But what links Tom with Starcraft?
At the time Starcraft was released, Tom a student at the time, played a hell lot of it. He wasn't your average player and that lead him to REDEFINE Starcraft forever. Yes you read that right. Truth be told he made a discovery that lead to redefine Starcraft and the whole genre. 

You see at the time of Starcraft, Warcraft was already released and many already had experienced the game. So when someone with Warcraft history transitoned to Starcraft, they transitioned their gameplay too. By far the most important element they transitioned was the mass army approach.

But what is the mass army approach(AKA macro-management)?


Simply put the mass army approach is the mindset of managing units only as a mass, and not individually. So these Warcraft-conditioned players that transitioned to Starcraft, played in the exact same way of utilizing the macro level. That at the time was the logical way to play.
Noone had thought about anything else, and it did not make any sense to a play differently. 

Then came Tom.

What Tom Cadwell brought (well after dominating every single Tournament) was knowledge. He shared the knowledge of MICRO MANAGEMENT.

What is micromanagement?


 It is purely antithetical in nature to macro. It embraces small things, or more precisely; it glorifies small actions. The mass army approach went obsolete. Macro was gone. Just like that. Tom simply discovered what was already there. And the only thing that led to this discovery was the technology.

But how does technology relate?


Being a new game, Starcraft had an entire new engine behind it. The new tech, allowed the delicate selection of individual units. That was enough to propagate the entire genre. With just a small step in technology, a whole new world was opened to Starcraft. The funny thing is that, Blizzard did not made this intentonally. It was not a conscious design decision.

OK, so what did Tom specifically discovered and then shared?


The most subersive aspect that Tom shared, was (and still is); Focus.
Tom suggested that instead of attacking in masses, attacks with concetration must utilized in order to optimize efficiency.

For example a battle simulation with: 5 marines VS 5 marines.

Before Tom; Both marine squads would die at the same time, because each marine attacked a single marine. No focus fire. 

After Tom; He introduced the idea of focus fire, that is to "micro" manage the squad and command each of the marines to focus entirely on an opposing marine. This efficieny led to the entire opposing marine squad dead and about 3 to 4 of his marines alive. And if you combine that with run and gun tactics and that leaves you with all your marines alive, with the damage distributed among them. This simple idea led to the redefinition of an entire game and genre.

The rest is pretty much history. Tom went to make a guide and share this knowledge. His tactics were embraced by the entire Starcraft player base. And the irony is that NONE of this were intended by Blizzard.

Moving on.....


Thus time went on and now, behold, Starcraft 2. What did Blizzard delivered with Starcraft 2? Besides the obvious, ofcourse such as new shiny graphics. Before moving on there is a core element which is missing.

APM and You.

APM stands for Actions Per Minute. It is a by-product of micromanagement. It is a measurement of how many clicks you can execute in a minute. The faster the better.
Surely Tom's discovery was indeed revolutionary, but in the end it was a tradeoff. Micromanagement led to hectic gameplay, which the only thing that mattered was "how fast you can click", hence the appearance of the APM term. Starcraft -a strategy game- was now led by this toxic annoyance named APM. Strategy was sacrificed in order to gain click speed. The only thing that mattered, was APM's. Do you want to compete at a pro level? If your APM is 300 then you can have a go. Strategy was irrelevent. The faster one won, pretty much always. The only ones that were strategizing were the amazing ones, with APM's of 500 and even more, and that was rare.

Ironic isn't  it? This led to the stagnation of Starcraft. The tactics were known, the strategies were known, all in all it was (and is) a stagnant game. Yet it became an e-sports legend.
 A strategy game, or more correctly, THE strategy game, rewarding the faster clicker and not the strategical mind. Irony at it's finest.

Starcraft 2 and YOU

So what did the number 2 brought to the table? 
Blizzard simply embraced the gameplay that emerged from Starcraft, and optimized the game experience for the sequel.
To put it simply the unforgiving gameplay of Starcraft was unchanged. 

WHAT? How they dare?

 And yet they do. Not because they are in fact, Blizzard Entertainment, but because they understand the player. Just imagine a game that has defined the lives of thousands (if not millions) for a decade, and suddenly his succesor has entirely different gameplay. Madness. 

Features were built, enhancements were made, all with one thing in mind; to satisfy the invested player( fan boys included). That though did not made Starcraft 2 less stagnant in strategies that it's prodecessor. This embrace led to the excessive glorification of the APM.
Now your personal APM was even more important. How is this fun?

The questions

Again i ask, how is micro fun?  What about macro? What about a balance between the two? Why there is the ignorant notion of Starcraft 2 being the definition of strategy games? Why it is copied blatantly by developers without a sense of thought? Why does Starcraft 2 casual player base is non-existent? How the unforgiving gameplay of Starcraft 2 influences everything and the universe? Why Starcraft 2 is starting to lose it's experienced player base? 
Why Starcraft 2 and chess share similar traits of stagnation? 

Can there be a strategy game that rewards the player with the strategic mind and less the faster clicker?
What do all of these have to do with League of Legends?

Is Starcraft really the evolutionary end of strategy games?