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CASE 1.2

StarCraft II

Yong Ming Kow, Amanda Wortman, and Timothy Young

You know your opponent is coming even before you can see his or her forces.1 As soon as gameplay starts, you balance resource collection and unit creation to build your own army (as seen in figure C.1.2). Each decision you make has ramifications for the entire match and is made at the expense of something else. Did you build enough medics? What about base defense? The game is all about strategy and speed. Efficiency is the key. And just as in chess, different strategies can be employed to defeat your opponent. The strategies differ based on the map you are playing, the race you are competing against, and the play-style of your opponent. But like any good chess player, you go to the match with a variety of versatile strategies in your back pocket so you can change your strategy no matter what situation arises.

StarCraft II is one of the most popular PC-based real-time strategy games and is labeled by many of its participants as the chess of the 21st century. It is part of a franchise of games, with the first of its series, StarCraft, released by Blizzard Entertainment in 1998. StarCraft’s well-designed and balanced competitive gameplay encouraged droves of youth to pit their skills against each other, a practice that eventually became what is now known as esports, or the practice of regulated competition with video games. The population of StarCraft II gamers is fairly homogenous, consisting mostly of college and high school students, as well as a significant number of young working adults. The interviewees in our study ranged in age from 15 to 30 years old and were predominantly male, though we interviewed a handful of females. About 90 percent of our interviewees were either white or Asian American. In the early years, StarCraft events were mostly self-organized by youth interest groups. But in 2011 and 2012, these competitive events saw rapid growth, with international tournaments awarding $2.5 million and $4 million, respectively, to winners.

Figure C.1.2. A StarCraft II match tests players’ ability to manage a battlefield in real time.

Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.

The lore and backstory of the game flesh out an engaging and rich content world for players to explore during narrative-driven single-player games. In a StarCraft II competitive match, players control armies to engage in intergalactic warfare. The army units that players control, the maps that players compete on, and the art surrounding the world all contribute to the epic StarCraft II story line. Players control one of three factions—Terrans (human), Zerg (swarm insectoid creatures), or Protoss (futuristic alien race)—building bases, managing their economy, and raising an army to defeat their opponents. The game and community present a unique environment in which competition and professional play become a platform for self-directed learning and improvement, as well as inspiring various initiatives for community growth.

At the core of participants’ discourses about StarCraft II is the “metagame,” or “any planning, preparation, or maneuvering that a player does outside of actual gameplay to gain an advantage” (Team Liquid 2013b). In other words, it is the analysis of game mechanics and shifting social discourses of strategies within the community—which comes from deep analysis of high-level gameplay and active participation in online forums and video commentaries. While the metagame often refers more widely to any game-related activities that take place outside a game’s formal play space (Salen and Zimmerman 2004), the term, as used by StarCraft players, captures the robust way in which the game connects shared purpose in an interest-driven activity to learning and expertise development around that activity.

Driven by a common interest in the metagame, StarCraft II players both consume and create a range of media content, such as videos and articles, which they often link to one or several of the StarCraft community hubs, such as Day[9]TV (day9.tv) or Team Liquid (teamliquid.net). Day[9]TV features web shows revolving around high-level analysis of StarCraft gameplay. Day[9]TV is extremely popular among community members for its mix of high-level strategy analysis, humor, and approachability for players of all levels. Other hubs, such as Team Liquid, have been built through the efforts of volunteer fans who contribute their time to write articles, produce videos, and organize online and offline events, such as tournaments. These practices demonstrate how a game such as StarCraft II can enable players to anchor their interests to develop strategic and systemic thinking as well as contribute to a community and shared culture.

Although StarCraft II supports single-player play, the dominant mode is highly social, with players competing and practicing with one another and also studying the play of others. Blizzard Entertainment provides an online matching system, called “the ladder,” that players use to identify random practice partners. But players also take the initiative to seek out volunteer coaches and teachers in order to benefit from a more personal form of learning. Day[9]TV reflects this peer-supported ethos by hosting forums where players exchange knowledge and tips, allowing for community chat during the live shows, and inviting player suggestions for show content and contributions of game replays. While Sean Plott, a 25-year-old white male from California, is the personality and expert behind the show and the site, his approach and demeanor reflect a welcoming, unpretentious community ethos as he continuously seeks input and feedback from the crowd of StarCraft enthusiasts and experts.

StarCraft II is designed by Blizzard Entertainment so that players can get involved in content production, sharing, and curation. The Team Liquid online forum is an important participatory hub for these content producers. The site serves as a repository for various digital media such as articles, forum and wiki posts, and weblinks that cover a wide range of competition strategies. Apart from sharing core content related to the StarCraft II metagame, Team Liquid also acts as an information hub for the community where members publicize local activities to the rest of the community members. Younger players can also use Team Liquid to form open-membership and cross-generational practice partnerships so that they are exposed to more experienced players as personal coaches. According to a Team Liquid survey, 62 percent of its users are students, while 24 percent are employed full time (Team Liquid 2012).

Among all production activities, forum posting and article writing are perhaps the most accessible for players. New York–based Waxangel, in his early 20s and the team’s chief editor, told us that writing is one sure way to get players involved in the community. Any Team Liquid participant can post to its forum, which is moderated only for offensive content. It also has a writing team. The only difference between general forum posters and Team Liquid writers is that the writing team tends to write longer articles and also receives peer support from Waxangel and his editorial team. Some of these articles analyze strategies, while others report on gaming events or introduce professional gamers.

Waxangel hand-picks his writers by inviting forum posters who exhibit relevant aptitude. He describes an important hallmark of a good Team Liquid writer as “someone who is very passionate at esports, because a guy who’s not that good at writing technically but has a lot of passion for esports, you can definitely tell that in his writing.” Waxangel welcomes writers such as Day[9], who already has an illustrious reputation in StarCraft II, to publish anytime.

Occasionally, StarCraft II gamers find career opportunities in professional gaming if they put in years of effort in learning and practicing with other equally dedicated players. Likewise, content producers who attain high levels of expertise in writing articles or broadcasting events may also find employment opportunities in the gaming industry. For example, the shows on Day[9]TV, which began as a passion project and online daily TV show devoted to the art and strategy of StarCraft II, became a full-time job for Sean Plott.

Learner Story

Mona Zhang is a 22-year-old Asian American college student at Princeton University and the female founder and leader of the Collegiate Starleague.2 Mona is also a master level player, meaning that she is among the top 2 percent of players in the United States. Mona is both a powerful player and a community leader—a strong role model for other female gamers.

As with most active StarCraft participants, Mona’s experience with computer games started at an early age. She first started playing StarCraft when she was 11 years old because her brother was playing it, and she wanted to do the same. Her relationship with her brother had always been close, and she was motivated to emulate his interests. Besides StarCraft, she and her brother shared an interest in console games, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Tiberian Sun. And like some other gamers, Mona started by playing games casually, for example, doing comp stomp (beating computer opponents) and playing for fun. Later, she found videos of professional gaming events on the openly networked internet and fell in love with professional competitions.

Mona elaborated on how difficult it can be for young women to discover their own interest in things that are stereotypically male:

There’s always that issue of access. You don’t have girls saying, “Oh, video games, I should play them because they’re cool.” What I mean by that is that a lot of girls, when they’re brought up, they basically do things that their peers are interested in or that their parents give them access to. Because no one tells me that, I’m not going to say, “Hi mom, get me an N64.” That’s what my brother did because he was like, “Oh, all my guy friends are getting N64s. Mom, get me an N64.” Otherwise, girls are only exposed to things like shopping. Your peers are really interested in shopping. Your peers are really interested in books and “hanging out.” It’s very different, and because of the different exposure that you are given, I feel like it’s more difficult to learn how to read a game or learn how to play a game.

Mona suggests that young women ask for things that their peers and parents think are culturally appropriate. If her brother had not asked for video games, she would probably not have had the opportunity to play them.

Having access to video games at home is not the only influencing factor in Mona’s development of a geeky interest. She also met like-minded geeky peers in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at her high school. IB programs expose students to mathematics, science, and critical thinking, which may explain why Mona found many other geeky kids to hang out with. “A lot of us were nerds,” she said. There, she met three other female friends with similar backgrounds—they had geeky siblings and were interested in StarCraft. They became best friends. Playing competitively online for the first time is a nerve-racking experience for all StarCraft players. Mona and her friends supported each other, socially and emotionally, by cheering each other on until they became more confident. At school, they beat the StarCraft boys in their class.

Mona speculated that had she not had geeky siblings and peers in her early life, she would have found it difficult to pick up video gaming in college. She provided us with an example by describing expert keyboard manipulation. “What is WASD? You move using those controls in a game. If you only use your computer to check your email, it’s incredibly difficult for females to get into the gaming scene.” Mona told us that many college women she had met faced similar difficulties. Gaming skills are more complex than simply controlling your mouse to click on icons. Avid gamers develop fine keyboarding skills, such as clicking on the correct keys without even looking at the keyboard, through their frequent usages of common game controls such as WASD. These gamers can pick up new games and become good at them much more easily than others can.

At Princeton University, Mona remained deeply interested in StarCraft and looked for like-minded students to form a StarCraft II club. She describes how she first recruited participants, joking that a shared geeky Asian identity helped prime the pump. “If I saw an Asian guy who kind of looked Korean, who looked like he might know what StarCraft was, I would ask and be like, ‘Hey, we should start a StarCraft team.’ And so I met a lot of people through that process.”

After she found a handful of students at Princeton who were interested in StarCraft II, the group began organizing matches with other schools:

We were thinking, “Hey, in two years, if we get 20 schools we will be happy.” What happened was, the Princeton students—I started trying to meet the Princeton team—and someone from MIT who was my friend, he said, “Hey, we play StarCraft here, let’s have a show match.” We thought it was great fun so we made a hype video about it and we broadcast it.

After that, people started emailing us. We did most of this through Team Liquid [a popular StarCraft community site]. People were like, “Hey, we want to play too.” At first, we were just going to do show matches every week, and I would try to organize them. But eventually we got so many sign-ups that we got 26 people.… Then we went up to 144, and now we’re at 250.

Through a collaborative effort between Mona and her friends, Collegiate Starleague has become an overwhelming success, built on the principles of peer support and shared interests. These college students use their social networks of similar-aged peers to build a league in which players share an interest in StarCraft II competition and learning and are identified by the college they are attending. In 2013, participating colleges included the champion University of California, Berkeley; University of California, San Diego; and University of Washington.