You are the overseer of a brand new civilization on a distant planet. Based solely on your whim your people build and expand. Each new day is spent exploring the new terrain in search of resources that can be harvested for further expansion. You are the master of these people and everything they do. As their loving omniscient you help these small people hunt and gather by showing them what to build and where to build it. Everything seems great until all of a sudden, in the midst of training your people in the ways of your arcane power, you hear someone right next to you shout, "ZURG RUSH!"
In just moments, the civilization that you spent so long building up has been decimated, everyone is dead and nobody was spared. Your resources have been scavenged, and the people who blindly trusted your omniscience are buried underneath the piles of their own structures.
This is my experience with Starcraft. One of my least favorite games.
Alright, let me explain myself: Starcraft isn't the worst game I've ever played (Spiderman 2; DS). In fact, it isn't a bad game at all. However, out there in the world of video games there is a list of games that have good sized fan bases that I just can't stand playing! This isn't a long list- it technically only contains two games- but I don't like them for the same reason:Inaccessibility.
When I use the word inaccessibility, I don't mean something is wrong with the game I'm actually talking about something that is wrong with the fanbase of the game. When a game is made that takes a good amount of strategy, skill, or plain-old pattern recognition, then, as it gains popularity - a fanbase is made. This fanbase is the reason that I hate these games.
The games that I'm talking about are Starcraft and Defense of the Ancients (and all of its bastard children). These are games that, at this point, you don't play alone. If you are playing either of these games its because you have played it before or someone has told you to play it. I've fallen in the latter category many times now and every time I play it, it is prefaced with the same "I'll show you how to play" attitude from my friend. This is, of course, a TRAP. My friend is actually saying "I haven't played this game in a while and I need to beat someone at it, unfortunately, you are physically the closest person to me."
Back on topic though, DotA (Defense of the Ancients), is the best example of inaccessibility in video gaming. A game where the fanbase has become so elitist that it had to make new versions of itself just so it can be who play DotA. (HoN, LoL, and other silly acronyms).
If you want to find out how much you suck, you can play any of these games and not only will you lose, but everyone will tell you how terrible you are. This is the inaccessible part of the game. Of course, if you can work past this, Starcraft isn't a bad game (DotA has a stupid concept though). But it is such a social game, that if you are bad at the game or new, then your whole team loses and they have to suffer because you aren't good enough.The difference between this and the new trend of Online Cooperative games like Left 4 Dead is that Left 4 Dead is easy to learn. There is strategy, but the main strategy of Left 4 Dead is: 'click on things = they get dead'. When you are learning to play DotA or Starcraft, your friend might give you the race or character that is easy to learn. But then they can just choose the race that expands faster or larger than yours. It's like letting someone choose the balanced Mario and then using Bowser because he's stronger or Yoshi because he's faster. (But everyone knows that Wario is the perfect balance between Speed and Power)
Inaccessibility. I'd like this to be more than just a rant- but it probably won't translate to be so... But, I point this out because games like this have a limited lifespan. This problem will be what keeps these games from growing. The fanbase is large for now, but mainly because the games in question are free (go download HoN, Beta is free for now) or easily downloadable. Once money has to be passed, it's hard to believe that many new people will be willing to put down money for a game that the venomous fanbase doesn't want them playing. You can have a high difficulty curve but it just doesn't match well with multiplayer gaming.
Alright, that is enough ranting. I know I'm not going to make any friends with this blog, but I want to give everybody something with this. So here is a recommendation: If you haven't played DotA or HoN before, find some friends who know about it and let them show you how it works. Because as much as I dislike it; the game, the community, and all the camaraderie are, at the very least: interesting. It is a very special type of video game that deserves attention and if it weren't for such a loud, elitist fan base (the inaccessibility), I'd probably like the game more.
Thanks for following for so long: Here is your reward. Great flash game: Much better gameplay than DotA, not quite as good as Legion TD Warcraft.
