I played Starcraft religiously as a kid, completely ignorant to the progaming scene. I mostly played the campaign with cheats enabled and against my brother, only ever using Battle.net to enjoy Use Map Settings games.
With the release of the SC2 Beta, I took a stab at playing competitively, reaching Gold League in 2v2 with my brother. After hitting a skill plateau and being steam-rolled game after game, I was frustrated and so I decided I wouldn't buy SC2 with the closing of the beta.
Recently I've returned to SC2 to try my hand at 1v1. While I was decent enough to achieve Gold League during the beta, looking back it's clear that I had no sense of macro and relied entirely on rushes, hard counters, and stiffly mimicking replays of highly skilled players.
With the help of Day[9]'s Day[9] Daily, I've begun to develop macro skills I had always struggled with, namely constantly producing workers and units. I had always been able to micro fairly adequately, but when it came time to multitask between combat and production, my production always went neglected.
One thing that surprised me with my return was how savvy the average low-league player has become. During the beta, achieving Gold League was effortless. In the beta, the Copper League player was struggling to control their chosen race with passable intelligence. However, these days it seems that the low-league player is much more competent in terms of of unit and map control, and economy.
I'm both impressed and pleased to see the bar set higher. Enjoying the game is much more than just winning. It's recognizing and then growing to meet the skill of your opponent. A hard-won victory is far more satisfying and there's an element of respect cultivated between two players playing at 100%. I really think it's a sign of the health of the Starcraft community and e-sports that so many people are capable and willing to pour their souls into becoming better players. It says to me that we all see SC2 as an experience so engaging and enjoyable that it's worth our devotion.
All that said, I look forward to growing as a player, highlighting my failures and successes, and really just enjoying SC2. It's more than a game, I think. It's really about the experience of self-development and the trials we put to each other with each match up.
Take it easy.
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