Interview: Starcraft II eSport players Bling and NightEnD
How gruelling are eSports? It’s easy to be on the outside, chuckling to oneself and belittling the idea that gaming could have a lucrative and entertaining competitive scene, but when you take a moment to investigate the idea there’s one thing that strikes you – these guys take games very seriously.Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm is one such game that hosts regular competitive tournaments with a strong following of spectators. There’s an entire culture of ‘Barcraft’ events where the game’s bigger brawls are broadcast live in public houses, much in the vein of what a dissenter might refer to as a ‘real’ sport.
But for many modern gamers, eSports are more than real and it was the effort and commitment to the practice that I wanted to understand and nail down when I managed to share a few words with two StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm players at the recent UK Masters tournament.
Interview 1 – BlinG
Age: 21
Faction: Protoss
Team: Team Dignitas
Country: UK (Exeter)
- 1st in ESET UK Masters 2012
- Regular player at Insomnia events and has competed in the IGN ProLeague, WCG finals, Gadget Show Live and the HomeStory Cup IV.
- Former competitive Halo player
- Personally sponsored by famous YouTuber and gaming personality TotalBiscuit
How long have you been playing competitive games in a professional capacity?
I’ve been playing professionally for about 2 years now.
How or when did you know you were good enough for professional gaming?
I knew I was good enough when I attended my first offline competition and saw how everyone was playing. I thought to myself, I can do better than that!
How much practice does it take to play a game at a competitive level? And how much extra ‘work’ do you have to do around your game, in terms of simply learning and understanding theory, information and statistics?
Most professional players play around 6-10 hours per day. In terms of extra work, it’s just down to the individual themselves. To some it comes more naturally than others. If someone new was playing the game and they hadn’t touched it before, it would probably take at least 4-6 months before they [can] grasp a good understanding of it, overall.
Focusing in on Starcraft II, what is it about Starcraft II that makes it so appealing to you as a competitive game? Particularly one that can be played professionally?
At first it appealed to me because it could be played professionally but also because there are so many different situations you can find yourself in. Every game is always a new game which kind of hooks you in as everything is always new and exciting to a certain extent.
Does competitive Starcraft II still have the ability to surprise you? How often are you taken aback by a new strategy or particular show of skill?
Towards the end of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty not really no, but now that the new expansion Heart of the Swarm is out, new strategies are evolving all the time since no one has really figured out an optimal way to play the game yet.
How did you settle on playing Protoss? Was it a lot of trial and error or love at first sight?
Well my first 5 games were played as Terran because I played Age of Empires II before and Terran seemed to be the most similar play style compared to that, but after getting crushed by Protoss in all 5 games, I figured they were the best race and that I should play them!
Do you play as Zerg and Terran as well? Is that an important part of learning the game and would you ever ‘change’ the race you play competitively?
No I dont. Maybe for fun sometimes with some friends, but not in a serious game.
How has Heart of the Swarm affected your game? What additions or changes have had the most profound impact?
It’s affected everyone’s game as nothing is truly figured out yet. Most people are still using trial and error methods to come up with the best strategies and ways to play at the moment as the game is still so new. Basically all the new units such as Widow Mines, Tempests, Oracles, Vipers and so on have all had a major impact as there are so many new strategies evolving around these units. Even for the Races that have to play against them since they have to take into consideration would their strategy work against this or these units.
Zerg players seem to be the most aggravated by the new expansion thanks to a nerf to some favourite tactics, yet LIFE was able to win the recent MLG Winter Circuit, showing that Zerg still have their bite. Are general Zerg players moaning for moaning sake, and what is it like devoting so much of your life to a battlefield constantly being changed by patches and updates?
They’re probably moaning because they were used to playing pretty much the same strategy for 4 months or so and now it’s not so viable [so] it seems like they’re a bit lost. Some of the more creative Zergs like LIFE and like Snute are doing just fine so I guess it’s just for moaning sake right now. With the patches and the updates, it’s just the makers of the game trying to make it a perfect and balanced game so there’s no problem in that for me.
Considering these HotS related developments, were you confident heading into the ESET UK Masters Tournament, or did the tournament being so soon after Heart of the Swarm’s release leave you unsure of how things could play out? How quickly did you adapt to the new HotS changes?
I wasn’t really too confident going into the tournament. I felt like I still needed a little longer to adjust to the new game but when it came down to it, it wasn’t my strategy choices that made me lose, it was army control which my losses eventually came down to which is just one of those things you can hope you don’t do again.
Which players in the ESET UK Masters Tournament were you most afraid of playing and why?
All of the Terran players that were in attendance purely because they’re the race i’m having the most trouble playing against right now.
Starcraft II is a daunting game, both to play and watch. What advice would you give a newcomer who wants to understand the appeal of Starcraft II multiplayer?
Probably to watch broadcasted games that have casters commentating them such as Apollo or Artosis so it will help them understand what’s going on more than they can see.
From experience what’s the most important little tip you could give a struggling player, like myself? What was the thing that clicked for you and helped you move from simply playing Starcraft II to properly playing Starcraft II?
For me, it was setting myself a goal. That way I was always working towards something and was always motivated to play and improve.
Honestly, how do you go from Halo to Starcraft? Did your role in competitive Halo prepare you for pro Starcraft II at all or was it a tectonic shift?
Well as I said before, I previously played Age of Empires II and I really enjoyed playing it, so when I heard Starcraft II was being released, I was really excited about a new game coming out and learning it from scratch. Halo was more of a pass time for me that I could occasionally go to tournaments too so it wasn’t a hard choice for me to drop that. I don’t feel like it prepared me at all though, no.
Out of interest how do you feel about Halo 4? Franchise support from the likes of MLG appears to have dwindled in recent years, do you consider Halo 4 a step in the right direction? Could Halo ever be as big a competitive game as Starcraft II?
Well, I bought it during the downtime of tournaments between Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm release, and for me it’s lost the fun factor it used to have. Compared to Halo 3, its changed so much and it isn’t half as enjoyable as it used to be. So for me, Halo 4 doesn’t seem to be a step in the right direction and it seems like its time is kind of over now.
Interview 2: NightEnD
Age: 25
Faction: Protoss
Team: Fnatic
Country: Romania
- 2nd in the 2012 WCS Combined Europe Nationals
- 3rd in DreamHack 2011
- 3rd in The Gathering Easter 2011
- Represented Fnatic in Global StarCraft II Team League
- Trained for 2 months in Korea
How long have you been playing competitive games in a professional capacity?
I think this is my fifth year playing competitively.
How or when did you know you were good enough for professional gaming?
Well that’s an easy question! In my first tournament I had to play against all the best Romanian players and I felt I could play much better than them.
How much practice does it take to play a game at a competitive level? And how much extra ‘work’ do you have to do around your game, in terms of simply learning and understanding theory, information and statistics?
Well I think my theory with 10,000 hours practice is working with Starcraft 2! I don’t know how much extra work you need to put in exactly. I think you should put as much work as you feel you need to.
Does competitive Starcraft II still have the ability to surprise you? How often are you taken aback by a new strategy or particular show of skill?
I think I can only get surprised when the game is new, after some time you can’t really get surprised anymore.
How did you settle on playing Protoss? Was it a lot of trial and error or love at first sight?
I played a couple games of Starcraft and I felt like Protoss is the most fun race to play and that’s why I stick with protoss in Starcraft II.
Do you play as Zerg and Terran as well? Is that an important part of learning the game and would you ever ‘change’ the race you play competitively?
I rarely play other race but when I do, I play Zerg. I find Terran pretty boring to play as but Zerg is fun!
How has Heart of the Swarm affected your game? What additions or changes have had the most profound impact?
Well, the game is still very new and there is a lot to learn but in general I think the new units are very good additions to the game
Zerg players seem to be the most aggravated by the new expansion thanks to a nerf to some favourite tactics, yet LIFE was able to win the recent MLG Winter Circuit, showing that Zerg still have their bite. Are general Zerg players moaning for moaning sake, and what is it like devoting so much of your life to a battlefield constantly being changed by patches and updates?
Well there are many patches and a lot of Zergs did well in Wings of Liberty thanks to one combination which is infestors and broodlords. I think only those players whine about the current game, I think Zerg is still very strong.
Starcraft II is a daunting game, both to play and watch. What advice would you give a newcomer who wants to understand the appeal of Starcraft II multiplayer?
I think the best method to learn SC2 as a newcomer is to both play the game and watch vids/matches. I think watching vids/matches will help way more, actually, in terms of understanding the game, moreso than playing the game at this point
Training in Korea sounds like it was important, what is it about Korea and its players that sets it apart when it comes to competitive Starcraft?
Well I think playing on [the] Korean ladder is overall a better practice just because of one thing – there are many more good players on that server then in EU or US.
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm is available now for Windows PC
