Levelling Up

The StarCraft Community Goes Clubbing

SportsDavid Murphy — Published November 21, 2011

In the 21st century, Barcraft is the closest thing.

Combining the turn-based sci-fi strategy computer game StarCraft 2 with the social aspect of a bar, the second annual Barcraft, held last Sunday at Club 1234, drew roughly a thousand people.

In the club, two massive projectors showed the final of Major League Gaming’s Pro Circuit played in Providence, RI.

Montreal gaming nerds gathered for up to nine hours in the club watching epic battles of ships, machines and deformed aliens devastating one another with laser guns and physical brute force.

This wasn’t just a dreary Sunday gathering at your local pub. A special drinks menu was made up, featuring drinks named after popular characters in the game, a barbecue was held and standard club rates applied—$15.00 cover and $2.00 coat-check. The upstairs balcony was even reserved for those wanting the best view of the battle from swanky red-leather seats.

Everyone else crammed onto the club floor, impatiently gazing at the screens showing advertisements for StarCraft 2 and anticipating the main event, as though Kanye West were about to walk across the screen and start battling himself.

Of course, as the big guns in the sport came onto the screen, people gasped with delight as their heroes started assembling armies and strategizing how best to demolish their opponents.
The action got people talking—something Barcraft encourages people to do.

“There’s this atmosphere, this ambience, all these guys and girls are rooting for different players,” said Michael Cohen, founder and co-organizer of the Concordia StarCraft Club.

He started the organization as soon as he found out no such club was offered at Concordia and got a huge response. From then on, the StarCraft community has grown considerably.

“In CEGEP I had no friends. I took 10 courses [a semester] and breezed through it in two years—I was a complete loser,” said Cohen, who was greeted by a plethora of people as he walked through the masses at Barcraft.

“It doesn’t bring the community together—it shows that the community is together,” said Cohen. “ StarCraft appeals to both genders, all ages, different levels of gamers—casual, hardcore, dedicated.”

Not only is it growing in popularity, but people are noticing. There have been rumblings that ESPN2 is interested in picking up MLG tournaments to broadcast games like StarCraft 2 and Halo. Though that may sound strange to North Americans weaned on football and basketball, in South Korea gaming matches are shown on national TV regularly, generating massive sponsorship.

Korea’s not the only place where the game generates revenue, though—Barcraft received a $3,000 sponsorship this year from Vuugo, a Canadian online computer store.

“They [show] spelling bees, so why not StarCraft ?” he said. “We televise pool. They have their fans, their interested parties. StarCraft ’s no different.”

It’s not that surprising that it’s garnering this much attention. Over 11 million copies of the game’s newest iteration, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, have been sold worldwide.

In 2005, a Korean StarCraft competition garnered 40,000 more viewers than the Super Bowl did that year, and North America is catching on to the trend too, as streaming websites make it possible to catch all the Major League Gaming action.

Like other sports, the game’s not purely a participatory event.

“I play, but not as much as others,” said 24-year-old Barcraft attendee Max Ceban. “But I really enjoy watching. I watch more than I play.”

“Five years ago it wasn’t as big, but it’s always growing,” said Cohen. “The game wasn’t as accessible as it is now.”

Now, professional StarCraft players can make up to $200,000 a year, a reality that’s been convincing players to continue practicing in hopes of making it big.

The current president of the Concordia StarCraft Club, Patrick Moullas, says although there might be one potential member that could turn semi-pro, it’s not about the money, however.

“I just play for fun really. I probably play 30 hours a week just for fun. Pros play eight to 10 hours a day,” said Moullas. He also says there is a stigma attached to playing StarCraft and other video games, largely imposed by older generations, that video games are a waste of time.

“I feel like I’m actually using my brain and thinking, so I feel like I’m active in a mental sense,” said Moullas. The most important aspect, however, is the social side, and he wants it to continue its rise in popularity.

“If I go to class and mention I play StarCraft , there’s an opening already, just talking about video games,” he said. “Without the StarCraft club in Concordia, I wouldn’t know anybody here.”