Reading Reddit earlier and someone on r/SBCGaming said that they wanted to get a dual screen handheld with a touch screen on the button so that they could play classic real time strategy games with the touch pad. Now, while I think this sounds really neat, honestly… they posted this thought along with a photo-shopped image of the Ayn Thor playing a “classic RTS” game. The game pictured? Starcraft 2.
I’m not here to argue whether or not Starcraft 2 deserves to be a “classic”, but what I thought was wild is the realization that Starcraft 2 came out 15 years ago. It doesn’t feel like it was that long ago when I was watching the pros smack each other in Wings of Liberty and feeling like eSports was the best thing to happen to gaming (an opinion which has changed, but I won’t get into that today… that deserves it’s whole own post, I think). In fact, I think I was in grad school, and spent my breaks watching every professional game that I could get my hands on, as well as analysis by Day[9] and the Starcast podcast, etc etc. I was pretty obsessed with this game.
Another article just came out which said that the i386 was initially released (under a different name though) forty years ago this month. I believe that my first computer had one of these in it, though it’s been a long time now so I don’t truly remember. I do remember that my great grandmother bought it for our family with the words “computers are going to matter at some point and you need to be ready.” How true that was, she’ll never fully understand, I think.
And finally, another realization that I had recently was that the students currently graduating Master’s degree programs were not alive during 9/11. Of course, I was pretty young during this event, but at least I still remember it and remember what I was doing what it happened… something that many of my younger peers can’t say now in the work force.
There’s so much that’s changed since I was young, some for worse, some for better… but those experiences I wouldn’t trade for anything. How I felt and how others reacted to 9/11 still shape how I look at the United States and its potential. How I learned on an i386 processor has birthed not only my career, but also an eternal love of technology. And Starcraft 2, along with many other games through the 90’s and early 2000’s, has provided hours and hours of entertainment, as well as provided a testbed of places for me to learn how to be competitive, develop mods, and interact with communities.
So as I look back, definitely aging, but at the same time… quite enjoying the process. I hope that the experiences that I still am having in the next years are as good / character shaping as the ones behind me. And here’s to many more discoveries of things that I love and enjoy! In another decade, we can talk about the classics of the 2020’s, apparently.
Until next time, cheers!
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