Ode to Starcraft

I love Starcraft. You might note and question the present tense. It isn't a mistake. I look forward to my wife having places to go when I'm home, as it gives me a chance to run to the computer and get my Starcraft fix. I haven't always had Starcraft in my life - ours has been a dysfunctional relationship.

I was first introduced to Blizzard's strategy franchise by way of Warcraft 2. Many a night was spent arguing with my brother over whose turn it was to play. I would even wake up at ungodly hours (the only time my parents would allow me to use the phone line) to play over direct dial up with a friend. When Starcraft came out, we begged and pleaded, and our parents got us a whole new addiction for Christmas.

Going away to college meant leaving Starcraft behind, but it also introduced me to another drug - high speed internet. When I found out that some friends of mine had copies of Starcraft, I participated in the age-old college tradition of mooching and used my new college smarts to navigate to battle.net. My friends and I didn't party in college, we played Starcraft, to the same effect.

Years went by. I got married. I graduated. I got a job. I remembered Starcraft. My youngest brother is more an Age of Empires player and when I asked about Starcraft he said, "That game? You can have it." I nearly cried.

I am a grown man, with a wife, children, a job, and a mortgage; and I still sneak off occasionally to play Starcraft. What has it brought me, you may ask? I owe many of my life's lessons to Starcraft. Let me name a few.

• It's never a good idea to talk smack in the game lobby before a match. That twelve year old kid is just going to embarrass you, and probably with just a few dragoons.
• Education is worth more to you when you pay for it yourself. (I attribute the loss of my full ride scholarship to the fact that I stopped studying and doing my homework during the second semester. The reason? You guessed it.)
• No matter how sophisticated and ordered your defenses, enough zerglings will bust right through them.

I thought for a while that I was surely the only person who still played the original Starcraft, but I have been gratified to find that not only are there still active Starcraft communities, but you can even still buy the game. C'mon, it's only ten bucks. You know you miss it too.

So what classics do you love? What throwbacks from the teenage years do you still indulge in? Hold your heads up high, because as pathetic as it might seem, you aren't the only nerd out there.