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Re:Starcraft II goes free-to-play seven years after launch by taejavu on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @04:49PM (#15647986)
I've been playing Starcraft 2 casually since launch and I'm confident that the crack-dealer model isn't applicable here, at least for the game's core 1v1 mode (which is what's being made free), due to the brutality of the ranked multiplayer ladder.

Skilled matchmaking ensures you lose 50% of the matches you play, and you have no one to blame for your failures but yourself. You can improve 100x and still feel like you suck at the game.

Addictive free to play games are easy by design, appeal to the broadest possible demographics and boost your ego by congratulating you for trivial accomplishments. Starcraft 2, by contrast, is arguably the hardest multiplayer video game in existence, and is far too challenging for casual addiction to become a problem.

Re:Starcraft II goes free-to-play seven years after launch by stonewhite on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @05:17PM (#15648203)
That was my experience for 1v1 as well and one day it was just too much for me. It is not a game where you sit down and enjoy, it is about getting intense and putting in the hours without instant gratification. Many of those nights ended with horrible defeats compelling me to force-shutdown the computer. It definitely is not a game for everyone (again 1v1)

Also, your name rings a bell about my favorite terran.

Re:Starcraft II goes free-to-play seven years after launch by zouhair on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @03:41AM (#15650682)
Yup, people who think playing that game 1v1 is about having fun are sorely mistaken.