Cheated by Blizzard

Now that Starcraft 2 is bearing ever so closer upon us all, I am reminded some years ago of this rant I posted on a forum. The rant in question was my carrying on about my dissatisfaction with the ending of the original Starcraft and how I felt ripped off by Blizzard.
Sadly, that rant has been lost to history but I can recall some of it. And seeing as Starcraft 2 is growing closer, I don't feel the fire has burned out - so what better time to add fuel to the fire?



My annoyance with Starcraft came with the ending: There's no denying it of course, Starcraft had one of the most well-realised plots ever conceived for a video game. It's just at the end of it I felt...well.....cheated.
Now, in all my years as a gamer, I know the feeling of elation and achievement upon completing a video game. And why shouldn't I? With gaming, you are going into a reality that someone else cooked up for you. You are playing by their rules and, as such, you expect a decent pay off in the end. After all, on of the key rules of fiction is that you must always play fair with your audience. Does anyone like having an ending that is of an ambiguous nature and/or ends on cliffhanger that may never be resolved? Of course not. You gave the game many hours of your life - it's no wonder that people continually rant about games (and TV series for that matter) that were great all the way through until the ending.

So what is my beef with the ending to Starcraft? Well, lets see: Arcturus's empire is in ruins, the UED is completely destroyed and the Protoss have fallen back to square one in rebuilding their empire - all of which you, the player helped build up. Several key characters are dead - one's who were on your side and were killed just as easily as issuing commands. And Kerrigan is in control of this sector of the galaxy - and you the player have been a destroyer just as easily as a builder.

Clever ending? Indeed. Satisfying? Not likely.
What annoys me is that the rug was pulled from underneath me. I have been building empires, getting connected with the characters and really felt like I was playing a major part of the narrative. And then what happens? I am then forced into destroying empires, killing characters and have my role as a plot mover, into a universe destroyer. And what have I accomplished in the end? A hollow victory (which, fittingly, is mentioned in the closing text before the credits).



So is that it? I gave Blizzard so much time and effort only to have everything I contributed towards come out the other side as meaningless? I contributed to Kerrigan's extensive plan for revenge for what (mind you, it may be interesting to see what she has up her sleeve for SC2)? Considering how difficult the Zerg missions in episode 6 are, are they even supposed to win? And don't give me that 'Kerrigan's tragic backstory' BS because, a) So what? b) Doesn't everyone have one these days? c) that was established outside of the game and d) this backstory was established in a book which, unlike a game, requires little in the way of participation.

So yes, I came away from Starcraft feeling used: I gave up the time to spend the Blizzard's universe and built up a hollow victory. It was at that point that the longstanding bond of trust between gamer and the game was broken: I was forced into a position of being deceived/powerlessness in a medium where the user is granted a large degree of freedom. Some may relate similar experiences in finding SHODAN posing as Polito, Aerith being stabbed by Sephiroth or the realisation that Wander's quest is nowhere near as noble as you would like to believe.

Still in the end, if a game inspired this much venom, then it must've been a pretty damn good game....