I'd say at a certain level of play StarCraft becomes all about hand-eye coordination and physical speed. A big deal is made out of APM for a reason.

That's really showcasing faults in the game more than anything else. Frantic mouse clicking should not be much of an RTS asset. Decisionmaking should be.

 

Actions per minute =/ clicks per minute. It's everything that actually does something. Anything that does nothing is not counted.

Edited June 15, 201213 yr by TrueNeutral

APM exists because in RTS, positioning and ability usage are always important. The higher your APM, the faster you can update your units' orders. APM is just more often more spectacular than thinking. Nice tricks still have their moments of glory and they are still the reason you win in the end. APM may be very important, but no-one thinks that's what'll win your game in the end in SC2 for example.

If you have to be all over the place with the mouse all the time it just means the controls and shortcuts are bad. There is no option to queue up construction & research, you can't set a unit to auto use its ability, that kind og thing. Maybe they made them that way so we could be dutifully impressed with people who are good at being hyper, it's still just bad controls though.

If you have to be all over the place with the mouse all the time it just means the controls and shortcuts are bad.

That's exactly the point in RTS 'esport'.

The controls must be bad (especially in games like SC2) or skill celling would be too low and professionals would have similar results to casual gamers.

That's unfair, there is a lot of strategy going on in SC2 competetive gaming.

The point is how much of that frantic imput goes to respond to the tactical situation and how much is just filler. There is fair ammount of filler in series like SC and Warhammer at least.

The point is how much of that frantic imput goes to respond to the tactical situation and how much is just filler. There is fair ammount of filler in series like SC and Warhammer at least.

Likely 99% of input is unnecessary but that doesn't matter.

The ability to have your fingers warm and in good rhythm is so important that everybody dose it.

I watch a lot of CoH tournies and APM is pretty important, that and an almost sensei-like understanding of the meta-game.

If those games were to center around strategy and decisions they would stick to turn-based format.

QFT

 

Generally I have a hard time calling anything 'sport' which is an interface to an API...

And no problem with people having fun for sure, but the expression 'professional gaming' always makes me lol so hard.

This is my problem too. I love high-level skilled gaming but a.... sport? Gedouttahere.

Don't see what problem you guys have with a game being a sport. o.O