I recently had an urge to pick up an MMORPG again, but after checking on the profile for my favorite Everquest 2 character – clocking in at over 138 days played – it’s probably best I not devote myself to the life of hardcore raiding at particular juncture. That being said, as a self-described gamer, I’m pretty sympathetic to any argument made that playing MMOs makes you a better person.
And perhaps Koichi feels the same way, making the strong case on his blog that “Startups Should Only Hire Good StarCraft Players.”
His (only slightly tongue-in-cheek) list includes:
- Good StarCraft Players Are Obsessed with Improving
- Good StarCraft Players Can Wear a Lot of Hats
- Good StarCraft Players Know How To Micro (Use Resources Efficiently)
- Good StarCraft Players Make Quick, Good Decisions
- Good StarCraft Players Don’t Forget To Scout (And Don’t Obsess Over Scouting)
- Good StarCraft Players Know When To Say GG (“Good Game”) and Quit
- Good StarCraft Players Have A High APM (Actions Per Minute)
- Good StarCraft Players Do Something Besides Work
The argument that you can hone a variety of skills via MMOs isn’t new (See the Guild CIO for a long list that guild leadership teaches, including conflict resolution, talent recruitment and retention, and strategic planning and vision.) And I’m not sure StarCraft holds a monopoly on startup skill-building. (I’d love to write a comparison between StarCraft and Angry Birds for entrepreneurs, but I can imagine the outraged Letters to the Editor in response.)
Koichi’s post was inspired in part by an announcement for StartupCraft, a StarCraft II Tournament for tech startups to be held October 2 in San Francisco. There’ll be 2v2 and 4v4 brackets. A $50 donation is recommended per team, 100% of which will be donated to Child’s Play. The tournament will be broadcast live via Justin.tv, who is hosting the tournament in its San Francisco office. 14 companies have already registered their teams.
