Good games spawn sequels, undying devotion from fans, and strategy guides. Great games spawn merchandise.
Guess which category StarCraft falls into?
With the rise of security in Internet purchasing, came a rise in t-shirt websites. They’re everywhere. Funny shirts, sad shirts, offensive shirts, design-your-own shirts – if it can in any way be printed or converted into t-shirt form, it can be purchased online.
Fortunately, StarCraft is no exception.
Take the site Café Press, for example. They have fully hundreds of t-shirt designs featuring graphics, sayings and slang from everyone’s favorite space RTS. Standouts include a black T-shirt with a yellow diamond street sign bearing the picture of a Zergling and saying “Zerg Rush”, and a design featuring a pylon made out of many pylons bearing the words “You must construct additional pylons”. Ah, memories.
But the fun doesn’t stop. There are baseball jerseys emblazoned with the “University of Auir” logo (we hear it’s going to be a watershed year for them, by the way) and ballcaps that have the UED logo. Whatever your fancy, if it’s StarCraft-clothing related, chances are a site like this will have it.
But perhaps you don’t like StarCraft clothing, or clothing at all. If the latter part of that sentence is true, please stay in your mom’s basement covered in Pizza Pocket leftovers and leave the rest of us with the use of our retinas. If the second part sounds more like you, however, we’ve got you covered there too.
The official Blizzard store for StarCraft carries Kerrigan vs. Zeratul mouse pads, a board game version of the original StarCraft, and a handful of StarCraft novels, if reading is your thing.
There are even action figures and figurines out there if that’s your bag, though they are harder to come by. Atamaii has a website dedicated to toys of this nature – but the bulk of them are out of stock at this point. Still, if you’ve ever wanted your very own Terran Firebat or Zerg Hydralisk, this can be a good resource.
As games go more mainstream, merchandise of all types becomes more prevalent. Even five years ago, wearing or owning much gaming merchandise was a sure mark of “nerdity” and would result in unpleasant comparisons and sad mocking. If you’re the guy wearing no pants in his mom’s basement, as mentioned above, then perhaps some light mockery is appropriate. But for many gamers, owning a piece of their favorite title – be it in clothing, book, or action figure form – is a worthwhile endeavor.
Fortunately, nerds are starting to rule the world. Take a look around, and you’ll see young professionals carrying messenger bags emblazoned with their favorite video game character or label. Similarly, geek wear, like the shirts mentioned earlier, are actually of a decent quality and fit that they can now be worn out in public. Suddenly, WoW t-shirts that say “Tanks Alot” and StarCraft 2 hoodies reading “It’s About Time” are going mainstream.
Overall, that’s a good thing. Games offer a level of interaction unmatched by television, and wearing an “I <3 Jim Raynor” t-shirt is far better than wearing “Jon and Kate Plus 4EVA” on your chest.
