So, TLDR: Heavy reliance on multitasking is not that fun for most people. There are other reasons as well, such as the need to find and memorize pretty detailed build orders in order to be competitive even at fairly low levels of play, but I feel thatВґs pretty secondary. This is I believe the primary reason for why SC2 lags relative to games less focused on taxing your multitasking skills. Lords Management games might be difficult in many ways, but their difficulty is more focused on domains where humans are pretty comfortable. That in turn means that introducing a lot of multitasking into a game is great for raising the skill ceiling, but itВґs also great for making the game feel strangely unrewarding and taxing when you are forced close to your skillcap (and ELO matchmaking ensures that this will happen on ladder). ItВґs not something that weВґre evolved to do very well, and hence we have to do it 'in software' to use a strained graphics card analogy. Humans arenВґt very good at multitasking and switching very rapidly between tasks. I think that the answer to the question is captured in one word: Multitasking. For instance, DOTA-ish games rely far more on teamplay than SC2, there is a ridiculous amount of learning to do with regards to abilities, items and champions, and so on. The answer I believe is not the skill ceiling or even skill floor per se.В Starcraft II is certainly not harder in every way compared to, say, DOTA2 or LoL.

You got close to what I think is the answer in your discussion when discussing how SC2 is not 'rewarding' or fun when it is difficult, but IВґd like to zero in on a more particular explanation. Some thoughts on why Starcraft II struggles in popularity relative to, for instance, Lords Management games or other similar games.

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