[CyrusL]

An important distinction is that there are no characters to level-up in Starcraft, so you can't get "better" by just investing mindless hours into the game. The start of a Starcraft game is just like the start of a Chess game: both newbies and pros have the same options in front of them. You have to objectively improve as a player to win more Starcraft.

I never played WoW, but I would believe that there are some different managerial aspects to running a guild or organizing raids with 40 other players.

[lostlogin]

Yes re management. I had a great year or two of Travian. The depth of the game just got deeper with time - straying into politics, game/browser exploits, timing etc. managing people and picking your friends took considerable time and skill. The semi cheating that went on with multiple accounts, borrowed accounts, stolen accounts etc just added to the game. What happened on the map only represented about 50% of what was going on at the time I left. I suspect if I stayed longer, that percentage would have shrunk. Not because i what was going on was changing, but because i was beginning to see the whole rather than the obvious. The ultimate time sink. I loved it.