Criticism of RTS Storytelling

Someone shared with me a good analysis of the inconsistencies in the way psi-emitters are used, so I am sharing that here for archiving. Credits to “ARM3481” for this. The psi emitters were always a problem because we, the players, knew that the zerg were driven by a complex intelligence with an agenda, while the terrans at the time thought the zerg were basically just animalistic and cunning. For the psi emitters to actually have worked, the Overmind and its Cerebrates should have been freaking about their entire broods running off to invade planets without being ordered to do so.  That not being the case, it only made sense for the psi emitters "working" to be a misunderstanding whereby the Swarm's intelligent leadership were mistaking them for exceptionally powerful human psionics while the terrans were assuming that their devices were working as intended. Brood War and subsequent portrayals exacerbated the problem by applying both standards to the behavior of everyone...

Most of the obvious bad writing in the first StarCraft is concentrated in the Brood War expansion, but that does not mean the original game is devoid of bad writing. It has no shortage of its own. In the plot of  Episode 1 , a key plot device is the psi-emitter . Its purpose is to lure zerg, which it does very well: countless zerg from light years away will converge on it when you turn it on. Those who are familiar with the replicators from Stargate SG-1 may recognize this plot device, as a similar one was used to lure the replicators into a trap. The psi-emitter is never used against the zerg to lure them into traps, despite the fact that they seem compelled to follow it even if that interferes with their own plans. The idea is just never brought up even once, even though it is blindingly obvious. It is just used to lure the zerg so they can kill Mengsk's enemies for him. Considering that the plot is already about a civil war between the terran colonies while two simultaneous ...