Daniel Barry

"Oh, I really liked it! I mean, you know, it's not realistic, in a sense, but it’s every bit as good as the cinematic views, for the most part. And really, StarCraft wasn’t about the space depictions anyway, it was about the personal relationships. You know, Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan and how they’re interacting with each other is, if you wanna call it the culture, of StarCraft to me. I think the graphics were pretty cool, and the movies and all that, but I wouldn’t say that it was realistic. But what science fiction necessarily is?"

- Barry on StarCraft^(src)

Daniel Barry is a former NASA astronaut. In 1999, he took StarCraft into space with him.

Biography

Barry joined NASA after working as a pilot in the USAF. From the outset, he and his family were fans of science fiction. His favorite game of all time is Go, per it (along with StarCraft) being easy to learn, but difficult to master. He mainly played as protoss. He took StarCraft into space with him (along with a Go set), as the game allowed him to keep in touch with his wife. He had also played the game extensively with his son, as with his daughter, though she preferred Warcraft, which Barry also played before StarCraft. In space, he served as a space photographer. When he returned to Earth, he emailed Blizzard about the copy of the game he took into space, and inquired as to whether they'd be interested. The disc became stored at a museum in Blizzard, which he visited along with his son.

Barry and his children played through the campaigns of StarCraft II, but as his children were in college by this point, not as much time was spent on the game. They didn't play many 1v1 matches, but did play in team-based games. He had a positive view of the game's story and multiplayer. Similar to the original, he mained as protoss.