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[I've played Starcraft since I was 14, so, it's been about 5 years playing the game like I was addicted to it on and off, sleepless nights staying up just to watch a streamed pro-game on GOM player, launching stuff at walls when Nal_Ra's trickery was beaten, playing 20 games straight just to see how far I could go without sleeping, playing on NetCraft then PGT then ICCup and smashing my fists into my keyboard when someone's D- cheese ACTUALLY worked.]
Well, anyways, point of that brick of text was to say that I have lots of experience playing this game, maybe so much that I have actually taken it upon myself to teach a girl how to play.
The story behind THAT, well, I was talking with a woman friend in the library at my college one time and she asked if I was a gamer. I said "I play Chess 2.0"(I'm a fucking nerd). She asks "wtf is chess 2.0?" like I wanted her to so I quickly responded "STARCRAFT!!" She's like "what's that?!?" and, well, one thing led to another and she ended up wanting to learn how to play Starcraft, and, more specifically, the Zerg race.
BIG MISTAKE
There is just... too much to write down for her not to get seriously bored, too much to explain to her while she's actually playing, she has NO experience with war/strategy games(she has played only shooters and RPGs, no RTSs) so there's a lot of explaining to do on how the game is actually played(like telling her that the reason you're making the army is to go kill the other guy with it, and, you need an economy to do it!) Yes, before you ask, it is like teaching a baby how to walk, but, since this is an already grown-up baby, you need to explain to it why it needs to walk, too!
I need serious help before I launch her to the wall. How can I effectively teach her Starcraft without telling her to read 50+ strategy guides for Zerg or talking to her like a Parrot on her shoulder while she plays the game? Is there like a guideline or outline I could follow out there? Or, an effective way to just teach her the basics and let her go off on her own? I've already taught her things like how to build certain stuff, what the buildings do, why scouting is important, what "supply" is(5/9), what units to make versus what race you see, what map favors what race, what units counter other units, how to attack without just moving your force to death and what "build orders" are.
I told her the simplest way to learn is to play the missions and just do what they tell you to do(probably best way to learn PURE basics like how to mine minerals and shit) but I don't have a copy of Starcraft and she has to come to my house all the time(which is good, don't get me wrong) but she hasn't played an entire mission yet.
I also need a BO for a beginner player, something for Zerg that is extremely safe. I was thinking 12 hatch 11 pool is like, standard as fuck but Zerg is a fickle monster(and I play Protoss). When do I shoot up extractor and around when do I get my second overlord? Little details would help.
I basically need a small teachers guide or helpful words of advice from people who have already taught people how to play. How did you do it and did your students become expert gamers, SO GOOD they even beat you? Tell your stories and I will absorb like sponge.
 
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i've been teaching a girl to play for some time now and let me tell you its frustrating.
she somehow cant get past 30 apm...and i dont know how to get her to be faster, because until shes faster she simply CANNOT execute build orders. she understands the game, like what the units do, tech trees and such, but her speed is so slow she simply cant do build orders, no multitasking at all. If anyone has any advice about that too i'd love to know lol 
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My question is... why do you need to teach her a build order lol? What are you trying to do... throw her on ICCUP and have her get smashed repeatedly until she hates you for making her waste time on this dumb game?
- Tell her to play single player.
- Once she's done with single player, play games with her for awhile (obv go really easy) until she actually becomes comfortable with PLAYING the game.
*you REALLY shouldn't be worrying about trying to teach her complex aspects of the game like "micro and macro" or build orders... just make sure she actually knows how to click shit, what the hotkey for mutalisks are, etc.
THEN
- maybe go on east or west and just play UMS for awhile
- take her to play BGH and fastest games so she can get experience playing in a more real-time environment
this will probably take ~6 months or whatever... IF:
a) she keeps interest that long and
b) wants to actually improve
THEN
teach her build orders and how to play on ICCUP.
I know you wanna look like hot shit and how you have all this knowledge and are so good at this game, but the reality is, new players get REALLY turned off by jumping into competitive play. I have several long-time friends who decided to pick up Starcraft and quit after a few months because they tried to play on ICCUP and got stuck at D-... getting frustrated, etc.
So ya... =P
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If you are over-bearing, SC will seem too daunting and she will never touch it again.
You need to lay off and let her discover SC in her own fun way. Watch some pro-league games - it will show her there is a whole world of fans out there, many of them female. Give her very general explanations (3 races, each gathers resources and makes units to kill the other guy). Be very brief and let her ask for more information. If she gets into it, offer more, but temper your own enthusiasm :-)
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teach starcraft with nursery rhymes~
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When she can beat single player mode, you can start thinking about teaching her more...
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you're missing the point man, she's using starcraft as an ice breaker between you and her. she figured out she could hang out in a dark room with you "playing videogames," and likes the idea.
on a side note, i'm also teaching my friend some sc and as it was previously mentioned, it is damn hell.
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On November 25 2009 02:42 EsX_Raptor wrote:
you're missing the point man, she's using starcraft as an ice breaker between you and her.
This is a good point - don't let the SC distract you and/or ruin what could be...
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Should play 2v2 vs computers. Will give it more of a "us vs them" feel and I am sure she will enjoy it much more. Defending her etc . As well as other UMS scenarios.
+ Show Spoiler + I saved you from the dual zealot rush... now its time to get busy
edit: Don't look for Build orders. Look for a basic strategy. Like if shes terran, teach her how to make scvs and build barracks and pump out marines, then attack. Advance this by explaining how she can build tech, like tanks or even medics. Take is SLOWWWW.
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starcraft has the highest learning curve of any game I've ever played. I think that unless she's familiar with video games, you should *definitely* teach slow... like you're teaching a toddler (not to compare girls to toddlers, but starcraft is hard!)
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On November 25 2009 02:49 Pufftrees wrote:Should play 2v2 vs computers. Will give it more of a "us vs them" feel and I am sure she will enjoy it much more. Defending her etc . As well as other UMS scenarios. + Show Spoiler + I saved you from the dual zealot rush... now its time to get busy
I have gotten laid -SO- many times with that tactic.
+ Show Spoiler +
On topic:
On November 25 2009 02:42 EsX_Raptor wrote:
you're missing the point man, she's using starcraft as an ice breaker between you and her. she figured out she could hang out in a dark room with you "playing videogames," and likes the idea.
This.
On November 25 2009 01:43 Xeris wrote:
My question is... why do you need to teach her a build order lol? What are you trying to do... throw her on ICCUP and have her get smashed repeatedly until she hates you for making her waste time on this dumb game?
- Tell her to play single player.
- Once she's done with single player, play games with her for awhile (obv go really easy) until she actually becomes comfortable with PLAYING the game.
*you REALLY shouldn't be worrying about trying to teach her complex aspects of the game like "micro and macro" or build orders... just make sure she actually knows how to click shit, what the hotkey for mutalisks are, etc.
THEN
- maybe go on east or west and just play UMS for awhile
- take her to play BGH and fastest games so she can get experience playing in a more real-time environment
this will probably take ~6 months or whatever... IF:
a) she keeps interest that long and
b) wants to actually improve
THEN
teach her build orders and how to play on ICCUP.
I know you wanna look like hot shit and how you have all this knowledge and are so good at this game, but the reality is, new players get REALLY turned off by jumping into competitive play. I have several long-time friends who decided to pick up Starcraft and quit after a few months because they tried to play on ICCUP and got stuck at D-... getting frustrated, etc.
So ya... =P
And this.
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Unless someone asks for your help there's really no point in trying to teach them IMO. The best advice you can give anyone who is new to StarCraft is to find someone their own level who wants to play as much as they do. That's when SC is fun. Not when you're playing random strangers and have to rely on your precise instructions just to survive. People wanna be creative.
I think if someone wants to play StarCraft with strangers, they'll do it all on their own without your prodding.
As far as what's actually happened... I think you should try playing games she already likes with her, or doing other stuff if you like her. People only get good at StarCraft/catch-up when they're obsessive and spend all day playing. Chances are she just wants to play with you.
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Okay, guys, seriously. None of you are funny, just stop. I'm being somewhat serious when I say I want to know how to teach Starcraft aka rubbing my knowledge of the game onto someone else. Second,
"My question is... why do you need to teach her a build order lol? What are you trying to do... throw her on ICCUP and have her get smashed repeatedly until she hates you for making her waste time on this dumb game?"
Um, Xeris, she said she wanted to learn Starcraft. I am teaching her to play. I would honestly like to throw her but, to throw her on ICCUP is another story. I don't see why I shouldn't teach her a build order... seems teachable. She's a college girl, aka, not a dumb slut. I met her at a LIBRARY for crying out loud, she knows how to listen.
Third,
to the people telling me stuff I already know(single player duuuude), stop here. Read my post again and thanks for posting in my blog. I want to hear stuff that will actually help, people people people. Also, umm, isn't that what people normally do when they're alone in a dark room, get some jobs done? Well, while she's getting a job done I'm trying to get my job done..teaching her, damnit.
Fourth,
teaching a build order to someone would ease the confusion of just sitting there, watching workers mine and thinking "okay, what do I do now?" Us "enlightened", we spam and select workers and hotkey stuff and go crazy. A person who has never touched a strategy game in their life will just stare at the screen and watch what's happening, so, please take that into consideration.
Will anyone care to help?
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play defense games such as Tarpit D or any other team game (Can you stop 1 unit?)
When i first went on battle.net, i was fascinated by all the UMS maps i never thought existed.
Let her play games where it doesnt matter how good you do
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Explain to her that, ultimately, the goal of the game is to destroy your opponents buildings. That's it. It doesn't matter if they have a huge army, if their buildings are destroyed first, they lose. It also means that she has to protect her own buildings.
Play against her. Don't play your best, but stay just 1 step ahead. In a battle, make sure you have only a few more units than you need to defeat her army, but that's all. When you attack her, don't attack with everything, only a few things.
If you pile up 10 or 20 k minerals, that's fine. But you can keep a game going for hours, with her always feeling like "ooh, I almost had you". She'll love that, and, by simply playing a lot, her skill will improve. She will figure out basic micro and macro tricks herself, and, when she asks how she could improve, you can throw your knowledge at her. But throwing it at her, when she doesn't have the experience to use it yet, will do no good.
Stress basic concepts, like spending all of her resources, scouting, or always building workers, whenever possible, etc.....
Build orders, at the moment, are not even needed. And, once they are, only the first ~20 supply needs to be scripted initially, so she can get used to following a strict build order, at least for a while. Eventually, that expands to 25 supply, then 30, etc..... And, the more serious concepts, like how many drones are required for a certain type of unit production, is something that can be taught at this time.
I trained 3 people (from not knowing anything about Starcraft to being able to compete in a D- game) in a period of 4 months. They don't stand a chance against me at the moment, however, they are all at about 80 apm at the moment, which isn't bad for 4 months - I was at about 60 at that point, learning by myself.
GLHF and, hopefully, get laid!
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On November 25 2009 06:00 FonzeXD wrote:
I met her at a LIBRARY for crying out loud
While not the worst measure intelligence, I question how this is relevant.
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On November 25 2009 11:21 VorcePA wrote:Show nested quote +On November 25 2009 06:00 FonzeXD wrote:
I met her at a LIBRARY for crying out loud While not the worst measure intelligence, I question how this is relevant.
Did you get paid to just stop by and completely annihilate yourself on my blog or was it voluntarily? XD
Thanks people for your posts.
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On November 25 2009 01:28 FonzeXD wrote:
"I play Chess 2.0"
Hahahah
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On November 25 2009 20:33 FonzeXD wrote:Show nested quote +On November 25 2009 11:21 VorcePA wrote:On November 25 2009 06:00 FonzeXD wrote:
I met her at a LIBRARY for crying out loud While not the worst measure intelligence, I question how this is relevant. Did you get paid to just stop by and completely annihilate yourself on my blog or was it voluntarily? XD Thanks people for your posts.
+ Show Spoiler +O look its the guy who got a blow job from someone he knew for less than 3 hours
Ontopic: Play 2v2 - 4v4 games on hunters, depending on how *ahem* intimate u wanna it to be
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On November 25 2009 22:56 JFKWT wrote:Show nested quote +On November 25 2009 20:33 FonzeXD wrote:On November 25 2009 11:21 VorcePA wrote:On November 25 2009 06:00 FonzeXD wrote:
I met her at a LIBRARY for crying out loud While not the worst measure intelligence, I question how this is relevant. Did you get paid to just stop by and completely annihilate yourself on my blog or was it voluntarily? XD Thanks people for your posts. + Show Spoiler +O look its the guy who got a blow job from someone he knew for less than 3 hours Ontopic: Play 2v2 - 4v4 games on hunters, depending on how *ahem* intimate u wanna it to be
Hey...XD! Relevance!!
Okay, so, what I have concluded from the posts in this thread: nobody has really taught a girl(except for lMPERVlOUS and TheAntZ, unsuccessfully). Best ways to get into her pants(come on guys, seriously?) is to use my knowledge of Starcraft(aka "the game") to get her more and more interested.
I see a trend here, but, I asked for a quick teachers guide on how to teach someone how to play Zerg(which, essentially, is teaching her THE GAME), not achieve female orgasm. I don't want to go all slow at first and then get more intense as the moment goes on.. I just want her to learn so that, in return, we'll not only strengthen our friendship with benefits but we can also murder each other when we're not already engaging in stabbing pleasure.
Also, I heard somewhere that if you're able to teach something to someone, it shows that you really understand what you're talking about and if you do successfully teach someone, it tells YOU(the teacher) that you really know what you're doing.
(2nd)Also, I would like to talk to someone/tell someone about Starcraft that isn't a guy. I've tried teaching girls before but they either think the game has no point or it's too hard for them to understand. When I teach one of my guy friends, though, it's HOLY SHIT easier for some reason. I was able to teach, in a day, what APM and micro and macro is to a friend of mine and now, me and him can actually game and probably have a fair fight. I try to teach a girl what the left and right mouse buttons do and it's utter confusion, so, I HAVE to go slow.
EDIT: Keep posting guys! Someone PM'd me(forgot who) but, basically, I'm going to do it on my own: create a teachers guide. I'll just try teaching the bitch myself and post results. Wish me luck =D and luck to all those other people trying to teach girls Starcraft.
Don't you see guys... this is a macrocosm! Look at the bigger picture: I'm trying to teach a girl so that more people will play Starcraft! If a girl is playing Starcraft, especially, a hot one, everyone is going to be interested and maybe will want to learn too so it will be a domino effect and a lot of girls will be in the process. If I teach one girl, I can teach them all(that WANT to learn, mind you). Bwahaha!
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Snet
United States3573 Posts
I never understood trying to teach someone how to play a game that you don't even know if they enjoy yet. She really needs to just goof off on single player and maybe play against a few comps or do some 2v2 comps with you. If she likes the game you tell her about bnet and let her play at her own pace.
If she enjoys playing, you can introduce her to some guides and show her some websites to download replays.
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On November 26 2009 01:24 FonzeXD wrote:
I see a trend here, but, I asked for a quick teachers guide on how to teach someone how to play Zerg
There is no such thing as a "quick teachers guide" for any race..... Liquipedia covers a lot, and look at how big it is? A lot of things are omitted in that too.
Just think about the very basics of the game. Left clicking a unit to select it, right clicking to move it, left clicking "attack" and then left clicking on the ground to have it "attack move" to that spot. How to produce units. How to mine minerals and vespene gas. How to set rally points.
Things that come natural to us (even the hotkeys come naturally after a period of time) is something that everyone has to start with. Start with the basics, and then progress from that point. A beginner will have little "basics" already, unless they are already familiar with RTS gameplay.
Trying to get someone to improve will not work if you try to teach them proper build orders, when they, mechanically, are not ready for doing much more than "attack moving" their units..... Take it one step at a time. Zergling micro is difficult for a beginner..... And that's a basic for anyone higher than D-.
Having her play through the campaign is probably a bad idea. Sure, she will learn the tech tree, along with a lot of basics of the game, but think about how long the games go. They can get brutally boring and long. That could turn her off of Starcraft forever. Instead, try to find ways of keeping her interested, while learning. She will eventually grasp basics like "what unit is good against what", and "how the tech tree works" without going through the campaign. Playing a very close game is always a lot of fun.
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What we really need is someone to edit together a video that shows how badass starcraft really is. Not a pimpest plays video or someone doing amazing micro, but rather a highly energetic overview type video that actually gets other non-gamers interested. including girls.
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Girls can't play SC... wtf were you thinking?
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On November 26 2009 08:14 Cixelyn wrote:
What we really need is someone to edit together a video that shows how badass starcraft really is. Not a pimpest plays video or someone doing amazing micro, but rather a highly energetic overview type video that actually gets other non-gamers interested. including girls.
StarCraft Memories is good for that. Usually makes people who only played once or twice want to pick it up.
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On November 26 2009 05:59 lMPERVlOUS wrote:Show nested quote +On November 26 2009 01:24 FonzeXD wrote:
I see a trend here, but, I asked for a quick teachers guide on how to teach someone how to play Zerg There is no such thing as a "quick teachers guide" for any race..... Liquipedia covers a lot, and look at how big it is? A lot of things are omitted in that too. Just think about the very basics of the game. Left clicking a unit to select it, right clicking to move it, left clicking "attack" and then left clicking on the ground to have it "attack move" to that spot. How to produce units. How to mine minerals and vespene gas. How to set rally points. Things that come natural to us (even the hotkeys come naturally after a period of time) is something that everyone has to start with. Start with the basics, and then progress from that point. A beginner will have little "basics" already, unless they are already familiar with RTS gameplay. Trying to get someone to improve will not work if you try to teach them proper build orders, when they, mechanically, are not ready for doing much more than "attack moving" their units..... Take it one step at a time. Zergling micro is difficult for a beginner..... And that's a basic for anyone higher than D-. Having her play through the campaign is probably a bad idea. Sure, she will learn the tech tree, along with a lot of basics of the game, but think about how long the games go. They can get brutally boring and long. That could turn her off of Starcraft forever. Instead, try to find ways of keeping her interested, while learning. She will eventually grasp basics like "what unit is good against what", and "how the tech tree works" without going through the campaign. Playing a very close game is always a lot of fun.
Thank you. I have to start extremely, extremely slow now. I was trying to teach her BOs for Zerg since I thought it would be easy to just follow a pattern but... yeah now I understand.
So far what I've been doing is:
watching her play comps. She's getting the hang of making workers all the time and attack-moving. She still doesn't know what gas is for. Supply was a mystery until I told her to click on an ovie and read what it says(about how much supply it's giving etc) and then telling her to make an ovie. She knows what the basic buildings are and what buildings makes what units(just lings and hydras so far). She can make units and camp behind her defensive buildings. That's about it... next step: attacking!
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On November 26 2009 08:32 Chef wrote:Show nested quote +On November 26 2009 08:14 Cixelyn wrote:
What we really need is someone to edit together a video that shows how badass starcraft really is. Not a pimpest plays video or someone doing amazing micro, but rather a highly energetic overview type video that actually gets other non-gamers interested. including girls. StarCraft Memories is good for that. Usually makes people who only played once or twice want to pick it up.
I had forgotten... thanks! Showing her old videos and compilations of Starcraft games would probably motivate her to be that good/fast. Oooo, sooo exciting! X3
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c351/blizzcon/Smileys/roofle.gif)
