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Out of game conditions that affect your play
Hello TL, I'm going to be doing various out-of-game tests (i.e playing while cold, hungry etc) To see how it affects my game-play. I'm not going to be referencing anything and I'm just going to post how such things affect my play, and also find things that can help my play.
I'm a diamond Zerg player with around 2500 games played over 2 accounts.
And with that lets begin:
- Playing while hungry
So i noticed that Ive heard a few times that playing while hungry can be distracting while playing, so what i did was i got off of work and came straight home. I then went to bed, woke up and didnt eat anything until going back to work again. All in all, i didn't eat anything for about 14 hours before playing about 15 games. This made it impossible to play, it was so difficult to concentrate that i simply could not win a single game.
My macro completely went out the window. My normally good macro was replaced with mass amounts of supply blockage lazy queens and creep-less grounds.
I then ate, and almost instantly i found myself able to concentrate again. While playing i want thinking abut food or anything, i was just not able to remember shit.
- Playing while cold
Normally my house is around 67-68 degrees and that works out fine, my hands are relatively warm and im able to play at my usual speed (roughly 150 apm).
Know i knew already that playing while cold makes it difficult to play fast. Trying to move my fingers that fast while they were cold was difficult, not only because it feels so sluggish but also i mistyped like crazy.
So having known this, i decided to make it even colder and see what would happen. Its winter now and instead of turning on the ac i just turned off the heat. The house was around 54 degrees at this point and oh man... I guess i didn't assume this would happen, but the colder it is the harder it is to play. I always assumed it was either your hands are warm and its easy to play fast, or they're not warm and i cant.
I tried to play just 1 game, and what was happening was it was so cold, i mistyped keys alot, mainly hitting ones closer to my hands "home" position because of the huge reduction in movement. Also, like hunger but not quite to that extent, it was very difficult to concentrate.
- Exercise
Now i don't mean regular daily exercise, all i did was push-ups. that's it.
Ive noticed 2 pretty substantial things linked to it.
For one, if i did several sets of push-ups before sitting down for a session i noticed i just feel more comfortable. Sitting for long periods of time without much movement at all seems to just make it easier to feel less comfortable. I'm not really sure why this is, but my normally uncomfortable setup wasn't an issue at all, and combined with the other point which im about to go into, it just feels good.
The other and IMO one of the more important and substantial things you can do is to do push ups or any quick workout after getting pissed at a game. I began to do 20 push-ups every-time i got pissed and after-wards i instantly feel much less angry and am good to play another game. This has been a great alternative to just stopping playing so i was able to actually train for decent amounts of time.
- Music
While playing il listen to various things from parov stelar, to emmure, to the persona 4 soundtrack.
I mainly listen to metal and instrumental stuff, for instance Emmure..
+ Show Spoiler +
And Toe..
+ Show Spoiler +
Now i used to not really listen to music while playing at all, and since testing it out ive really notice that i need to listen to it or i simply cannot concentrate as well.
Originally, i thought music would break my concentration and that why i avoided it while playing, however that's not the case at all. I was simply able to concentrate better no matter what kind of music is. It doesn't affect my emotions when im playing the game the way it might if i were just listening to it by itself, and because of this there's a slightly different appeal to what i listen while i'm playing.
For instance, i love a lot of toes softer slower stuff but when im playing a game of starcraft i may want something more upbeat or repetitive. A lot of their music has me paying attention to it, so i tend to listen to more repetitive stuff while playing.
As of now i prefer the p4 soundtrack, it has a nostalgic flavor to it and i just love the hell out of the way it all sounds. My current sc2 play-list currently consists of 2 Emmure songs, the only metal on there, the p4 soundtrack, some Parov Stelar and sleepyhead by passion pit :p.
- Those various little things....
Comfort is a big deal. Ive tried playing with the seat to high and too low, with my mouse-pad vertical or horizontal (i prefer vertical), with my keyboard crooked etc etc.. and all it really comes down to is how comfortable you are.
Comfort seems to be a big deal, if something, anything at all is bugging me while I'm playing I'll constantly be aware of it. The seat too high or too low seems to big a big issue, since its so uncomfortable trying to play with my hands positioned differently and i actually play worse if everything isn't at least kinda comfy.
Fatigue is all in the same. The more tired, the harder it is to play. Its very similar to hunger imo, i just cannot concentrate and bad decisions are abundant.
Enjoyed the read? please rate :D
 
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United Kingdom3685 Posts
Try these too:
- seat too high
- seat too low
- socks/shoes on/off (whichever you don't do normally...)
- music on/off (could also try different types of music)
Shamelessly stole these from Day9 and other pros talking about practicing for LAN environments :p
Do you play in LANs? This is good training if you do, but if you only play at your home computer, I don't think there's much point :<
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I've always wondered what it would feel like to play while standing, with all of the hardware at a relative height level to that of sitting. However, I don't have any flat surface tall enough to test it, let alone the will to actually move it all over for the sake of playing a few games under duress. ^^
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When my hands are cold, I wait until they're warm to play. And I usually eat beforehand also. Both affect me.
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Having a 4 year old brother.
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I can't play unless I have my space/foot heater on. I get so cold.. 
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United States1278 Posts
Well, when i hear music i dont like, slower music, or my hands are cold, i play worse.
But, the most significant difference is when my parents come in and talk to me. I use skype with friends while playing, but for some reason, a person talking to me irl makes me lose all concentration.
Also, if i am the slightest bit angry, i cant concentrate, and thus lose.
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On January 28 2011 06:42 Sayle wrote:
Try these too:
- seat too high
- seat too low
- socks/shoes on/off (whichever you don't do normally...)
- music on/off (could also try different types of music)
Shamelessly stole these from Day9 and other pros talking about practicing for LAN environments :p
Do you play in LANs? This is good training if you do, but if you only play at your home computer, I don't think there's much point :<
i do play at a lan center, il be adding some of these in when i can 
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Do try also at different levels of fatigue. Say after a good amount of reading detailed information or work or etc.Thanks
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try playing while trying to maintain a hard-on using only your imagination, it's fucking intense
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On January 28 2011 17:57 Marksman wrote:
Do try also at different levels of fatigue. Say after a good amount of reading detailed information or work or etc.Thanks
ok i can definanlty do that :D
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United Kingdom3685 Posts
On January 28 2011 18:00 SpiritoftheTunA wrote:
try playing while trying to maintain a hard-on using only your imagination, it's fucking intense
I guess if someone inadvertantly types something dirty to me in a ladder game, I'll know who to thank...
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United States4126 Posts
Playing with lack of sleep is a major problem for me during school days. I know I play horribly when I'm sleepy so I usually avoid playing when I am.
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KK i think im done for this one, will do something similar for my next blog when i think of something
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I used to never play SC:BW with any music, not even the ingame music because I thought it would hinder me from reacting to alert sounds. But one day I accidentally played a game with my MP3 player going and the trance/techo music I listened to helped me maintain a faster hand movement rate because of the beats. It also helped me to be more aware of the minimap because, yes, my alert sounds were softer but I could still hear them but it made me keep a more watchful eye.
That's just me though, it's different for everybody.
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Playing when it's too FLOPPING hot. it's summer in Australia at the moment and I reckon my room is the hottest place in the country... has the same effect on me that hunger has on you by the sound of things.
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Being in love (the first few weeks of a relationship are really fun..)
thats pretty distracting cuz i dont wanna play games, i wanna play with her ^^!!!!
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Actually being too full affects my gameplay a lot. It makes sense because a lot of your energy is being spent on digestion rather than going to your brain/arms/fingers etc.. I play better when I am hungry.
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Cold is definitely a big one. My room is fucking freezing, and it's been bugging me the last while..... I feel sluggish while playing, for lack of a better term.
What I've been doing is spamming like crazy to keep my hands warm (I never spam btw). My average apm has been between 150 and 200, when it's normally closer to 100. It's not making me play better at all, relative to how I would be playing if it was warmer, however, it is keeping my hands warmer while playing, which definitely helping to reduce the effect of it being so freaking cold right now.
Another key one is your mouse/keyboard. Try playing with a different mouse, and you'll see how different it is. It'll really affect your precision and reaction timing. I'd know - I just had to purchase a new mouse because I forgot my old one at home over christmas break, and it wasn't really worth it to ship it. I decided to upgrade to a Razer Imperator (seemed like a logical choice for me), but the thing just felt uncomfortable initially. It's grown on me, but I'm still not nearly as precise as I used to be.....
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On January 28 2011 18:00 SpiritoftheTunA wrote:
try playing while trying to maintain a hard-on using only your imagination, it's fucking intense
That made me laugh
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Being hungry, being cold, and playing without playing without music on are probably the three biggest factors for me. I can't do jack shit if any part of my body is cold, even if it's my toes. It's frustrating sometimes, Music just helps keep a tempo, though as I'm sure anyone can easily guess, techno or really any kind of electronic music does this the best because the tempo doesn't tend to alter that much. Dubstep is the best for me though. :D
Being hungry though... It's terrible. All I can think of is... "hmm, what should I eat for dinner..." then all of a sudden a Zealot screams "WE CANNOT HOLD" and I ignore it almost instantly... Lastly, I follow this up with a solid QQ because my army died and Iost.
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Playing While Stressed
Stress tends to go away. Depending on how well I'm doing the stress will either improve or get worse. If it gets worse then I'm stressed over the game and not the real-life situation (more than likely school-related), so both ways I win.
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Playing while tired is also hard, I've noticed that when I accidentally stay up until like 2 playing Starcraft, and am really tired the game seems really distant/quiet, and nothing seems "real" that's really the best I can explain it. But it's bad for your play, for example:
I forge FE on Scrap Station, then planned to do a 6gate push. I had all four gas and my gates were timed well, they finished just as a large roach force from the Zerg walked into the vision of my Xel'naga watch tower. I quickly selected my gates, then hit gggggg.
....
....
Nothing happened...
Then I realized, not only did I forget to research warpgate
+ Show Spoiler +I forgot to build a cybernetics core -_-;
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EPT
