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Ok, so I need some moral support. I go through these fits of playing a lot, to the point that the other hobbies/interests in my life suffer. I give up playing sometimes for a week or two and come back, then lose because I have gotten rusty. It is really frustrating. I am currently around 3100 level diamond.
I know a few things:
I will never be a pro gamer.
I will always get worse when I don't put in the time.
I feel guilty about spending excess amounts of time playing games, and get angry when I lose a bunch in a row.
Ah-so, I am not sure what to do--throw in my competitive towel and just play casual? I feel like the time I need to stay good at the 3100 diamond level is at least 3 games a day. I am just frustrated. I love this game, and I wish I could be among the best. I also have many other hobbies and interests that I love to do, as well as a full-time job and a house. This is quite a weird post, I realize, but maybe some on here can relate. I guess I realized tonight after losing a bunch of ladder games after a week off (a needed week off) that I can't take long breaks and come back straight to laddering. All feedback I will listen to, even flames.
One example of how this hobby has affected my others; I planned to write my third book last summer, but instead was consumed by SC2 and spent my time on it instead. I also gave up competitive Magic: The Gathering as well. Sigh.
Ok, so I need some moral support. I go through these fits of playing a lot, to the point that the other hobbies/interests in my life suffer. I give up playing sometimes for a week or two and come back, then lose because I have gotten rusty. It is really frustrating. I am currently around 3100 level diamond.
I know a few things:
I will never be a pro gamer.
I will always get worse when I don't put in the time.
I feel guilty about spending excess amounts of time playing games, and get angry when I lose a bunch in a row.
Ah-so, I am not sure what to do--throw in my competitive towel and just play casual? I feel like the time I need to stay good at the 3100 diamond level is at least 3 games a day. I am just frustrated. I love this game, and I wish I could be among the best. I also have many other hobbies and interests that I love to do, as well as a full-time job and a house. This is quite a weird post, I realize, but maybe some on here can relate. I guess I realized tonight after losing a bunch of ladder games after a week off (a needed week off) that I can't take long breaks and come back straight to laddering. All feedback I will listen to, even flames. Thanks.
One example of how this hobby has affected my others; I planned to write my third book last summer, but instead was consumed by SC2 and spent my time on it instead. I also gave up competitive Magic: The Gathering as well. Sigh.
Yea--I mean the whole ranking thing that they implemented in the game I absolutely love. It is what flared my very competitive spirit. I have been playing consistent since the first day of beta. The game has absorbed my life in many ways... This isn't something new for me as per Blizzard games--it happened with starcraft 1 and diablo II. I get real fired up, and want to be the best. Subscribe to GOMtv, read the forums, follow favorite players and casters, and in the end, I have to accept that I cannot sustain the life of a progamer, and I won't be as good as a progamer unless I played every day for several hours. I had a lesson with LzGaMeR, and I learned a PVT strat that worked wonders for me--what I realized was that if I had access to players as good as him all the time (not for $30 an hour mind you), and a lot of time to work on the various strats, I could be as good as anyone. I used the strat he gave me (several months old now), and it worked wonders for me. Sigh again. So I was so tempted when IdrA offered lessons, but, at $150 a pop; I'm just not ready for that yet.
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i think you shouldn't approach the game without any competitive aspirations for the game really. sounds like you will never have the time to become a good player and coaching isn't a substitute for practice. i wouldn't even consider 3100 competitive because i am 3600 and i loose more games to good players than i win but anyways that fustration is always going to be there because you don't have the time to play and if you are playing 3 games a day and someone is playing 20-30 a day you will never be better than them so maybe you should just be a fan or whatever. I have the same thoughts all the time like man i wish i had time to take this game more seriously but just don't. if you want to play some games though yosep.105 glhf.
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United States17042 Posts
I think that everyone goes through that, and what you'll find is that you'll get out what you put in.
Something interesting that you might want to watch is the Teamliquid Staff tournament. We're actually comparably terrible at the game, but I think that this tournament is something that we've all had a bunch of fun with. I don't think that anyone would say that we're "causal," but really....that's what we are, and that means that you can still have fun at the game, with the community, on whatever schedule you want/can handle.
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If you don't enjoy it enough to play then of course you shouldn't play. It sounds though that despite realising you will never be a competitive starcraft player you still want some competition and in that case you should play in things like KOTHs, casual tournaments (i'm always tempted by the diamond and non "pro" tournaments around but have never signed up for one yet). This was an issue to some extent for me before chat channels were put in the game, ladder is a lonely experience in SC2 often and none of my friends play games really and certainly not starcraft. but staying in the teamliquid channel and a couple of others to talk to people play customs and arrange KOTHs has made the game a lot more fun. hope this helps 
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Very helpful guys. I have never thought of adjusting to
Casual and chat driven experiences, and maybe that's what I
Need. Personally, I don't want to invest so
Much of my life that I become a great player. I am
A good player though. But I used to be obsessed about being in the highest league--I just have to let it go .
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My advice? Uninstall it and play a new game. Games should be fun and should relieve stress. Being a progamer sucks and is a sucky goal.
I'm a very competitive guy, too, so I know what you're feeling. It's like chasing after a carrot you can never catch. Every once in a while, it's good to remind yourself that there's always going to be someone better than you at the game.
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On February 28 2011 14:10 NukeTheStars wrote:
My advice? Uninstall it and play a new game. Games should be fun and should relieve stress. Being a progamer sucks and is a sucky goal.
I'm a very competitive guy, too, so I know what you're feeling. It's like chasing after a carrot you can never catch. Every once in a while, it's good to remind yourself that there's always going to be someone better than you at the game.
But you can't say that being a progamer sucks and is a sucky goal
You insulted a whole bunch of progamers and aspiring to be progamers in the world and especially in Korea
But yeah I do understand the feeling. I haven't been playing SC2 at all really because of it
Although I try to force myself to play a few games here and there because I paid for it :<
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Pretty sure many of us are like you in that sense. The one game I tried going pro on was War 3, but due to circumstances it just wasn't meant to be. When Starcraft 2 was launched I had the same goal...but I had lost the drive/hunger for achieving that goal. I've come to realize that I'm happy just watching top players play. And by now I have several other hobbies that occupy my time. And just like you mentioned there's always a trade-off. Ultimately you have to make your choice and stick with it, regret is a terrible thing.
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On February 28 2011 14:29 JSH wrote:Show nested quote +On February 28 2011 14:10 NukeTheStars wrote:
My advice? Uninstall it and play a new game. Games should be fun and should relieve stress. Being a progamer sucks and is a sucky goal.
I'm a very competitive guy, too, so I know what you're feeling. It's like chasing after a carrot you can never catch. Every once in a while, it's good to remind yourself that there's always going to be someone better than you at the game. But you can't say that being a progamer sucks and is a sucky goal You insulted a whole bunch of progamers and aspiring to be progamers in the world and especially in Korea But yeah I do understand the feeling. I haven't been playing SC2 at all really because of it Although I try to force myself to play a few games here and there because I paid for it :<
It does suck. You practice 10-12 hours a day, if not more, and make less than minimum wage unless you're one of the top 3 players on your team. Your lifestyle is extremely restricted; you can't go out with friends, your in house activities are monitored by the coaching staff, you live in close quarters with a bunch of other progamers, some of which are angling to take your spot if your performance drops. Eventually your performance will drop or you're forced into military service which effectively ends your progamer career. While the rest of your generation has been getting an education and can pursue their intellectual and personal goals, you got jack: no education and no relevant work experience. One can admire the work that it takes to be a top tier BW gamer, but also realize that it completely sucks. There was a good scforall interview with sea.Really (or heck, read that old rekrul interview about why he switched to poker) that attests to all this.
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Maybe have a set time to play each day. Like from when you get home from work or whatever and play for 2 hours, then do something else, and if you have time play some more after other things.
Set an alarm at the end of the 2 hours so that way you don't lose track.
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So in an update, I took last summer off from Starcraft. I finished top 8 in diamond for the first season, which ended around May 2011, then decided I would stop playing to do more constructive things during the summer. I did do a lot of productive stuff, having freed my time from the game.
So the fall rolled around, and I decided I would get my character back up to diamond, since not playing had dropped me to platinum. Since then I have started playing casually again, and recently very intensely, to the point that my old desire to reach Masters league flared up again. It is consuming me again, much like in this post originally, and I have even less time to play the game, but I fill up my time by playing it.
I was curious about thoughts on this: Is there a talent or natural ability threshold for getting into Masters? For instance, can some people, simply through laddering alone, reach Masters league in their spare time, due to natural ability, or does it take work and dedication that is consistent? I have to work very hard to remain in top 20 diamond right now, and I do a fair amount of research on builds. But I also work 12 hour days most of the week, and have other responsibilities. I am not a college student with a lot of free time anymore. Please give me your thoughts on the “talent ceiling concept” I am thinking about. Thanks.
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I think you should always be having fun.. if you're not then it's not worth pursuing because long days of grinding Starcraft games out with no feasible good outcome is really just a worthless time. I think anyone who could potentially be pro actually shows it fairly quickly without the need for outside help, they always stand out really... some are more hard work and some seem to be somehow more gifted but they all immediately showed some spark.
If you played since launch yet cannot consistently progress and improve alone then there is no spark to be blunt. Especially if you had a break and lost skills particularly heavily at this level, it seems to suggest lack of retaining game sense; and if that's not becoming natural and you need to re-learn constantly then that's a bad sign. When you play someone with the potential what's evident to me is how they learn and improve straight in the next game, close gaps one by one naturally. I felt able to do this only to a certain level and i played some people who really showed it just in the regame and impressed me a lot.. their control would noticably be better or they would figure out a timing easily.
Also think to yourself are you 'figuring' out the game or simply using repetition to get better? Like knowing exactly when you are in the lead or behind or inevitably going to lose. Shouldn't really be confused at any loss and have an idea how to improve before the game even ended. I think that would be a big sign of potential too.
Also yeah some people are easily Masters coming back and just playing minimal games; they are usually people with heavy BW experience though. I know one guy who goes back and ladders like 30-40 games now and then and is being matched to the top, he hardly plays but just has that talent i guess.
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EPT
