|
... of TL. Not that many posts despite being here for around 4-6 months(?).
First things first, let me give you a mental picture of the human specimen who's writing this:
- Quick bio: Adel, 22, FR, Student in Comp Science.
- EU Account: TheDeli.704 - No ladder yet
- NA Account: TheDeli.447 - No ladder yet
- Main Race: Protoss
- Potential secondary race: Zerg
As far as not being on ladder is concerned, Day9 Daily 269 (I think?) was addressed to people like me who would just bash themselves for a loss and only feel relief when winning. The reason why I made this blog is that Day9 Daily (How to get into playing SC2). It's not like I know nothing about the game... But my mind is still blocked on the idea that "macro is the main issue" and that makes me lose focus.
I'm spending most of my SC2 time on Bronze Practice, a channel in Europe dedicated to improving your play. Even there, I can't get myself to play - fear of failure issues.
Does anyone deal with the same issues? I'd like to gather fellow players going through the same stuff so that we can just have fun and ignore anything standard. I just don't want to have the pressure of losing - just have fun and try to find out if carriers are the *expletive*. You can add me and - in case we are so many people - we may create a channel for many of us to interact.
Please post here ^^ Oh, and anyone is invited to post in relation to this topic, so long you don't troll/bash/offend anyone, me included.
 
|
play to win. expect others are doing the same. expect to win games, expect to lose games. expect the more games you play, the better you will become. expect to have an epiphany which will lead to a better understanding of the game, macro, micro.
just do it.
|
|
|
On March 18 2011 03:07 BrodiaQ wrote:
U gotta skate.
User was warned for this post
|
Heya man, i just made a blog for exactly the same reason !
Quick bio: Thomas, 24, FR, Student in Archaeology
EU Account: OtoH
Main Race: Zerg
Drop me a line sometime
|
Just do it.
Right in your sig, bro!
But seriously, I used to get like that. I didn't play with anyone else on BW until about two years before SC2 got released (played on iCCup), because I always had this fear that I'd fail. I don't know why, but eventually, I just decided that it didn't matter, since nobody is going to judge me anyway.
Just dive in and fail for as long as you need to! You'll get better if you learn from your mistakes.
|
Fact of the matter is if you don't get over the fear of failure bit, you will literally never become even decent at this game.
Now, if becoming good at this game is something that is important to you, I suggest to just say "screw it" and go play - lose - a ton of games on ladder. Unless you have some sort of learning disability you will undoubtedly become stronger with each game, regardless of win or loss.
Look at it this way: whenever you lose a game, sure you have a new loss on your record, but you have learned something. Usually it is pretty evident what contributed to your loss. If you are unsure you can always review the replay. Recognize what went wrong and put that mistake on your "mental checklist" to prevent it from recurring. Soon, your mental checklist will become more and more refined. You'll notice your APM increasing, your win rate going up, and the ranking of your opponents also improving. Before you know it you'll be a legit master's league player. None of this is possible however if you just never sit down to actually play some games.
So again I have to reiterate: If it is important for you to become good at this game you *need* to sit down and play/lose a whole bunch of games. Don't look at losses as failures but as learning opportunities. Do you think guys like NaDa and Boxer just sat down and owned everybody from the beginning? Hell no! They lost a ton of games in really noobish ways. The key though is that they kept playing and learning. If you have the will to compete and improve, there are very few things that can stop you from doing so.
*** as a side note - Try not to practice against bronze players. I know that its more fun to play against lower level opponents because you have a realistic chance to win, but honestly it won't teach you how to play correctly when your opponents are incapable of executing even the most simple standard builds. IMO if you can, play against people who are much better than you and learn from them. Think of it this way, if you want to get really good at tennis, you aren't going to practice against someone who has never played before - you'll want to play with a coach - someone who is experienced and vastly superior to you in terms of skill, so that you can actually *learn* from your opponent rather than whack a ball back and forth with some scrub in a match where neither of you are doing things correctly.
*** Side note #2 - Avoid the "relieved to win, traumatized when I lose" mentality. Winning and losing doesn't happen by accident in this game. If you just won a game, give yourself a big pat on the back: you just outplayed your opponent in one of the purest strategy skill-based contests out there. If you lose, acknowledge that you made some mistakes - but don't beat yourself up for it. Remember: you should not be under the illusion that you are some top pro gamer that has peaked in skill. You are playing to improve and thus losing is just part of the growing process. Its nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. Like I said before, every single pro gamer you see on streams and tournaments has lost thousands of games before they got to the point where they were anywhere near competitive. By losing, you aren't "failing" or showing that you are somehow inept, you are instead developing your skill and experience as a rts player. Just don't forget to actually actively seek to learn from your losses and mistakes.
Best of luck to you brother. Sorry for the wall of text but I feel strongly about this as I am a person with literally no rts experience previously yet surpassed many of my friends with rts backgrounds simply for this reason: i was not afraid to play and lose while they were. I am now a solid masters player and they are struggling through silver/gold league wondering how I got so good so quickly...
|
Hey!
I guess there's now a big thread at http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=201664¤tpage=All for all the day9-ers, and it looks like they even decided on channel Buddiship.
I'm on the NA servers as ftl, I posted my ID in that thread. Drop me a line if you want to play some! I'm 23 and I'm a grad student in Bioengineering at UCLA.
I do understand your fear of losing though. I was scared of starting the ladder at first, but then I reminded myself that I was there to have fun and should just worry about my own play and improving, rather than win or lose... and it worked pretty well for a while...
...I'm getting that a little more right now, on the ladder. I've actually gone on a pretty good win streak - I've won like my past 11 ladder matches - mostly against bronze players, but have beaten a few silvers and golds in that streak (and my loss before that was to a silver). But now I feel *terrified* whenever I'm about to start a ladder match, because I'm scared it'll break my streak and I'll lose all my progress towards being promoted to silver. I know it's not true, but it just *feels* that way.
Not really sure how to get over it, besides just jump in and play a bunch. :/
|
Fear of failure issues - you speak from my heart, sir. I've been struggling with this a lot, despite of how much I love the game. Sometimes, I just can't get myself to play. So you are definitelly not alone in this.
My best wishes to you, sir! 
|
I dont understand why there is such a big fear of failure when playing this game. When you load up all the other games for other consoles you have played in your life, did you have the fear of failing? Why is it that simply because you are facing another human being, that all of a sudden, failing becomes the worst thing possible. I think this mentality will most certainly hold you back, not only in SC2 but in life as well. How can you ever grasp out for something if you always fear failing.
My advice is to completely ditch your way of thinking, and say screw it and dive into the game with the goal of not succeeding, but of playing in general. Set a goal to have 600 league games played on your account by a certain date. Dont focus on winning or losing, but focus on making sure you have those 600 games banked. These types of goals are much better as they dont put a ton of focus on actually winning, but rather just playing in general.
In the end you will find that being in bronze will match you up against TONS of players just as bad if not worse than you. You just gotta take that initial plunge, and you will see just how silly it is to fear something as small as losing a sc2 game. (How would you ever learn anything if all you did was win?)
|
goiflin, totally forgot I put that in my sig @_@
ftl, too bad I was solo on that channel :s Though thanks for linking me to the thread (now that's a lot of people to add XD)
BabyToss, how about you take my ID and we just goof off on some games? I want a goof-off-on-SC2 buddy ^^
Reason, gotta like your post. That was spot on. Too bad there's not a "thank you" or "like" function in here >.>
eXigeant, I'd say yes - but at varying degrees. It depends on the game and my mindstate at the moment, + my expectations. 2 days ago I started playing Black Ops and despite being a total scrub, I was still keeping on playing. In contrast, it took me lots of months to play vs people on Counter Strike back when it was the big kahuna. Now we have Source and I just play online, no anxiety to it.
As for 600 games, :s 100 is more reasonable to me, for a beginning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
