• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:19
CEST 23:19
KST 06:19
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 237ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7
Community News
BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion5BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion5Weekly Cups (June 29-July 5): Solar Doubles0MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon445.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes40
StarCraft 2
General
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 2 Most successful SC2 players of Q2 2026 MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon Is the larve respawn broken? 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event GSL CK #5 Race War HomeStory Cup 29 Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10 Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 533 Die Together The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool Starcraft vs Retro Category on Twitch
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues IPSL Spring 2026 Top 4! CSLAN 4 is Coming! [ASL22] Wildcard Qualifier
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Summer Games Done Quick 2026! Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard? Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Major Shifts in the Gaming I…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 6634 users

My friend needs help getting back into sc2

Blogs > Blazinghand
Post a Reply
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25561 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-08-01 22:38:21
August 01 2011 22:38 GMT
#1
The situation:
My good friend "P-dawg" (this is a pseudonym, his name isn't actually P-dawg and nobody calls him that) no longer plays Starcraft 2. He played extensively during beta and for several months after release, getting into Diamond League and helping me until I was a Diamond League player as well. Then, gradually, he began to stop playing. He'd go on tilt for hours and lose games, and rage, and not play. He made an alt and played on that in order to not feel like he was on tilt, but of course that stopped working pretty soon. He bought another account and it still was no good.

So he stopped playing 1v1s in about December of 2010. At this point, P-dawg and I didn't see each other for a while due to break. In any case, he eventually stuck entirely to team games... and he started playing less and less of those, too. In March (? around that time), he tried to start laddering again, reasoning that for Season 2 he could give things another shot. However, now due to a long time not playing, he had lost a lot of skill and was much worse. Upset, he quickly gave up. Rage overcame him and he retreated and became a Casual LoL player.

Eventually, he stopped even logging into sc2 for 1v1 obs games or team matches, or other UMS. He gave his alts away to friends. I think part of what is holding him back is that he remembers how good he used to be, and is demoralized by his current skill level due to being so rusty. Is there anything I can do to get P-dawg to start playing again? Or should I just let him fade into a casual gamer?

***
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
Karliath
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2214 Posts
August 01 2011 22:51 GMT
#2
1. If he has no motivation to get better, there's nothing you can do.

2. Take him to a live SC2 event.
FreshNoThyme
Profile Joined March 2008
United States356 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-08-02 01:01:07
August 02 2011 00:59 GMT
#3
On August 02 2011 07:38 Blazinghand wrote:
Eventually, he stopped even logging into sc2 for 1v1 obs games or team matches, or other UMS. He gave his alts away to friends. I think part of what is holding him back is that he remembers how good he used to be, and is demoralized by his current skill level due to being so rusty. Is there anything I can do to get P-dawg to start playing again? Or should I just let him fade into a casual gamer?


This is a very strange way of looking at the situation.

If he isn't having fun, there is no reason to push him to play. If he is someone who is that easily upset by competitive video games, you DEFINITELY shouldn't push him to play them. It seems like you are wanting to push him into playing for your own personal gain (somehow...?), which is never good for the other person. He clearly made the right decision for him. If it is negatively affecting one's life, it is smart to step away. Not everyone is wired the same, and some deal with such situations differently. Although I feel it is beneficial to attempt to strengthen one's weaknesses and faults in life, there are plenty of ways of improving how you deal with adversity rather than playing SC2.

I also don't understand why it is a bad thing. What is wrong with being a "casual gamer"? Avoiding frustration and instead opting to enjoy one's self is bad? That's a backwards way of looking at the situation.

I would understand if there was an incentive in the end... if reaching X level of skill level would magically make things that much more enjoyable... but that isn't really the case with competitive games. Yes, reaching a higher level of play may make winning more enjoyable, but if he continues to take losses as he does, then it will never benefit him.

I also find it odd that you say that he "needs" this help, when you don't mention him asking for it in any way.

The thread would be a much different discussion if you mentioned just why you thought he "needed" to do this. If he mentioned it to you directly, and asked for ways to get back into the game, the discussion here would be different. If he DID ask that, you should mention it somewhere in your post. As it reads, it sounds like he doesn't need anything.
NoobStyles
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Australia257 Posts
August 02 2011 01:25 GMT
#4
I recommend telling him to switch race to Terran or toss

Seriously though I recommend team games with some form of voice chat. So it's not so much playing SC as it it talking with friend/s while owning noobs.
GrapeD
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada679 Posts
August 02 2011 01:34 GMT
#5
Well if he doesn't want to play sc2 anymore theres no point in making him play. If he wants to get back into it its up to him to spend the time playing as a noob again and really work towards getting better. If you want to try to give him the motivation to start playing again have him watch day9 daily 100. Every time i get sick of the game i watch that again and feel better.
Some people hurt people. I defenestrate those people.
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25561 Posts
August 02 2011 01:34 GMT
#6
Well, I think he likes playing, and he enjoys laddering quite a bit. When he does play 1v1, he gets very immersed, talks strategy with me and his other friends, watches streams, and generally enjoys laddering. It just so happens that whenever he goes on a losing streak, he quits the game for a while. The worse the losing streak, the more tilted he is, and the longer he quits. Long quits lead to him being rusty, and then he has another losing streak when he comes back. He gets demoralized and feels sad. He wants to like the game, but each time he takes a longer break and is even rustier when he comes back...
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 11h 41m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech18
Dota 2
420jenkins545
LuMiX1
Counter-Strike
summit1g4981
minikerr26
Heroes of the Storm
Grubby3209
Other Games
tarik_tv3595
Beastyqt528
RotterdaM435
Dewaltoss69
UpATreeSC61
ToD1
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick37429
BasetradeTV214
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• printf 77
• HeavenSC 36
• musti20045 26
• Hupsaiya 15
• IndyKCrew
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 32
• FirePhoenix13
• Michael_bg 7
• Pr0nogo 3
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Other Games
• imaqtpie1135
• Shiphtur238
• tFFMrPink 14
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
11h 41m
Solar vs Rogue
Maru vs NightMare
Sparkling Tuna Cup
12h 41m
IPSL
18h 41m
Bonyth vs Hawk
GSL
1d 13h
Replay Cast
2 days
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
CrankTV Team League
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
[ Show More ]
CrankTV Team League
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Clem vs Lambo
Scarlett vs Cure
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S3: W2
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026

Upcoming

CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Eternal Conflict S2 E2
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.