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Hey guys,
It's time for another blog while I'm listening for Red Hot Chilli Peppers new album from itunes 
Anyway, so I just finished high school last year and I'm not sure what to do with my life. I quit my job because the hours completely ruined my watching SC2, I know you think its dumb but, I love this game, I cant get enough, even when I'm sleep deprived, I will turn on a stream or something and just watch games.
In a sense I have always wanted to do something with my life that involved gaming, weather it be making games or playing them. I have never considered myself to be really really good at any game, but with SC2, I feel like I can go somewhere with it, not because you require quick aiming skills or need to have keen reactions (well you sort of do ) but its something of strategy, and I love sc2. I find myself thinking about thors in bed before sleep and how awesome they are as a unit, and that I would love to play Zerg if I didnt already play Terran.
Recently I've just had this idea that I was either going to go pro with SC2 or make games, but quite frankly all's I want to do is play SC2. I'm not great at it (Platinum on Korea) but I think if I could radically improve, either from playing tons of games or coaching of some sort, I might be able to start competing in tournaments and hopefully get noticed. I live in Hong Kong so I live quite close to Korea compared to most, so latency isn't a factor for me.
Basically I want go pro with SC2. Now most of you are going to say, you know dont quit your job or education because of SC2, and well I cant do that because I dont have a job and I have finished high school. The problem is that if I want to go Pro I have to get heaps better, and that means playing heaps, but I feel as though I haven't gotten a better in a while, I mean I'm learning new builds and everything but I just feel that when I lose a game it sets me back to where I started. Sure I made my way from bronze and I have come pretty far in 6 months, but the hurdle of Diamond and Masters are so huge, I am getting 2-0 in tournaments, and I really want to know what makes me so much worse than diamond and masters players. Really I have trouble against lower league players on Korea, and I just dont know what to do about getting better, enough to go Pro, I am still gold on North America for one. I feel like I have stagnated in platinum, forever platinum. I know you have to put in the work to get up there, but as I said, I really want that quick boost. I am sick of losing to my friends in our local tournament because I am in the middle, where I can beat the lower players, but always lose against the better ones.
I suppose playing 8+ hours a day helps, but when I watch my replays I dont know what to look for. Obviously I can spot supply blocking and not making scv's, but I dont have that keen eye that a pro has to make me get better a lot more quickly. So help me out guys, what do I do, should I just start playing longer working up to 8 hours, or should I consider paying for coaching to give me a head start? I just feel that there is no way for me to get better quickly without some sort of help. If I could support myself off my stream I would be happy to stream all my games, and hopefully get better, but my stream is only just getting started, getting around 35 people at a time watching which is great, but more is always better.
I just dont know how to go about this guys, and I am going to log this whole adventure when I figure out what I'm going to do.
For those of you who feel like telling me its not worth it I have this to say to you: It's not likely I'm going to take your advice.
Time isnt a issue, and my mum doesnt mind me staying at home and playing, it costs her nothing really and I get to see her.
 
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Hmm, I am in no position to give you brilliant advice but here's some things I think and/or some things others might say.
1) Get better.
2) If you're gonna farm the f*ck out of games, make sure you're learning something every time you play. You can't just drone "Find Match, win or lose, next!" for 8 hours. Custom games with people of slightly better level than you and finding out why you lost and working on it helps heaps. Repeat till you're higher league.
3) Coaching...I'm not sure. While of course it helps, at Platinum there's so much you can learn whilst being at home and learning yourself.
4) There have been many people on Blogs before saying they want to go pro and a lot of other people will say don't do it.
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Yeah I guess people try to justify it themselves. There is my reasoning I suppose, I have nothing better to do at the moment I should get a awesome practice regime to help myself get better.
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Most people that go pro are at least good before they make the transition. I can't think of anyone who decided to be pro while still in Platnium. IMO, at least get a job and just play a lot on your free time. It will be a more natural transition and you'll have something to fall back on if it doesn't work.
I'm not saying don't do it, just don't be so sacrificial when making the decision.
edit: Also, your attitude doesn't seem to be the appropriate one for all of sudden becoming pro. From your post, it seems like you're just going pro cause you don't have anything better to do. That isn't how competition works.
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
Weird that a Hong Kong mom would support her son staying at home playing games.
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Your problem of "not knowing what to look for" is your biggest problem. If you were truly dedicated to this game you wouldn't know what NOT to look for. As an aspiring concert pianist, I think the drive for absolute perfection in your execution is all you need other than time to practice. When you watch your replays, look at EVERY little thing. Find every little mistake that you make, whether it be mis-microing your units, forgetting an upgrade for a little while, not putting scv's on gas for a little while, forgetting a mule, not noticing something on your minimap, etc. Everything. You have to completely humble yourself and be ready to never consider yourself good again, because you will always find small, nit-picky mistakes in your play. This shouldn't dishearten you, however. It should motivate you to fix them.
Maybe it's a little insubordinate of me to give advice like this. I'm not a pro at anything T_T
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Stop watching streams,and tournaments no more.It doesnt really help you improve.Just see it as entertainment.Coaching is burning money.
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@Whole Not at all, its not because I have nothing better to do, its because I have nothing to do, and its something I really want to do :D
@T.O.P I'm from Australia, but live in hong kong.
@SalsaShark Hahah yeah thats the sort of thing I really need to go
@Benga ..? If I didnt watch the pro's I wouldn't know what builds to steal.
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On August 26 2011 10:25 Chanyman wrote:
Anyway, so I just finished high school last year and I'm not sure what to do with my life. I quit my job because the hours completely ruined my watching SC2, I know you think its dumb but, I love this game, I cant get enough, even when I'm sleep deprived, I will turn on a stream or something and just watch games.
Sorry to tell you mate.... but errrr..... High school is not a solid education. So IMO your not really "finished with school". Believe it or not you can actually get an education/job and practice enough to be competitive. I work full time and still could find enough time to play probably between 4-6 hours a day. My other major problem with this whole "wanting to go pro" thing that alot of people seem to be thinking lately is this: how are you going to live during and after your pro career?
Very few players actually get payed enough cash to be able to live off. Sure you get tournament winnings but how many 50 buck weekend tournaments are you going to need to win (assuming you do win) before your big enough to get a major team sponsor etc? Lets assume everything goes to plan and you make it big and your a top sc2 pro. Your making enough money to live off with abit on the side from sponsorships etc. Lets say your able to maintain this for maybe 4-5 years (lets face it nothing last forever, especially esports pros) you might not ever have a big tournament win. If you do grats you put away 20k here and there. Then your career is over as a pro, what do you do now? use your prize money to live off for the rest of your life? (hint nestea couldnt live out his life off his success atm)
So my big question is what happens after? Do you go back to living with/off your mom and playing games still? Do you get a low paying job and struggle by because your already years behind everyone else your age?
Since your Australian il assume you have a decent knowledge of AFL so many people want to making it in the afl, and alot of players dont. A guy i went to school with made it too the VFL and played one AFL match. He got dropped the next year. His career is over but atleast the team is paying to put him through a degree of his choice. This wont happen in Starcraft 2.
Quick recap: You can have a job/go to school and still play enough to be pro (Tyler/Day[9] did it) and for the love of god think about your future after gaming. (sorry if im sort of crapping on your dreams here)
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Don't worry man not at all. My cousin actually plays AFL and is going to get drafted into professional AFL very soon, so he is really lucky For one thing, I'm still really young, so should I become a pro for 5 years, I'm still going to be able to go to uni, then move into making games or something I dont know, but I do have the love for the game.
Ideally I at least want to hit masters before the end of the year, if not masters then top diamond would be fine for me. From there well entering tournaments and hopefully get wins. If all else fails, I can still go to uni and play while I'm in uni.
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Just to let you know also Chanyman, just think about how far behind you are compared to everyone else who's already in Diamond/Masters.
I recall another "I want to go pro" thread and it was posted by some guy in Silver League.
Another poster said "at this point, if you aren't already in masters then you're going to have a lot of trouble". Take with a grain of salt of course.
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This is what I did to get halfway decent at this game
4 gate (before time nerf) all in all the way to diamond
Then i realized.. I suck @ this game. i dropped many ranks in diamond trying to figure out how to play without 4 gating although sometimes i still do
Then i got really ridiculously into 2 base all ins. Got into masters w/ that
So i just cheesed cheesed w/ basic macro builds untill i got to the next league.
Finally when i hit masters I just started losing... ALOOOOTTT so basically i had to learn how to play 3-4 + base games (and hold off cheese better :\)
Basically what I did was cheese alot then get to players who are scores ahead of me. Then losing normal standard games to them over and over makes me see the weaknesses in my play and helps alot. since ive joined masters (maybe a month ago?) my multitasking has improved soo much.
Basically just play players who will demolish you but not soo 1 sided that you'll lose in like 8 minutes. Spam games w/ players you meet on ladder then spam watching your replays, I would usually find 1 consistent thing that i did that would cost me the game in a match up (considering your probe production, pylon timings and basic build is down) dont rage when u lose. thats the worse thing you can do. I got really frustrated sometimes and that kinda makes you feel like "OH THIS SHIT'S SOO IMBALANCED" instead of "oh. I guess i did something wrong.  time to go watch my replay.". So basically just play against people who are obviously better than you but not wayyy better.
I feel like for me, the best way to get better is to do the Safest build constantly over and over. All i really do in pvz is forge fe. All i do in pvt is 1 gate robo opening and all i do in pvp is 3 gate robo into tc Since you're still kind of a low level you shouldnt focus on many styles of play because honestly you dont have the apm or multitasking required yet
also spamming games will make you extremely better also. Spending a good 3 or so hours just spamming games w/ little breaks will do soo much. ultimately its just practice. Becareful when you are spamming games though because you can get some "tunnel vision" and go on some losing streaks. When u start losing by doing the same thing over and over u have to look back and think what am i doing wrong.
join practice groups, watch streams, find pros on bnet and harass them for practice (not really :p u should respect them and not be a creeper fan but i guess i've done this before Ive gotten pitty games from pros lol), make sure you watch alot of games and think about whats going on. alot of times casters will just state whats going on and you'll have to think deeper. Why is he expanding when he sees pheonixes? why did he just make 12 drones? What can he and cant he see. Why is he doing this? is he safe? Just make sure to ask tonnnsss of questions.
dont worry about going pro just yet, u should keep up with your schooling. You should work more on getting to high masters and u should have the skills for a while before you go pro.
idk i jsut kinda ranted on but i hope this helps
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Ok, a lot of this advice is excellent, but I want to suggest something more realistic. If you actually want to go pro and not just dream about it, make that conscious decision now. Lock yourself into it, and spend as much time as you possibly can getting better. Do not "get a job" as previous posters have stated. This is counter productive. Cut off all forms of retreat, sabatoge what you need to in your life in order to succeed in sc2. SC2 is do or die at the pro level. It is unforgiving and will not pay an average player who kinda wants it but also wants security. Fuck security and go for it if you want it. If you don't feel that strongly about it, figure out how to feel that strongly about it. Develop a very positive practice attitude. Do not take losing hard. Losing is learning.
Once again, normal people and 99.99% of people on TL have no idea the work ethic required to go pro. That is why they are racking up posts and spending time doing things they like such as watching sc2 rather than hardcore practicing.
It is never too late to do anything in this world (at our age). It's all a matter of how much you are willing to sacrifice.
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There's no point thinking about going pro if you don't enjoy playing the game. If you enjoy playing the game enough to the point that you play it for many many hours per day, going pro is just a small side step, where you just change your focus to more critical of your own play.
That's what I realized anyway. I used to play tons of bw and I enjoyed it. And I was hyped for sc2. After playing the sc2 beta I realized I didn't enjoy the game as I did bw, and so I realized I would have no chance of going pro because I was just getting bored.
Other than that, It's really easy to see in your replays what made you lose.
Things to look for :
1 : Unspent minerals
2 : Non-efficient engagements
That's all you need to look at in the beginning.
Other than that, just try and experiment with different build orders and unit compositions.
You shouldn't just copy the pros build orders, because the pros use build orders designed to work against other pros. In your league, people pull of a ton of unoptimized buildorders that a pro would never expect them to do.
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I know you said not going to heed this advice, but the odds of you ever making anything of out yourself as a pro SC2 player are 1 in a million. That said, there are lots of careers in the gaming industry, but you're going to need to go to school for just about any of them.
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Blazinghand
United States25551 Posts
Think very, very carefully about whether or not you want to be a progamer.
I don't think you do. It's a grueling, long-hour-working, stressful and low-paying career that doesn't transition to other jobs very well.
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=266837
On September 19 2011 07:50 Blazinghand wrote:
I also think that most people who want to go Pro have almost no idea what that means, and what it takes. If you're not willing to spend hours upon hours playing hard core in poor living conditions surrounded by other young men while not developing career skills, then you're not cut out to be a Pro Gamer.
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I had to come here and post this from the OP's stream thread.
It speaks for itself.
On KR:
Race: Terran
Rank: 10
League: Silver
On NA:
Race: Terran
Rank : 43
League: Gold
On EU:
Race: Terran
Rank: -
League: Not yet finished placement
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Wow, you quit your job so you could hopefully get out of plat and pursue a professional gaming career. That's quite possibly the dumbest, most self centered, lazy thing I've heard all month.
Do you have any idea how many people there are in high ranks that work full time, and even have kids? You clearly lack talent and ambition. Stop being a dumbass and go look at colleges instead of wasting your time and your mother's money, as she's supporting your lazy ass.
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You can not try and do it quickly at all, you will not get to that level quickly, so take a step back and realize you have to lose and lose and lose to win, you need to put in loads of effiecient practice and you can not rush it or try and become at that level at quickly as possible, it will take you a long time and it will take everything out of you to achieve that, I would say to look at going to school and still play everyday, if you can make progress while still in school and after, (or you can try during)you finished school than you should try and fully get into trying to become at that level.
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On September 22 2011 23:41 mAnarch wrote:
Ok, a lot of this advice is excellent, but I want to suggest something more realistic. If you actually want to go pro and not just dream about it, make that conscious decision now. Lock yourself into it, and spend as much time as you possibly can getting better. Do not "get a job" as previous posters have stated. This is counter productive. Cut off all forms of retreat, sabatoge what you need to in your life in order to succeed in sc2. SC2 is do or die at the pro level. It is unforgiving and will not pay an average player who kinda wants it but also wants security. Fuck security and go for it if you want it. If you don't feel that strongly about it, figure out how to feel that strongly about it. Develop a very positive practice attitude. Do not take losing hard. Losing is learning.
Once again, normal people and 99.99% of people on TL have no idea the work ethic required to go pro. That is why they are racking up posts and spending time doing things they like such as watching sc2 rather than hardcore practicing.
It is never too late to do anything in this world (at our age). It's all a matter of how much you are willing to sacrifice.
If you really want to go pro in sc2 badly, quitting your job isn't the answer(though in the OP's case, he doesn't have one at the moment). The best way to improve is to get started into a solid career path, so you do have some security. Spend every spare minute you have playing sc2. See where that takes you. You should be able to get masters/grandmasters without sacrificing other major commitments.
Going all or nothing on anything is foolish, especially for starcraft. People forget that getting to a point where you can play starcraft full time takes hard work, talent, and a lot of luck. You may be willing to bet everything you have on your own work ethic and talent, but sometimes life just decides to fuck you sideways in ways you cannot foresee.
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If you was good enough it would be apparent already. Obviously you are not.
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OP. Go through your match history or use sc2 gears and tell me..how many games did you play yesterday. The day before that, and so on, for about the last 7 days.
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Yeah, as many have said I don't think you should even consider going pro unless you are actually able to compete and do well in amateur tourneys, its a huge risk and I hope you understand that.
Another thing is that while watching is good for learning some, nothing beats a lot of practice. Don't fool yourself into thinking that watching whitera/GSL/MLG etc stream all day will make you better, its good but overall I think most of your time should be going to practice.
As for improving, join a clan or get some practice partners so you guys can work together in improving, its pretty hard to spot your own mistakes at times so a practice partner can be useful.
That being said, I will try not to be more negative and wish you luck and I wish you the best
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You have to decide whether you actually want to go pro, or whether you want to play video games instead of work. Their is a difference.
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What does "I'm getting 2-0 in tournaments" mean? Do you mean 0-2 immediately knocked out or are you playing tournaments that consist of two players in a single Bo3.
I'm confused!
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I think its a very bad idea to not work/further your education in order to *become* good. Just because you don't have a job doesn't mean its a good idea to gun for becoming a professional athlete. If you don't have the dedication to work a shitty job and focus on becoming good at SC2 at the same time, then you probably don't have the dedication to become pro.
Now if you are *already* good (like high master/low GM) while going to school/work full time, then yeah sure I can understand trying to 8 hour+ it in order to go pro. But that's not where you're at right now.
But oh well. It sounds like you're asking for help instead of criticism.
I'm only diamond but its my opinion that sub-masters it doesn't matter what your build is. The only things that matter are the big "M"s: macro+micro+mechanics+multitasking+minimap awareness
Things you should be looking for in your replays:
1. constant unit+tech production from all buildings at all times
2. keep resources below 200/200 per base at all times
3. no supply blocks
4. no positional errors (engaging with unsieged tanks, losing harass units, not having enough turrets/detection)
5. army is constantly moving and prodding
6. spot every expo the opponent takes immediately
7. spot drops and armies immediately upon showing up on the minimap
8. correctly scouting opponents build (mostly identifying if the opponent is 1 base teching, 1 base rushing with lots of low-tech units, or fast expoing... at our skill level we can't be expected to accurately predict what our opponent will be doing)
Following those guidelines took me from gold to diamond in 2 months with about 300 games. Thats an average of 5 games a day. I only used a single build. It was a 2 base timing into 4 base build with slight variations depending upon the racial matchup. It really helped because I didn't to worry about learning multiple builds. Instead it let me focus on improving the big "Ms. Beacause it was a FE build, it really helped me learn how to spot and react to most 1 base play. It also gave me a lot of experience with the mid-late game. Nowadays I have a 60% when the game goes longer than 10 minutes. And if goes on longer than 30 minutes, its closer to 80%.
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This is an incredibly naive way of thinking. I'm seriously worried about the OP's future if this is his "plan" although I do believe you'll give up this way of thinking quickly.
Just deciding to be a pro sc2 player is no different from someone thinking they could be an NBA player even though they can't make varsity on HS (Jordan doesn't count because that had nothing to do with skill but rather tradition of the school). Seriously, even if you're 7 feet tall you're not just gonna get to NBA level with "hard work". "Well that's a physical sport! Sc2 is strategy!" Use my analogy with being a grandmaster chess player, same shit. Think getting into masters is difficult? Getting into GM from masters takes 30x the work as going from bronze to masters. Oh, that's not even the most depressing part. Being top 200 of an ENTIRE CONTINENT means jack shit as far as progaming goes. You seriously have to be top 10 to even remotely compete (and by that I mean take a single game off a korean) in major tournaments nowadays.
Your plan B is to be a video game programmer? Do you have any idea how that works or what's involved? Playing video games has very little to do with actually making video games. Not to mention that industry is very difficult to get into and that's something you'd typically hear from a 13 year old. It's hard to get a job as it is right now, but trying to get a very specific programming job in a very small field is batshit insane.
Not giving up on your dreams is respectable, but you really seem to have no clue besides "I like video games". So do I and millions of other people.
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EPT
