EPTSunday is coming to a close and the real world is quickly setting back in (sadly). I wanted to take this time to reflect upon the weekend before having to dive into the school work I put off for the weekend ( xD c: c: c: )!
Overall, MLG Raleigh was amazing! I have no idea on what the final numbers were, but I was happy to see that, even with the impending storm, people decided to show up. But, before I talk about my thoughts on the event from the spectators perspective, I would like to speak on my experiences as a competitor in the open bracket.
I went into the Open Bracket on Friday not really expecting much. I knew I wanted to win my first match, and that was really all that I was concerned about. Anything more was just a bonus to me. There was a practice time set up for the players before the opening ceremony, but it ended up closing down before I really had a chance to practice. I did find out, however, that I was going to be allowed to play with my tablet, and that all I had to do was just install my drivers on the computer I was at. That took a lot of stress off of me, knowing that I was going to be able to play. However, when I actually got to play later that night, I discovered that there was a rather large problem with my tablet. For some reason I was experiencing some lag time between when the computer registered a single click, and a click and hold. Usually I am use to the response time with the stylus to be exactly like a mouse. But this lag made it very very hard to box units at any great speed, as I was required to click, wait, then box. That threw me off for my first game, but I came back and compensated for it in the 2nd and 3rd, winning them and being able to move on.
The next match I had was at the same computer station. I noticed that there were many players who were sent to the same computer station as well, and I really like how MLG did that, especially for me. It was very nice not to have to reinstall my drivers before every match and reset the active area on my tablet all the time. Now granted, I think they didn't want the drivers on many of the machines, so I think they purposefully kept me to 1 computer lol. Anyway, the next match didn't go so well for me. I tried to mess around with the computer/tablet setting and restarting the computer, just to see if I could get the tablet to work better. There was not really a great improvement, but I played the games as best I could. The first game of the 2nd match was very good. Extremely long game on Shattered Temple taking all the bases. I lost it because I didn't take gas at my 4th and 5th until very late. 2nd game wasn't all that great for me, as I spread my units out too far, and accidentally reset a hotkey at the most inopportune time (lol). However, because the games were so long, Liquid Tyler (who was playing the winner of our match) came over and watched the games. That, was amazing! I lost the match, and as Tyler was setting up I decided that, even though I know he doesn't like talking to fans before matches, that I would tell him, 'Good luck." So, I did, and he said thanks, and it was awesome ;D c: c: c:
Second day was very disappointing for me. I was at the same computer for my games, but for some reason the computer set my stylus to only left clicking. As in, every single button, though mapped to the correct clicks, was only ever being registered as a left click. I tried to fix it, but because it was taking so long I ended up having to play with the Intuos4's mouse. I was completely out of my element, and I had to constantly think about what clicks I was making instead of focusing on what was really happening in game. I ended up macro'ing okay… kind of. But not being able to micro at all really is what did me in.
Being a player at MLG was very very cool, and I would definitely do it again (as long as MLG decideds that they don't mind tablets playing @_@). It was awesome walking through the player area and getting to pass by players like Nada, Sheth, Tyler, and Hero. You definitely get a slightly different perspective on the event as well. You are not just watching Starcraft for the whole weekend, which was something that I was very happy about. I can watch a lot of Starcraft, but when all of the seats are already taken, and you've already been standing for 5 hours, you do not really want to just stand there and watch for 3 more hours. But, getting play meant that there were times when you had to be somewhere and, even if you lost, you still got a seat to yourself c:
On a very general note, MLG has exploded. I remember going to MLG Raleigh 2010. Back then it was amazing as well, but to go from about 16 benches and watching a cast with no sound because the players could hear it to being on the main stage and spreading over to the COD area for the finals just to have enough chairs, is astounding. The event has grown so much, and it is so cool to see. I love all of the people there and the atmosphere was so great to be in. I was very sad to leave on Sunday (especially since Day[9] never got to sign my tablet ;_; Husky signed it at MLG Raleigh 2010, but Day[9] has yet to meet fans during any time that I am there). It is back to reality now, and school work is ever crushing.
I can't wait for MLG next year, and I really hope they come back to Raleigh c: c: c:
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Now, I would like to speak briefly on my gaming set up, as it has been posted onto youtube:
This thing kind of exploded o.O I didn't really want anything like this to happen, but I guess it is cool that people are taking interest in it. I completely forgot that playing with a tablet was weird until I got to the event and people started to watch. It has become to common place between myself and my friends, that it is just what I do. But, what is slightly more astounding is the hate the keyboard it getting! xD LOL it is truly pretty funny how bent out of shape people are getting about it.
So, like I said in my last blog post, I play on a 15" Macbook pro. I have mac because I am an Art and Design major, and the mac keyboard was the cheapest keyboard they sold at my school's bookstore. I basically only got it because it was cheap, had a number pad, and I liked the keys. I don't see what's so wrong about it. I hate raised keys. I have tried using friend's mechanical keyboards, and I can't stand the feel of them at all. Who cares what sound the thing makes if I can't stand the feeling! I can't hear the key strokes when I play anyway xD lol I don't think there is any huge different in the resistance of the keyboard either.
Also, on a note about the tablet. People say that it is more precise because you have the active area mapped to the monitor. That is true… to an extent. In order to play at a fast speed you are required to shrink the active area of the tablet. In essence, you are raising the DPI. This does a few things. It decreasing the distance you have to travel, but at the cost of accurancy. It is the same trade off as a mouse. My active area is approx. 2" and 1.8". This is quite small. And your hand moves anytime you click (whether it be a tap for the left click of a right click). At such a small active area, the cursor moves quite a bit when you click just because of the natural motion of the your wrist or the force applied to the stylus. Unlike a mouse, where your force is directly downward, the force of the right click is directed towards my wrist. It is not that the tablet is any less accurate than a mouse, but it is often times no more accurate either, simply because of the play in the cursor positioning when you preform an action. Playing with a tablet also kind of forces a certain kind of play style. A style where you don't spam click everywhere on the map or in the same place for seconds. You click once to preform the action, and then move on.
A mouse and a stylus preform the same functions, but in slightly different ways. What is comes down to is preference. For instance. Sit a programmer and a graphic artist in front of Starcraft, and give them the option of either a mouse or a stylus. The programmer is going to for the mouse while the artist goes for the stylus because that is what they are most comfortable working with. I use a mouse to surf the web, and that's only because it has a back button mapped to it (lol). Otherwise, I am always on photoshop or illustrator when I am on the computer, so a stylus is what I use day in and day out. Thankfully SC doesn't require more than 2 buttons to click with ;D
