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You can call me Glaucoma.
My 50th birthday will come on January 20, 2012. Last year my goal was to write a novel, which I did. This coming year I have decided to "go for the gold" as in become a "Gold" level player sometime during my 50th year on this earth. This blog will by a public diary of my step by step process of "becoming a better gamer."
Personal Background
I'm an American living in Taiwan. I have lived here for 20 years. I have a Taiwanese wife and a daughter who goes to a Taiwanese High School. I have a middling ability to speak Chinese. My wife and I run an English Cram School for kids from 3rd grade to high school in a small town north of the capital, Taipei. I'm also a Bible teacher in Taipei. I have a BA in Psychology and an Masters in Divinity. Although I live in Taiwan, I'm on the North American server.
Gamer Background
I've been a gamer from way back. Of course, we didn't have computers, or even calculators when I was a kid. The hot game back in the mid-1960's was marbles. I'll bet none of you have even been competitive marble players. One bad day and you could lose all your marbles. In my day, I was trained to use the abacus, the slide ruler and even a card-reading machine.
But eventually we got civilized. I played on the original 'Pong" game at a hotel in Florida. Later I played all the arcade games and pinball games. I played calculator games in high school. At college I played computer games on mainframes and DEC VAX11 and PDP11. I also played games and chatted with people across the country on "Plato", which was years before the internet was created. According to Wikipedia: Plato "established key on-line concepts: forums, message boards, online testing, e-mail, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multi-player games." I was one of the "lab rats" that tested out all the stuff that you now enjoy. I've even played games with wires glued to my head to measure my brain waves. (The scientist said I had the biggest brain waves he tested.)
Then came the PC and I fell in love with PC games like the original Rogue, Empire, SimCity and Civilization. (I hated Zork). I played the single player Starcraft 1 (and 2) and many other RTS games but until now I have never considered online play. I've always been a single player gamer. I've never played a competitive online game in my life, except for one 2v2 match in Age of Empires, many years ago. I actually have fear of online play, so it's quite a challenge to even go online an play practice games.
PS. I'm in love with the voice of Jennifer Hale. Blizzard needs to break out the big bucks and get her into Starcraft, like she's in Diablo. At least we'll always have Mazzy Fentan and Fall-from-Grace.
 
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What race do you play? How do you intend to go for gold?
You will get many advices here telling you to go for macro games, but in my view, not all people like playing this way. Thus, in my opinion, the best way to get to gold is to refine your build (whether aggressive, cheese or macro) and be able to execute it almost flawlessly. This alone should get you to your target.
Good luck!
EDIT: Also, referencing the "good old times"... I used to watch competitive BW with a 56k modem. Obviously, I wasn't able to stream it. I got around the issue by using a stream recorder and recorded the VODs with the 56k modem!
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Gold is a very realistic goal. Have you decided on a race yet? Also, you might want to hold off on posting for help until you have played your placement matches.... you might just get defaulted into Gold XD
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One of the more interesting blogs I've read. I'll be sure to keep up with you as long as you keep us updated!
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Old boy!
Go!
Become the king of the ladder!
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intrigue
Washington, D.C9934 Posts
hi!!! welcome!! and yes you can totally get into gold. that plato shit is crazy - you're another step earlier as a veteran of the information age. it's kinda like how kids now draw a blank if i reference floppy disks or 56k modems. i have to google competitive marbles, vax11, and pdp11 and marvel at how stone age it all seems =P
anyhow, have a great stay at TL! don't be worried about online play, and especially don't get mad at the inevitable shit talk you're going to get from the e-thugs you get queued up against. they are most likely a) 12 years old and b) harmless. have fun~~~
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Please keep us updated on your progress! <3
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lol, awesome name choice for an older man :D
welcome to TL
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Ah yes, competitive marble playing. The game that destroyed my life. It was the summer of '69 and me and ole' Jimmy Two Toon lay in the wheat fields thinkin' o' somethin ter do. Jimmy der gone got up an' brought back a sack o' somethin', so I asked him what was in it? Young Two Toon showed me them marbles an aye were set my heart on em from that day.
The summer went by, an er'ry day ah played that game with a serious face and a boyish grin to boot as ah beat erry schoolchild der was in town. But after months and months o' hard work and practicin', ah got up and left fer de state championships.
Der' were lights all o'er de place an cotton candy as big as de clouds. Ah was so excahted, ah even bought me a fancy new city-boy hat fer good luck. But it weren't long until ah had ter play mah first game, and ree-lahze ah weren' even worth one o' dem red ribbons ye get just fer playin'. It were de biggest dissapointmen' ah ever had in mah lyfe.
And too this daye, you can still find me an' ole' Jimmy Two Toon playin' among the wheat fields o' prairies back home in Alabama. An' erry night I look up at the stars an' wonder wut would ha been, an' wut could ha been.
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Really cool! It's good to hear that the fear of playing against random human opponents affects everyone, its always kind of intimidating to hit the find match button. Good luck getting to gold!
My advice is to focus entirely on continually making workers and units in your practice games, you will be able to succeed at the gold league and beyond. I promise that you will be able to blow your opponents away at that level if you are able to follow a decent build and continually make units and supply. Remember that microing your units in an engagement is irrelevant if you just have twice as much stuff as he does  . And of course, watch a few good Day[9] Dailies for great advice on the fundamentals. Team Liquids Strategy board and Liquipedia are also invaluable resources.
If you spend a few hours a week working on your macro i'm sure you will reach gold in no time. Good luck!
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First advice : disregard placement matches. Because of the way MMR works, what league you're in is meaningless until you have played a solid 50-75 games. So even if you get placed in gold right away, the challenge is not over
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Welcome! Your username is awesome lol!!!
Best way to get good at anything is practice practice practice! Online games are very similar to low intensity sports like running where the best way to get better is to never miss a workout. If you are truly committed then as long as you practice on a regular schedule and listen to EVERYTHING Day9 says you will be gold in no time!
The hot game back in the mid-1960's was marbles.
haha omg this made my morning!
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Loll at the Mazzy Fentan stuff. I miss Baldur's Gate and its genuine epicness...
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You're literally only years younger than my dad... oh my god...
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nice on which server do you play? if you like you can pm me your id (ingame character name and code) and i can help you out a bit.
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It's really great how the appeal of Starcraft has begun to span generations. Brings a tear to my eye...
Good luck to you, sir!
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GL hf with competitive play! Its a whole new world. Find some friends to play with, it makes it 100% better.
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Good Luck! If you need any help reaching that goal, we [TL] can help you.
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Always awesome to have gamers of every generation playing! GL HF
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ooh welcome!! hope you achieve your goals for this year
maybe check out TeSL for inspiration, seems like a great resource for someone living in taiwan
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EPT
