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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.C9933 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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Its really cool to listen to the perspectives of someone from an older generation! I hope the fear dies down...it still scares me to press the find game button, but it has diminished the more I play, and that's what everyone else seems to agree on as well.
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Finally not a "MY ROAD TO BEING GRANDMASTER/PROGAMER"
Good luck!
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I can teach you how to cheese your way into gold league (or grandmasters)
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On December 12 2011 04:33 Twistacles wrote:
Finally not a "MY ROAD TO BEING GRANDMASTER/PROGAMER"
Good luck!
nope, instead it's a 'my road to being a gold league player' with day9 slapped across the thread title for hits
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Hopefully people can learn from this man.
Setting reasonable goals is a good idea.
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PROBES AND PYLONS :D!
i spent a good chunk of time playing broodwar just focusing on that, playing versus AI, and listening to podcasts/standup shows. Got me placed straight into platinum on the ladder on day 1. Climbed into diamond over time, and then didn't play as much later on because of schoolwork and other things.
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your Country52797 Posts
"Respect thy elders"
Good luck sir, I will be watching.
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On December 12 2011 04:46 Endymion wrote:Show nested quote +On December 12 2011 04:33 Twistacles wrote:
Finally not a "MY ROAD TO BEING GRANDMASTER/PROGAMER"
Good luck! nope, instead it's a 'my road to being a gold league player' with day9 slapped across the thread title for hits
i'm sure the 50yr old is totally name dropping for mad TL karma
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Good luck, dear sir. Respect to you for being able to play games, instead of just dropping them as 'stuff for no-life kids'. Reminds me of my dad, who would be 53 now (may he rest in peace), and who in fact brought me to computers & games.
So, best of luck and have a lot of fun on your journey.
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On December 12 2011 04:46 Endymion wrote:Show nested quote +On December 12 2011 04:33 Twistacles wrote:
Finally not a "MY ROAD TO BEING GRANDMASTER/PROGAMER"
Good luck! nope, instead it's a 'my road to being a gold league player' with day9 slapped across the thread title for hits
Don't be a debbie downer
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Welcome to TL and good luck!
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You're not mordeth13 right lol.
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On December 12 2011 06:11 PassiveAce wrote:Show nested quote +On December 12 2011 04:46 Endymion wrote:On December 12 2011 04:33 Twistacles wrote:
Finally not a "MY ROAD TO BEING GRANDMASTER/PROGAMER"
Good luck! nope, instead it's a 'my road to being a gold league player' with day9 slapped across the thread title for hits Don't be a debbie downer
I'm not going to recount a meme, but you seem pretty jealous Endymion.
I wish you goodluck to you, I remember playing online for the first time, getting owned by mass scout in BW... It made my hands shake violently from the adrenaline.
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Welcome to competitive Starcraft and TL!
Nice to see what you're doing in Taiwan, hope everything works out fine.
gl hf
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Very cool, sounds like you've got a great life, wife, and children there. I played marbles when I was 6, but only with my family. My other friends were into the NES more. This was back in 1994 or so. I saw all my friends playing on the original Game Boy, so I got into my NES more (didn't have a SNES). I finally caught up with the Game Boy Color and the Nintendo 64. I consider myself of the N64 generation, but I'm more of a hybrid.
Good luck on getting to your goal! I'm glad to hear you have so much support!
P.S. What was the novel about?
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On December 12 2011 07:23 hp.Shell wrote:P.S. What was the novel about?
Tell us, please.
Eh, the marbles. I remember my 10 year older brother playing them, I always wondered. I know it involves a hole, a bunch of marbles and stuff. And that he had a lot of them, must mean he was winning. :D
Good luck on getting to gold. I think you didn't say your race. But yea, the guy saying you should just defend on 1 base and constantly produce units/supply/workers is right. Just attack/expand when you get tons more units.
You must find these pictures pretty funny, even though they're not that old:
+ Show Spoiler +
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Good for you, its shouldn't be too hard to get with some practice! I would recommend watching some pros who commentate on their streams, someone like Vibe, Axslav, Demuslim or someone like that.
In terms of advice, constantly make workers, and scout a lot for cheese - happens a lot in the low leagues - I'm a plat random though, so my advice may not be too good =S
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Good luck comrade.
I don't see any problem in you getting into gold since you have the gaming genes in you already
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I WISH YOU LUCK!
i'm not in gold so i don't know if i could help you in any way . but you have my moral suport sir!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yTKFy.jpg)
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