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Hi there.
I know that I'm not the only one going through this, but since I'm not a girl... the knowledge of that doesn't really help me feel that much better.
I live in South Korea and I have all day to train on the Starcraft ladder for this server... yet I don't.
Instead, I spend all of my free time either playing games that are not Starcraft or watching the GSL (we get free HD since we're watching from Korea btw), barcrafting in Seoul with the others (I remember you guys made a big deal about that a few months ago), and actually praciting my builds in YABOT.
To be fair, though, I've become fairly good at my builds in YABOT. I get coaching from a foreigner pro here (I won't say the name, though - sorry) on a semi-regular basis, and outside of my time with him/her I don't ever really ladder.
I feel that this is simply a result of my personal psychology and I want to try and find help to fix it. I've spent lots of time speaking with the random free coaches who advertise every other day on this site, but no one has really ever been able to get through to me on this for whatever reason. I've also spent a lot of time speaking with my friends and trying to get help, but I'm unfortunately not really able to do very much.
A few months back, there was a book that was recommended on this site called Mind Gym. It was written by a sports psychologist and it was highly recommended in its thread a while ago. I got the book thanks to online sites like abebooks and after finishing the book, I don't really feel as though it has helped me gather the inner strength to ladder. Many (though not all) of the exercises and whatnot that the author discusses in the book are actually very helpful for me and I'm beginning to try and incorporate them into other things that I do in my life... but when it comes to Starcraft 2... I'm not able to get as much done.
It's not like this for every competitive thing in general, though. I played on the soccer team in college (I'm American, sorry) and I'm currently on a Division 1 team in the Seoul Sunday league here as a side midfielder. In Team Fortress 2, I was a Medic for a professional team for a short amount of time (though I had played competitively for years). Also, just the other day in Brood War, which I have played religiously since 2000 though the majority of my time was spent playing UMS or obs games, I beat my students 1v2 as Terran. It wasn't even close!
The pattern I've noticed for myself is that whenever I am involved in any kind of team effort, I am the epitomy of optimism and a pragmatic team player. When the situation changes into a duel, though... it appears to be a completely different story.
In any case, though... when I play Peepmode/Obs with friends on the NA server (because they don't have a KR account), I pub stomp kids using the builds that I spend 3+ hours every other other day practicing offline in YABOT... but this knowledge that I'm actually capable of beating the random everyday player somehow doesn't affect my feelings toward the ladder.
I have tried practicing custom games with the best players I could find. For when I went to MLG Columbus, it actually helped quite a bit! Unfortunately, though... those friends are not around anymore and because I'm on the other side of the world, our time zones do not match up frequently at all anyway.
So yeah. I just wanted to share, I guess, in the hopes that maybe someone out there can help me with my psychology here. I'm consistently told that I must ladder as much as possible. Out of fear, I try to find other ways to practice. Getting friends who are dedicated to practicing with me are difficult to come by, but they don't last long enough for me to actually benefit very much (except for MLG Columbus).
I want to try and qualify for Code A as many times as I can while I'm here, though I know that I probably won't make it. I just want to go as far as I can. I just wish that I could find a way to practice more on the ladder... assuming that it actually is the best way to practice for me.
 
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You seriously think about that "Find Match" button this much instead of actually pressing it? Just fucking do it, it's not that complicated.
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The biggest deterrent for me personally when laddering is playing after a long winning streak or achieving some significant point milestone. Conversely, going on a massive losing streak and starting fresh makes me want to ladder even more.
It may sound silly but I'd suggest first losing a dozen or so games on purpose just to make it so your rank/points don't mean anything and start playing from there.
Also, the more you play the less impact each individual game has, both technically in terms of points, as well as psychologically and physically since you'll be used to playing.
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Stop caring about wins and ranks and just play.
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Wow, I read the first sentence and thought: what an ass.
Stop waxing eloquent about your shortcomings and either do it or move on. There is nothing wrong with being a spectator. If you really want to play, click the button.
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Even i lose 19 game in a row,i still enjoy the game.So just play the game and have fun with it,it better to don't care about the result.
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you should read my sig ↓.
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Hmm, well what removed my ladder fear was buying a second acount. Ironically I've played maybe 50 games on it. But knowing that no matter how much I lose on my main acount I'll still have a second acount in Masters "cured" me completely ^_^.
gl!
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Accept that you will lose half of your games no matter what you do. Once you know that, losing just becomes part of the game.
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Someone who lost 50 games acquired more experience than someone who won 10.
If you're afraid of the ladder then you aren't going anywhere. If you're afraid of losing then you aren't going anywhere. You aren't going anywhere unless you sit down and play the damn game and try to understand why.
FUCK I am SO jealous of you. If I had all day to play SC2 I wouldn't even think twice about going hardcore on the ladder.
People in every domain (not just SC2) think way too much about how they should get better instead of actually working on doing better to improve. :/
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No-one can help you with this.
When it comes to personal psychology, you probably won't find someone even capable of coming close to helping you here.
The teacher can open all the doors of learning to you, but you must be the one to walk through them.
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What I did to stop ladder fear was become a ladder troll like Destiny. That made it far more fun for me and far more casual. When my opponent said "gl hf" I say "VERY SWELL IN THE ASSHOLE". When my opponent loses and says "gg" I tell him "gtfo" If I lose, I say something like "wow this fucking sucks" and then I quit. I also set my settings that only friends can message me, so whatever happens in the game, stays in the game.
I know the community looks down on trolling and BM, but really, who cares about internet police on the ladder. If you're not a well known community member, you're not going to get any shit from it like Orb or Destiny do.
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What you have to remember is that this is a game. You are not practicign to become a pro. It is absurd to be scared to play a game, and if you are scaredm, do not play. It is that simple. Play another GAME, which is what this is.
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On March 19 2012 00:16 Hulavuta wrote:
What I did to stop ladder fear was become a ladder troll like Destiny. That made it far more fun for me and far more casual. When my opponent said "gl hf" I say "VERY SWELL IN THE ASSHOLE". When my opponent loses and says "gg" I tell him "gtfo" If I lose, I say something like "wow this fucking sucks" and then I quit. I also set my settings that only friends can message me, so whatever happens in the game, stays in the game.
I know the community looks down on trolling and BM, but really, who cares about internet police on the ladder. If you're not a well known community member, you're not going to get any shit from it like Orb or Destiny do.
Haha this is pretty much the definition of the psychology behind trolling on video games. Scared little cowards getting over their fail anxiety by being rude cocks to everyone. At least you're honest that you're swine.
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someone has fear to play ladder and i am having hard time to try to care about winning when i play 
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I finally got over my ladder anxiety and you can too! It's all about one word… tournaments. I am a gold level player and participate in z33k's BSG (Bronze, silver, gold)
Now that i'm focused on winning that tournament, ladder is just practice for it. Z33k even records your win loss record while playing their tournaments. STart tournaments and you'll find the anxiety shifted to where it belongs, real competition.
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Wait you get coached and you don't ladder? Seriously what the fuck are you spending time and money on, if you can't ladder what hope do you have for trying out a tournament? I'm fine with laddering and losing but the first time i did an online tournament i was sweating bullets.
Or on a more serious note if you don't enjoy laddering why are you even playing this game?
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I've think stephanos way is quite interesting, he said he always looks sad on stream because he makes sure he has no emotion while laddering, so he won't care about the results.
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The truth is that you're not having fun playing the game. Watching it is fun, following TL about is fun, even practicing some builds from time to time is fun. But actually playing it isn't, at least to you, me, and a lot of other people who blame "ladder fear". You avoid playing because you're not enjoying yourself while doing it. Just watch SC2 and play other games that you like.
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I don't necessarily think that's true. I for one had ladder fear, but when I actually did sit down to play I had a blast. I believe ladder fear mostly comes from all of the meta-hype around it. Rankings, points, leagues, W/L ratio, all that stuff. If people could just hit find match and it only had as much "effect" as a custom game, there would be very few, if any, people with ladder fear.
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i totally thought this was going to be about the phobia of actual ladder climbing and heights.
i can never stand on the top step. fuck that
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I saw this on TLO's (iirc) background.
"The greatest barrier to succes is the fear of failure."
Might not help you directly, but being aware of this very true statement can set your mind a little more straight. It did for me.
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Getting over ladder anxiety at start can be difficult.I used to have major ladder anxiety,like for the first game of the day i would be so nervous it would make me sick to my stomach.The way i got over it is by playing 30+ games a day for 2months,no matter what,even if i was sick,headache or not even wanting to play i forced myself.Eventually all that anxiety just disappeared.
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I'll have to queue this up to play when I ladder. So good, especially the end...ZvZ, brings tears to my eyes.
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Okay, let me try to structure my respond:
1. What is the reason for your ladder-fear
Thats pretty obvious: you have such high expectations at yourself!
You are:
- Getting coached
- Doing some shit with yabot all the time
- Reading books
- Even want to qualify for code a and whatnot...
Therefore your brain tells you, that you should be good at this game! You should own the average-joe casual player ezpz.
2. You do not actually fear the ladder, you fear being disappointed in yourself.
Your real fear is that all this won't be reflected by your "ladder-ranking". That all your efforts might not pay off. You might not get past Gold League or whatever. That you might be disappointed in yourself.
Hell, you might even lose to a cannonrush from a silverleague player. Oh boy, how tragic would that be! All your internet-reputation and credibilty would vanquish, you will be publicly laughed at and humilitad to the bones, oh wait.. no, all that would in fact not happen, you would just play the next game.
See, you fear something that a) isn't even there yet and b) is completly irrational.
3. How can you overcome this?
The only way to overcome this is exposure! You just have to do it. Thats it.
Okay, you probably could just stop playing, but thats avoidance. Its like if you are scared of elevators to always use the staircase. Also that is obviously not what you want.
Face these Facts:
1. Its just a game. The most horrible thing that could possibly happen, that you lose because of some stupid shit. So what?! Its not like you get hurt or something. EVERYBODY who have played this game loses to stupid shit sometimes. Even the top 0,5% of players. Its normal.
2. Nobody (except you) cares what your ladder rank is. Its not that your personality is based on your ranking.
4. A few practical tipps
Artosis said it best: If you want to become good at this game, you just have to play it.
If you are physically afraid to press the "find match" button with your finger, do this:
Leave the room, let a roommate press it for you, come back in as soon as a match is found. Now you HAVE TO play. Repeat this for like 10 times and you will see, that playing ladder games is just not that scary.
Very important: Change your goals. DON'T set yourself a goal like: "I must win at least 45 of my first 50 games because i get coached and shit and i should be really good." See how much irrational pressure you put on yourself there. No wonder, you don't enjoy the games.
Change your friggin goals! Try something like this:
Press the Find Match Button and if you see for example a Terran is your next opponent you say: "Wow, cool a Terran! Awesome. I am curious if my sweet build will work against him."
If you win, cool! It seems your build is already quite nice.
If you lose, cool! You learned something! You now know, that your build needs some tweaking.
EITHER WAY, the result of the game is: "Cool that was insightful! And also it was FUN!"
4. Bottom line
- Be happy about the fact that you can try out your builds against random strangers! Because that is really all that laddering is.
- Have a little fun!
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Actually yeah, number 1 is so right. I remember when I first got coaching, I was afraid to ladder for a week, because I felt I had gotten much better (and in truth, I had) but I was afraid that if I lost, it would mean that I did not actually improve, and I was just full of shit.
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Papua New Guinea1059 Posts
Ladder fear? The best way to overcome it is just not giving a fuck about the game. Works for me. Never had a breakdown and was never sad, upset or angry about loosing.
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On March 18 2012 21:50 Snaiil wrote:
You seriously think about that "Find Match" button this much instead of actually pressing it? Just fucking do it, it's not that complicated.
Pretty much
It's not like it's hard to click it or anything.
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1/5 blog rating for sexism.
I don't care about the rest of your content with an opening sentence like that.
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you have be ready to face disappointment. no matter what happens, there is a time when you will not meet the expectations you had for yourself. so why delay it? why spend all this time thinking about it instead of just doing it? just believe in your abilities no matter what the outcome, no matter how much practice you have had, no matter what anybody says about your personality or your skill or your way of life. that is what confidence truly is, just doing what you want to do even when you know there's a chance you'll take a wrong turn.
you will be alive at the end of the game, and in the end, that's the most important thing. you will live to fight another day.
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EPT
