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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/xgC96.jpg) It's days like these which make me question why I play Starcraft 2 in the first place.
I don't know about you, but I love and hate competitive games. I love them because of the surge of adrenaline you get when you're toe-to-toe with someone. Whether it's a game of Chess or just a friendly game of Starcraft 2, you'll do anything and everything to take that win.
But then, when you're a competitive person like me, the losses are a hit to your pride. You know you take the game so serious even though you know you'll get nothing out of it at the end. Chances that you'll be of Stephano or DRG caliber? Probably close to zero. If there's something I learned, it's that:
"There's always going to be people you're better than and people that are better than you."
So why is it so hard to accept? Is it just in a competitive person's nature to always want to be the "best" and do anything to get there?
I've always wanted to be "good" in Starcraft. Hitting Diamond was quite an accomplishment for me, but as you climb up the ranks, your hunger to get better only increases and the improvement phase begins to slow down to a point where it's hardly even noticeable. Sometimes I think being stuck in Bronze playing that game casually is much better than the curse of playing in Master league. You just play for fun, and don't get caught up in timings, higher-level play, tip-top mechanics, etc. Sure, you can still be a competitive player in Bronze league, but I'm pretty sure you know what I mean.
I feel like if I'm going to improve at this point, I need to completely change the way I view Starcraft 2 and my level of skill overall.
So, why do you guys play Starcraft 2?
EDIT: I've currently peaked at rank 6 Master League with around 700-800 pts. as Zerg
 
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Your blog basically sums up my sentiments exactly. I always try and be the best at what I do, but its gotten to the point in SC2 for me where improving feels so hard to do.
Right now, I guess I play to get in master's league. But every time I get close, every time I start playing against master's players consistently I go on a massive losing tilt and I lose all confidence in my ability. The worst was when I was playing against master's players maybe every three out of five games, and I felt like I was going to hit master's within a couple week. Then I started losing. I lost 19 out of 22 games, and quit for two weeks after that. I felt like shit. Honestly, since then I haven't really regained my passion. Every couple weeks I'll get back into it again, but I can't be consistent anymore.
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I think it's so hard to accept for North Americans of our generation because of how we were brought up.
We were coddled and spoiled and every step of the way our parents were telling us we were special.
When the truth is we aren't special.
To be the best it takes lots of hard work... and that's the part we can't deal with because we were brought up as winners... no one told us about the hard work bit.
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The reason I play is basically what you said. But another thing I want to mention is that makes me want to play more or stop playing on some days is the fact that I break even. I fucking hate breaking even with win/losses. I want at least a 2win/1loss ratio, but it never happens, leading me to get pissed off and rage or pissed off and play with rage (leading to the first one).
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Put your ego aside and realize that you're going to lose around 50% of your games, and there's no way around that.
Then you have to realize that the outcome of ladder games don't mean anything, I've beaten far better players than myself, and I've lost to far worse players than myself, and I'd be very surprised if other people haven't experienced this, too. It happens.
And then you also need to understand that, for learning purposes, losing is A LOT more beneficial than winning, since it gives you very concise evidence about what you need to work on, in order to win more games.
And regarding your question, I don't play sc2.
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It's called a losing streak. In some serious cases it's called a slump. Dont worry, you'll get out of it.
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I know how you feel, I'm essentially the same way in some aspects. I've always been very competative and have always had the "Be the best or bust"-mindset. But what's great about Starcraft is how humbling it is, because the ladder system is designed to literally make you lose and keep a 50% win/loss ratio. I'd deffinately say it's not as stressfull in the lower divisions just because your ability is unknown, so you (pending on the person/experience) move throughout the division rather quickly.
I started Starcraft 2 with very little vanilla Starcraft experience. I reached Bronze, did a bit of research and brushed up a few things, then ended season one in Diamond. I deffinately had the "glass ceiling" feeling as I wasn't sure where not my experience but rather raw ability would lead me. Once you hit Masters it's a rude awakening, because what's seperating you from the top is the best players and that's a damn hard realization to grasp. I reached 4th in Masters in S4 then took a break because I was just too stressed from playing. Coming back I dropped quite a bit and it took me a while to climb back up to high masters.
If I had any advice to offer I'd say to decide exactly where you want to go in this game. Do you want to reach the top of your division? Do you want to move up a division or even GM? If you want to get better you have to put more work in no matter what your decision is. Eventually your work ethic is going to be the basis of where you stand, as everyone reaches a point where their inate ability just isn't enough to cruise off of. Breaks are great for your mindset, but if you absolutely want to get better you have to chalk up the losses and move on. Letting 6-7 losses get to you is bad for your mental state and will either cause you to go on tilt or take a break which will indirectly cause you to tilt. Just decide what you play the game for and then decide how much work you're willing to put in to get to that point.
From the mouth of Greggors, and fewer words have been spoken so true: "Until the very very top, in almost anything, all that matters is how much work you put in. The only problem is most people can't work hard, even at things they do enjoy, much less things they don't have a real passion for."
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If your on a loss streak and you win a game. Stop playing right there and then you have a victory be happy about it log off and come back later. Usually when i notice my play is just getting down right shitty because im getting lazy i stop and i'll come back to it a few hours later. I'm not a pro theres no reason for me to grind games and force the game.
I play Starcraft because i love macroing up to 200/200 and just steam rolling opponents with the 1-A (ironically i am protoss). I also love to do a lot of harassment and just keep pressuring the opponent till he crumbles and just has to GG from being just harassed to death.
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I asked myself the same question and stopped playing.
I then asked myself why I was still watching SC2 and stopped that.
Now I play LoL with my friends and have fun 
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The game gets more and more fun the more skilled you get, bottom line. Your attitude really determines everything.
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On May 08 2012 11:05 mAnarch wrote:
The game gets more and more fun the more skilled you get, bottom line. Your attitude really determines everything.
Does it? I've always had more fun at every game when I was noob and just playing with my friends for fun. After a while though, it just feels like a huge waste of time.
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On May 08 2012 11:05 mAnarch wrote:
The game gets more and more fun the more skilled you get, bottom line. Your attitude really determines everything.
I don't know if I can agree with the first bit of that statement. The higher you get, the harder it is and the more competitive. You begin to think less of the game as leisure and more of a competition.
However, I think your second statement is one of the biggest reasons IdrA is in the situation he's in at the moment in terms of his tournament performance as well as his level of skill.
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i quit, because i figured if i wasn't going to pursue being a pro - i was just wasting my time...
i was also mid-high masters, and i needed to concentrate/think so much to win, and losing to cheese/ things i deemed unfair just made me persistently angry. So, it was just mentally exhausting and unhealthy - play so much, get angry so much = not happy. So why play if im frustrated 60-80% of the time... When i was bronze i said once i got into masters i would be happy, did that, and found no other reason to play.
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On May 08 2012 10:55 FoeHamr wrote:I asked myself the same question and stopped playing. I then asked myself why I was still watching SC2 and stopped that. Now I play LoL with my friends and have fun
Doesn't seem you liked SC2 at all in the first place. I really don't get this kinds of behavior. Why invest in something you just kinda liked.
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lol I strongly relate to that love/hate thing
But I'm silver. I'd assume you'd be more satisfied with your losses knowing you're in the top 2%, no?
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On May 08 2012 12:32 soon.Cloak wrote:
lol I strongly relate to that love/hate thing
But I'm silver. I'd assume you'd be more satisfied with your losses knowing you're in the top 2%, no?
Not really. After a few days being in Masters, you only want to rank up and get to a higher level of play. You're happy for like an hour heh.
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On May 08 2012 10:55 FoeHamr wrote:I asked myself the same question and stopped playing. I then asked myself why I was still watching SC2 and stopped that. Now I play LoL with my friends and have fun
Same. Used to be really high masters close to GM. But then I realized, what does it matter if I reach GM? I will still lose 50 percent of my games. I can't deal with losing half of my games. In not a single game I lose half of my games, because of this losses really hit me hard and I just rage uncontrollably. So I just stopped playing. Don't get me wrong. I love this game. It's by far the best game I have ever played seriously, but my hate for losing is stronger than my love for this game. Losing in this game sucks even harder than in any other game aswell. You can play a teamgame and blame it on your teammates. But in this game, you are so mentally invested. After a 50 minute game I am literally exhausted, and then you lose and the only one you can blame is yourself. It's fucking hard man.
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On May 08 2012 12:42 romelako wrote:Show nested quote +On May 08 2012 12:32 soon.Cloak wrote:
lol I strongly relate to that love/hate thing
But I'm silver. I'd assume you'd be more satisfied with your losses knowing you're in the top 2%, no?
Not really. After a few days being in Masters, you only want to rank up and get to a higher level of play. You're happy for like an hour heh.
Yea i got really excited when i got into masters the next goal was to get into top 8, which became a rather demanding goal and eventually SC2 just lost its shine to me. I wasn't having fun i was just wasting my time grinding out games and getting angry with everyone around me.
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EPT
