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I was reading an academic book on concentration recently and some of the lessons I found might be helpful for your concentration whilst playing Starcraft/Starcraft II. I don't really have the book in front of me so I can't really give you the scientific research that this is based on but it was pretty well backed up in the book.
1) Multitasking is pretty bad for concentration and mental ability, you should focus on one thing at a time. I think where this came in for me as an SC2 player is that I listen to music whilst playing ladder which I'm sure all of you do. When you think about it, that's probably not the best idea because your mind is trying to focus on two things at once, the game of starcraft in all its complexity and the meaning, feeling and interpretation of the words, atmosphere and mood of the music your playing.
Also playing music you like whilst playing starcraft may switch you into relaxed autopilot mode which again hinders decision making and being in the moment.
2) Autopilot mode is basically where we do things automatically and sort of without thinking that we've done a hundred times before which allows us basically to detach ourselves from it and daydream and it allows our mind to wander. The problem with this for us starcraft players I believe is that because many of us have played many games and done build orders over and over again perhaps we are a bit switched off and our mind can wander more easily during our laddering sessions. Instead we need to consciously make effort to stop ourselves from switching off and make sure that our mind and imagination is focused on the game and not random junk or what your girlfriend is doing or what your doing tonight etc... etc...
3) Removal of distractions both external and internal. Are you checking facebook often? skype? looking at your phone much? music on? are you daydreaming or thinking about other stuff other than the game at hand whilst playing? Learn to mentally check yourself about that. Also maybe put your phone on silent or away from where you can see. Might be an idea to remove any clutter from your desk or distracting things.
4) About 1 hour to 90 minutes of sustained concentration is about how much you can do before you start to slide. After which you should at least take a 10 minute break. Maybe this will help some of you schedule your ladder/practice sessions?
A lot of what I said is repetitive, possibly obvious and so on but it's all stuff we do. I think this might help us towards being mentally optimal in our playing of a highly intellectual game such as starcraft is all. Hope it helps and I'm sure some of you will shoot me down but hey...so be it. It's just an idea.
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When I'm focused, regardless of SC1 or SC2 or even Dota, I dont even notice that music is playing.
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Good read. A lot of is this is very true and what I've found in my own personal experiences.
The psychological and mental aspects of gaming are often overlooked.
Daydreaming and a wandering mind are detrimental to success in RTS games. Complete focus is necessary and consciousness of every action in the game is paramount to truly taking advantage of the real time strategy aspects of StarCraft and StarCraft II. When your mind wanders, you technically "lose" time in the game because every second counts to something you can be doing, preparing to do, or thinking about doing in the seconds to follow.
This basically attributes to the autopilot mode, in which making errors and repeating them becomes almost unavoidable. Unless one snaps out of autopilot, and takes back control of each action and decision made correlating to the situation at hand, they more than likely will not achieve the highest results possible from each given scenario. I would admit that only during the very early stages of the game can one truly be on "autopilot" and get away with mindless decisions and pure muscle memory.
Reading this gets your brain working and forms new perspectives on your focus in gaming.
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On July 12 2012 02:51 Black[CAT] wrote:
When I'm focused, regardless of SC1 or SC2 or even Dota, I dont even notice that music is playing.
same for me. if the music malfunctions and stops playing it doesn't even register for me.
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I for one am a firm believer that autopilot is actually kinda nice. I've played well over 2000 games of starcarft II, and even though I haven't played more than 2 games in a row in the past few months, I can hop on and dominate diamond/masters players by pure instinct on autopilot.
But I 100% agree that in order to actually play ANY game well you can't have distractions. Period.
If I have friends over and they want to watch me play dota, I just instantly acknowledge that I will not play my best, and I will make many mistakes by not paying enough attention to the game, and I don't think I would ever look at my phone during a game of starcraft lol.
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I find that I don't hear the music at all when I'm playing. I think upbeat music is helpful in the early stages of the game when all you're doing is splitting / mineral-stacking workers. And then the music kicks in again when the game is over and it helps me transition into my next game.
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Great post! It's good to be reminded about stuff like this =D Keep us on our A-Game!
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my mind often starts to wander at the beginning of games and i have to conciously snap myself out of it. Doesn't happen when I'm focused, but rather when i'm relaxed and/or tired.
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Haha well I've started applying this today with good results so far. I think I just played two of the most perfect games of my life on ladder just now and won, especially against a Z who ranked way higher than me and which is my worst matchup.
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EPT
