EPTThey're all fine as gaming houses, but from what i could gather, they're FAR from training facilities.
I was hesitating if i should post this, but i guess people won't liesten anyway so any advantage i have in the methods of training will remain, and hoepefully the best gaming houses will start moving in the right direction. Keep in mind that i have not been in the houses i'll be writing about so i might not have all the information.
What do they offer currently:
1. Roof over head
2. Unsupervised food and energy drinks
3. Cleaning services
4. Internet connection
5. Computers and gaming gear
6. Starcraft Coaches (good coaches can be found only in few korean SC2 teams and in teams that transitioned form BW)
7. Close contact with other players
All of the above, with the exception of 24/7 contact with other players (and coaching in korean houses) you get just by living with your parrents.
If teams and gaming houses want their players to develop, they need to offer much more. Things can stay the way they are, but once someone makes the move first, all professional houses are going to follow. There is much more factors to improving a SC2 player than just grinding games and comparing strategies.
What houses should offer (it doesn't have to be mendatory for every player - it's an offer for them):
1. Optimal healthy nutrition
2. Regular schedule for physical exercise with a trainer
3. Physician taking care of players posture and hands
3. Regular sleep schedule
4. Regular SC2 practice schedule, put together with other activities, based on the amount of practice hours that the player chooses himself
5. Weekly coaching about goal setting and players motivation
Players would have the ability to get help with all those things that would otherwise require years of learning and discipline. After 2-3 months, noone would go back, the difference is just too significant.
Let's put it together in terms of cost:
Cook - Regular cost, you either have to give him complete list of healthy foods to prepare each week or find one who is also a dietitian.
* Food - healthy food is no more expensive than what people eat normally.
Fitness trainer - 1-6 hours every day depending on the number of players and their schedules, he can easly take care of more than 1 person at a time tho
Physician - 1-2 hours a week just to check on players and give them feedback on what they're doing incorrectly and how to fix it
Coach - a personal coach in field of time menagement and success, who will take care of coaching sessions about goal setting and player schedules.
Smaller teams and houses can't really afford it right now - true, but once someone tires it, they'll have to.
There is so much more things that gaming houses should have. For example - there should be 30min a day or even just a board hanging on the wall where you put things that you have problems with - let's say:
How to beat 1-1-1?
What all-in should i do vs this zerg player?
How can i improve my drop defence?
etc. and a board like this in a place, where everyone passes by many times a day would let everyone find the solutions to any problems that any player might have. You can't always ask a player sitting next to you and expect the solution right away. And there is much more.
I'd love to help develop a gaming house like this, and i'm sure if i stay interested in e-sports long enaugh i will, but for now i hope this will be usefull to those few who decide to up the stakes and really start doing the work, not just throwing a bunch of kids in one room to play games and hope, they'll become champions. Because that's not going to happen.
☮out
Asmodeus
