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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eHmlp.png)
Lately I’ve been trying to get back to playing Starcraft for fun.
Now I realize that this sounds silly. Starcraft IS fun! It’s a game! I’m not trying to become a professional player – therefore the only reason I’d be playing it is for fun, right?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/k3ufG.png)
The problem is, sometimes it doesn’t feel that simple. Sometimes it feels like I only have fun when I win. And since I spend half of my time in Starcraft losing, that makes me uncomfortable. Not to mention butthurt.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jsNSw.png)
I think the toughest part of improving in Starcraft II is figuring out how to have fun even when you’re losing. At least that’s the toughest part for me. If you’ve got any tips, I’d love them. I figure I’m not the only person who struggles with this.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0Ci24.png)
Maybe that’s why we’re in Masters and not Grandmasters.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QXhfe.png)
You have to figure that the people who slog their way through the thousands of losses necessary to make it to the skill level you need to get into GM must have figured out how to have fun when they’re losing. Or maybe they’re just crazy.
What’s worked best for me has been trying to remind myself that it’s just a game, trying not to take it seriously, and focusing on improvement rather than winning or losing. A single win means nothing. A single loss means nothing. Even a streak of 15 losses means nothing (except that you should probably stop playing). All that matters is improvement. Right?
Yesterday I played a guy named "larry" twice in a row.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DLuG2.png)
Larry 8 pooled me. I got supply blocked like a scrub at 18 and lost. :C
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/fiHlt.png)
Game two we were on condemned ridge. Larry was very quiet. I nonetheless confided in him:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NkSzy.png)
Larry didn't reply. This time I held the 8 pool.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zROxI.png)
Larry found his own way to have fun, I guess. I imagine that if you 8 pool every game, losing doesn't mean as much. To each their own, I suppose xD
Do you play Starcraft for fun? If not, how do you rationalize continuing to play?
 
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I often get burned out from playing sc2 super seriously, so recently I've started cheering a lot. I've found that I love micro intensive medivac play, and while my mechanics aren't that good, I have loads of fun because of the sense of accomplishment when I pull of some micro I didn't think I could do, whether or not I win in the end.
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No. Not even close. I hate the game 99.9999% of the time.
But it's the only thing I'm decent at.
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definitely for fun, but fun its not the same for me and for you. for me is like, the more trouble i have to defeat someone, the more fun i have doing it, its no just wining, is the path i have to follow to that goal that makes it fun.
for example, some times i have to play a TvZ in daybreak and im like... fuuuu i dont wanna play this so i 2 rax, if i win its like meh another game but if instead i play a macro game, having to kill BL+infestors, split marines, etc, its so much fun than just wining in a "easy" way
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quit the game long time ago.
playing bw sometimes just for fun
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play for fun, i take great satisfaction in improving myself -- winning or losing does not matter to me.
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I second what Topin said. For me, the frustration of losing and aggravation that comes with it are what makes finally figuring it out and seeing real improvement more rewarding and fun of an experience. Plus, I really love to problem solve.
The other thing I really enjoy is helping my close friends achieve improvement. I've been playing a lot of practice games with them lately and I'm having tons of fun! It's something I've enjoyed in a lot of instances in life (coaching youth football, helping guildies in WoW, etc.) and it's something I really enjoy doing and is kind of ingrained in me.
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most of the time, i play for fun^^
but there is certainly always the passion to win as well.
Also, i wanna maintain a gm spot, but most of the time i just play what comes to my mind and im having fun with it^^
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I play for fun because yea it is a game but I am also super competitive with any game I play. I like being better then the opponent and if I am not better then I practice and practice till I become better.
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Well I played for fun but hard to have fun when you lose in almost any game imo :D.
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I can't even watch for fun lately because I dislike watching all 3 zerg matchups tvz/zvz/zvp all get extremely boring for me. tvz being so bad/annoying lately has made me pretty much quit playing entirely.
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I used to play a lot and had tons of fun doing so, but now I mostly play other games. SC2 got too boring once people realized they could just turtle like crazy against terran and get a free win in the late game since master level terran players don't have ungodly unit control and positioning.
I still love TvT, but it's only like 10% of my games now, so screw that.
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I don't have a lots of fun playing , I still like it but ... it's too hard for me to think about " fun " when I know i'm doing everything wrong , I am at a very poor level , losing make me feel angry only because everytime I know my opponnent is not " good " or necessarly " better " than me , it's mainly me doing mistakes.
I had and continue to have fun , sometimes , holding cheese , putting hard macro , " insane multitask " (at this level it's more queue a drop and a+t+move your army at the same time ) . . .
But in the same time , I don't really seek for " fun " anymore in anything , I like to feel overhelm by my mistakes ( kinda weird I guess )
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On November 13 2012 04:59 TrippSC2 wrote:
I second what Topin said. For me, the frustration of losing and aggravation that comes with it are what makes finally figuring it out and seeing real improvement more rewarding and fun of an experience. Plus, I really love to problem solve.
The other thing I really enjoy is helping my close friends achieve improvement. I've been playing a lot of practice games with them lately and I'm having tons of fun! It's something I've enjoyed in a lot of instances in life (coaching youth football, helping guildies in WoW, etc.) and it's something I really enjoy doing and is kind of ingrained in me.
There's definitely a social aspect to why I play, I think... need to set a good example for all my CSL buddies xD
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I was pretty decent at Starcraft 2 (played at low masters level), but I felt that it got boring because you were almost forced into doing the same thing every match. FFE against zerg. 2 gate-stargate and pray no DTs against toss. Terran, 1 gate fe- and still hope they don't go 111. I just stopped having fun after a while and quit. I didn't have any friends that played the game either. That was the main reason. Only knew a few people irl that played, and they were of such a lower skill level to me that it was fruitless to try to play with them or compare myself to them or talk strategy.
The one thing I kinda did enjoy was doing extremely non-standard play style. Usually this revolved around making my army mostly out of robo and stargate units and skipping stalkers completely. Why get stalkers when you can have immortals right? In any case, doing that stuff and trying to make it work added some flavor into the game for me.
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United States690 Posts
The frustration and anger from loss makes winning that much more rewarding. If every single instance of life was enjoyable, one would quickly bore of life itself.
It is the difficulties and hardships that spice our lives to make the happy times better.
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Honestly, I find SC2 extremely boring as Terran's perspective
Now these days, when I ladder all I see is me doing a little push to delay enemy's 200/200 push. Zerg or Toss, it doesnt really matter. People also learned to deal with drops better so my multitasking effort is not worth the effort :/
But I'm having a lot of fun when I offrace in Monobattle so I think I'll change my race in HOTS since playing Terran isnt fun for me
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I don't really play for fun. I play for my inner competitiveness and the drive of getting better at something I like through hard "work". In the end, that satisfaction I feel after a game well-played could be considered fun.
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I like making the units, and then making the units attack, and I like hitting lots of buttons really fast. I wasn't really focusing on the winning or the losing. Seems fun to me.
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The HoTS beta is just an endless source of frustration for me to the point where I'm no longer playing it. I feel bad because a lot of people still want access and I have it but won't use it. I play wings of liberty for fun all the time and generally enjoy myself regardless of if i win or lose. Hots I'm just stumbling around like a blind person never sure wtf I should be building or why and oh god not that 5 oracle melt your buildings in 5 seconds nonsense again etc etc.
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Starcraft, so far, has been super fun. I can see the potential for insta-rage though. I have no plans on being a big deal or anything so yeah for fun. But, and this is the catch, the real fun part is watching the enemies base go boom, not watching my base go boom.
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It can get a lot of fun but it simply gets boring after 3 games in a row 
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I used to play for fun once upon a time. I played for fun but also to improve. For me, the two things went together. I played for the simple joy of playing a few games in a row but also for the satisfaction of getting better. And you have to admit, there is just a simple joy you feel when you're playing so fast, when you're on top of your game. I enjoyed it for a while but, as time went on, I grew more and more dissatisfied with the game. Here are my reasons:
1) As I got to a higher level of play, I couldn't mentally overcome the fact that the game is, at its' heart, imbalanced. Knowing that certain styles that are available to certain races are "easier" to play really bothered me. I was always aware that, with enough skill, I could overcome this, but like IdrA, I just hated losing to people that I "felt were not as good as me."
2) The metagame was getting increasingly more stale. Turtle mech in TvZ, turtling until deathball in PvZ. These turtle styles really bothered me, I hated the fact that I could never attack into them and was forced to get up a deathball of my own. In my eyes, this almost negated any macro advantage that one could get, since so many of my games came to be decided by a deathball vs. deathball clash.
3) I didn't like the fact that SC2 is a game that demands that you are constantly "in shape". When I was playing daily, I was feeling good about my play and was enjoying myself. However, after taking breaks of about a month, coming back to the game was really difficult. I was macroing really poorly and needed practice to get back into my stride. This was pretty demotivational when coming back after a break.
4) I encountered huge amounts of BM on ladder. Pretty much every game started out with a "fuck you" or "fuck your imba race" from people who didn't know what they were talking about. Even though I was going for a very conservative macro style, I didn't see a single "gg" in what felt like 10 games.
5) Spectating didn't feel the same to me anymore, I wasn't getting the excitement and the nerd chills that I was once getting. I still watch tourneys sometimes but it's just gotten a little bit old, to be perfectly honest. Pretty sure this has something to do with #3. Though I enjoy watching a bit of TLOs stream with his ultrafast, spammy zerg style.
6) Lack of friends that play the game. This one is obvious, most of my gaming friends play LoL. You either got friends that plays SC or you don't. It's nearly impossible to get people to start playing this game. And besides, would you really want a bunch of bronze league friends that always bug you for 2v2s? LoL is just much more accessible because it's a free download and, because of its' team nature, you are able to play with friends even if you have a significant skill differential. It just got a bit too depressing getting into that barren wasteland that is Battle.net 0.2.
7) Ladder anxiety started getting to me. The higher level you get to, the more it bothers you. For some reason, it feels like a "rank" (that no one I know even sees) is enshrined above all. I started getting worried about dropping out of master's league. Instead of the simple satisfaction of playing a few games in a row, I was now playing to win. Every 5 game lose streak made me feel like shit, provoked the fear of dropping in rank. The more hardcore people can't really relate to this but it's definitely something that's on your mind when you don't play that much. I never had this before but began to develop this at some point.
8) Some other shit that I'm prolly forgetting right now.
Basically, I enjoyed the game when I first got it. I played for a while, got to a respectable level of play. But the longer I played it, the more I got dissatisfied with it, for the reasons stated above. Now I don't play anymore, though I spectate from time to time.
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I played "seriously" for a long time up until I started getting into that mid/highish-masters tier, but then I stopped having fun playing the game. A lot of that was probably due to that everybody started playing the "3-base as fast as possible, NR10, 3/3 200/200 deathball first" game. Everything became so stale and bland, I felt like it was the same thing every single game. TvT was still really fun and enjoyable to play, but there was a period of time when I was matching around 1 or 2 Terrans every 10 games. So after one day, I decided to just say fuck it, and started playing custom games, 2v2s, and 3v3s. Team Monobattles reignited a lot of that initial passion I had, as did 2v2s. I haven't played ladder games in about 1.5 months even though I still watch a lot of games/replays, so when the time comes for the placements, I'll probably pull a Gheed, throw matches to get into bronze or whatnot, and then live off the BM 
EDIT: Oh yeah, and everybody I knew that played SC2 switched over to LoL, I used to have a Facebook group filled with people that played the game the moment they had a chance, now it's just me and one or two others.
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I play the game for fun. I will never become good enough to make living of this game, so fun is the only thing that left. If I lose the fun factor, there is no point continuing playing for me.
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It's fun most of the time.
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Game is much more fun to watch than play, hence why I stopped a long time ago
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Katowice25012 Posts
On November 13 2012 04:06 clever_us wrote:
What’s worked best for me has been trying to remind myself that it’s just a game, trying not to take it seriously, and focusing on improvement rather than winning or losing. A single win means nothing. A single loss means nothing. Even a streak of 15 losses means nothing (except that you should probably stop playing). All that matters is improvement. Right?
This is about the most important thing you can learn, not only in SC2 but in all aspects of life. Focusing on little things like your macro or build execution will give you a more specific goal not tied to winning that will not only improve you faster, but make it more fun as well. Being focused only on winning specifically will suck out the interest for a lot of people and make it seems overwhelming, at least it does to me. Being results based in general isn't a great way to approach problems, rather look at the underlying process to learn and solve.
I don't really understand the drive to play a game like StarCraft if your main goal isn't to have fun. It's a silly video game we all take a little too seriously sure, but in the end if you're not having fun there are considerably better ways to spend your time. I don't play a ton of SC2 but when I do it's for the interesting challenge and the thrill of improving at things I am terrible at.
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Just started playing again, yeah it's pretty fun when i just focus on enjoying the game and not winning or losing.
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Dude it depends on how you define fun. You can't expect something so ambiguous to be simple.
For me, fun isn't winning or losing. It's:
a. Striving to play as perfect a game as possible. That means that even if I win - if the game felt like crap to me, then I won't be happy.
b. Striving to play as fast as possible. I love mechanics and execution.
Yeah heyoka, you've got it  . For me, as long as I focused on winning, my fun would be tied to my ups and downs. This is how I learned to make the game fun again.
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On November 13 2012 07:31 heyoka wrote:Show nested quote +On November 13 2012 04:06 clever_us wrote:
What’s worked best for me has been trying to remind myself that it’s just a game, trying not to take it seriously, and focusing on improvement rather than winning or losing. A single win means nothing. A single loss means nothing. Even a streak of 15 losses means nothing (except that you should probably stop playing). All that matters is improvement. Right? This is about the most important thing you can learn, not only in SC2 but in all aspects of life. Focusing on little things like your macro or build execution will give you a more specific goal not tied to winning that will not only improve you faster, but make it more fun as well. Being focused only on winning specifically will suck out the interest for a lot of people and make it seems overwhelming, at least it does to me. Being results based in general isn't a great way to approach problems, rather look at the underlying process to learn and solve. I don't really understand the drive to play a game like StarCraft if your main goal isn't to have fun. It's a silly video game we all take a little too seriously sure, but in the end if you're not having fun there are considerably better ways to spend your time. I don't play a ton of SC2 but when I do it's for the interesting challenge and the thrill of improving at things I am terrible at.
That's some very solid advice right there, and when I think about it, I don't understand why I haven't thought about it before.
It's been quite a while since I realized this in school. It doesn't matter whatever the result at the end is (not talking about exams here, but just solving problems in general), it's about how you get there, the process and learning to learn. When I think about it, it makes total sense to apply this to Starcraft as well if you're having this "problem" with the game - like I do!
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I play for fun and to improve, they go hand in hand to me. I need breaks every now and again, I can't pull nearly the hours pro gamers can, but once in a few weeks I really go to town and have a blast on the ladder. The enjoyment of great micro along with a well executed play brings a satisfaction I haven't had almost anywhere else.
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I definitely play for fun. Of course there is the desire to win, the desire to improve, etc., but I find all of those things fun. In fact, I have a very competitive nature, so if I wasn't playing SC2, I'd probably have a similar hobby... maybe chess, or poker. If I didn't find these aspects of the game fun, I would simply play another type of game.
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I used to play it for fun. Played BW for around 8~ years so didn't have any trouble picking up sc2. it got stale very quickly for me though. My computer was absolutely trash up to about a month ago and I couldn't cast FF's without 2 seconds of delay so maybe that had something to do with it. when 20 zerglings can make your screen freeze up it can really crush the mood xD
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For me, it's like a sinus wave. Sometimes I'm just enjoying the game and I'm playing an aggressive, harassment-based style. (I'm zerg and I hate infestors. It's not because of "imba imba wololo", it's because I think that the unit is boring as hell.)
E.g., I'm trying to play ling / bling / muta in zvp, which can be incredibly fun, when it's actually working.
On other days, I'm bored by the game, I can't really express why. Then I can barely motivate me to do anything intelligent inside the game, so I'm massing roaches and I'm a-moving them to victory (or death).
I really love the game, but I can't play it "seriously" enough to really compete on the ladder, so I'm trying to have fun with my limited skill. Most of the time, I'm happy with that.
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People perceive fun differently, I think improving myself at anything is fun, for some people it's not.
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On November 13 2012 04:20 Glurkenspurk wrote:
No. Not even close. I hate the game 99.9999% of the time.
But it's the only thing I'm decent at.
You should think about it. How did you get good at SC2? You practiced. A lot. Imagine if you put the same amount of practice into something else like guitar or karate or whatever. You'd probably be good at that too
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I first started playing the game because it was just fun, until i got exposed to esports and progaming. ever since then, i played to improve and be the best i could. I'm not so stupid to think that i could ever reach a progamer's level of skill, but at least get into masters or gm.
recently, i've been losing a lot and was wondering why i even started to play the game in the first place, which is to play for fun. i'm not really high up the ladder (diamond) but most of the PvX MUs have become extremly boring to me. i can kinda relate to OP's post
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It's a combination for me. I play to improve at the game, I play because it is fun, and i play because it is a place where I can work on skills and feel less bad about negative results.
I definitely think people take it too seriously, including me. What is so great about winning? Well it feels good (that is if your ego is your reason for playing). If you just like watching and experiencing starcraft for itself it does not really matter the result. I agree that for myself, the best mindset is that starcraft is not made up of individual games but is rather an MMO in which I am my character and I can learn something new in every game.
This thinking has led me to theorize that perhaps some of the staleness is a result of this attitude of wanting to win so badly? Fewer and fewer peopel are trying fun things because they want the ladder points.
I honestly think the lower leagues have some superb play going on in them because people are just winging build orders but they are thinkign for themeslves making some interesting games. thats not to say higher leagues don't think for themselves.. i more just mean you get different types of games because not everyone is doing something that is calculated, designed, perfected for the sole purpose of winning.
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EPT
