StarCraft has been dominated by male players since it was made. Scarlett and, to some extent, ToSsGirL were the rare exception. Recently, Scarlett took downMaru in his home territory, the GSL. If you compare her performance to that of Reynor in the GSL and if you remember the last tournament in Katowice - it's fair to say that Scarlett has the potential to win any tournament and even take down Serral. Because even Serral hasn't won the GSL, but just a weekend tournament in Korea.
Personally, I rate Serral as a competitor higher than Lionel Messi. Dark and $O$ have had the potential to be greater than Serral, but one quit and Dark (as far as I know) is married and that costs some focus, some potential. In my humble opinion, the only sport player greater than Serral is Flash. And if Serral wants the GOAT title, he will not only have to win the GSL, but also the ASL.
In my opinion, the main reason female players avoid StarCraft is because, so far, learning it is no fun at all. Repeating build orders for hours is a flawed male concept. The way to learn StarCraft is to slow down to become faster. Qi Gong teaches that lesson. Instead of starting against human players that cheese with cannon rushes, it's better to play against easy AI on the slowest speed. That allows to play like the best of the pros and actually develop strategies. From there, speed and difficulty can slowly increase and once our new players enter the ladder, a simple gold league cannon rush will not be enough to take them down. On the lowest speed, it's possible to play random and play all current ladder maps.
What we need to do is a guide for female players on tl.net. We need a gesture of welcome towards female players. I asked ChatGPT for a draft, and the tl.net experts should be able to transform that into an actual guide.
User (Hildegard) Hello ChatGPT. I wrote an (unpublished) blog on tl.net (see next paragraph). Would you be so kind and write a draft for the guide I mention in the blog post?
ChatGPT Certainly, I can help draft an outline for a guide aimed at encouraging and assisting female players in learning and enjoying StarCraft. The guide will emphasize a more strategic, paced approach to learning the game, drawing parallels with the principles of Qi Gong, and advocating for starting with AI opponents on slower speeds before progressing to more challenging scenarios. Here's a draft outline for the guide:
Guide for Female Players: Embracing StarCraft with Strategy and Patience
Introduction
Acknowledging the male-dominated landscape of StarCraft.
Highlighting the achievements of Scarlett and other female players.
The purpose of this guide: to make learning StarCraft accessible, enjoyable, and strategic for female players.
Chapter 1: Understanding StarCraft Fundamentals
Basic game mechanics and objectives.
Overview of races, units, and structures.
Importance of resource management and scouting.
Chapter 2: The Qi Gong Approach to StarCraft
Drawing parallels between the strategic, patient nature of Qi Gong and StarCraft learning.
Emphasizing the importance of mindfulness, patience, and strategic thinking.
Chapter 3: Starting Slow: Practicing with AI
Benefits of starting against easy AI on the slowest speed.
Step-by-step guide on setting up and engaging in AI matches.
Tips for observing and learning from AI’s gameplay.
Chapter 4: Developing Your Strategy
Importance of understanding and developing unique strategies.
Exercises for experimenting with different tactics against AI.
Encouraging creativity and adaptation in gameplay.
Chapter 5: Gradual Progression: Speed and Difficulty
Guiding through the process of gradually increasing the game’s speed and AI difficulty.
Balancing challenge with learning to avoid frustration and burnout.
Milestones to achieve before moving to the next level.
Chapter 6: Entering the Ladder with Confidence
Preparing for human opponents and ladder matches.
Dealing with common strategies like cannon rushes.
Mental preparedness and dealing with losses.
Chapter 7: Joining the Community
Navigating and engaging with the StarCraft community.
Finding practice partners, mentors, and supportive groups.
Participating in female-friendly tournaments and events.
Conclusion
Encouraging persistence and continuous learning.
Invitation for feedback and suggestions to improve the guide.
The biggest issue is the general difficultly in onboarding rts players. I think women would enjoy the game more if they were coached by other women, and had a community of their own with in the already small sc2 community.
Female gamers avoiding Starcraft is a flawed assumption. There are plenty of Female players that partake in and enjoy playing Starcraft.
You don't see them at a competitive level for obvious reasons, the same reason it's extraordinarily rare to see any women competing against men in that spectrum period. At best there is a biological gap on average of around 10% for the fraction of a percent at the very top in favor of men across all professional sports and games, and it only gets bigger as you progress along the curve.
Why would anyone be motivated to play something where they are going to be at an advantage? That would be like someone trying to become a world renowned piano player while missing a digit.
Scarlett's case doesn't do anything for your argument, and Tossgirl never had any meaningful results.
On December 07 2023 17:27 Agh wrote: Female gamers avoiding Starcraft is a flawed assumption. There are plenty of Female players that partake in and enjoy playing Starcraft.
You don't see them at a competitive level for obvious reasons, the same reason it's extraordinarily rare to see any women competing against men in that spectrum period. At best there is a biological gap on average of around 10% for the fraction of a percent at the very top in favor of men across all professional sports and games, and it only gets bigger as you progress along the curve.
Why would anyone be motivated to play something where they are going to be at an advantage? That would be like someone trying to become a world renowned piano player while missing a digit.
Scarlett's case doesn't do anything for your argument, and Tossgirl never had any meaningful results.
You are among those players who had their share of fault that SC2 isn't more successful. To prove my point, I, a #BronzeLeagueHero, challenge you hereby to an Archon Mode Bo3. I'll get well-known casters (one male, one female) and pay them enough to cast that match live. You may bring anyone except current pros, so you could bring TLO for example. I, on the other hand, will bring my aunt and Dote (godmother) and I will advertise this match not exclusively here, but on all my social media channels, including very conservative banks. Training by actual pro players is allowed. Any GM+ who speaks German or maybe Italian is welcome to give me a costly quote to train my Dote Elfriede for this archon match. However, if my Dote fires you or doesn't like you, you could lose additional financial benefits.
The match will, if you accept my challenge, take place on the 7th of December 2024 at 10am CET. Please let me know what excuses you got.
PS, my over eighty-year old aunt has never played a computer game in her life. If she agrees, we will hopefully see you in a year. If she disagrees or has medical issues, I will play try to find a replacement accepted by a neutral person like Tasteless or Artosis.
On December 07 2023 17:27 Agh wrote: Female gamers avoiding Starcraft is a flawed assumption. There are plenty of Female players that partake in and enjoy playing Starcraft.
You don't see them at a competitive level for obvious reasons, the same reason it's extraordinarily rare to see any women competing against men in that spectrum period. At best there is a biological gap on average of around 10% for the fraction of a percent at the very top in favor of men across all professional sports and games, and it only gets bigger as you progress along the curve.
Why would anyone be motivated to play something where they are going to be at an advantage? That would be like someone trying to become a world renowned piano player while missing a digit.
Scarlett's case doesn't do anything for your argument, and Tossgirl never had any meaningful results.
You are among those players who had their share of fault that SC2 isn't more successful. To prove my point, I, a #BronzeLeagueHero, challenge you hereby to an Archon Mode Bo3. I'll get well-known casters (one male, one female) and pay them enough to cast that match live. You may bring anyone except current pros, so you could bring TLO for example. I, on the other hand, will bring my aunt and Dote (godmother) and I will advertise this match not exclusively here, but on all my social media channels, including very conservative banks. Training by actual pro players is allowed. Any GM+ who speaks German or maybe Italian is welcome to give me a costly quote to train my Dote Elfriede for this archon match. However, if my Dote fires you or doesn't like you, you could lose additional financial benefits.
The match will, if you accept my challenge, take place on the 7th of December 2024 at 10am CET. Please let me know what excuses you got.
PS, my over eighty-year old aunt has never played a computer game in her life. If she agrees, we will hopefully see you in a year. If she disagrees or has medical issues, I will play try to find a replacement accepted by a neutral person like Tasteless or Artosis.
I'm certainly not bored. How much time did you spend F5ing (or equivalent)? Did you hope for a response to validate you in front of your assumed peers?
On December 09 2023 08:02 Hildegard wrote: I'm certainly not bored.
i'm at work. tellin' ya man.. this is brutal.
On December 08 2023 17:43 Hildegard wrote: You are among those players who had their share of fault that SC2 isn't more successful.
SC2 maxed out man. Don't blame this guy or "other" a bunch of the SC2 player base man. What follows is my lived experience with RTS.
RTS is not social enough and you can't blame your team mates. Those issues were not visible in the 90s when internet latency made a 1v1 or 2v2 the cutting edge of what was technically possible. You could not have a 10 player or 30 player low latency game in 1995 that you can in 2023. So people were happy with Warcraft2 1v1s.
Like the dot eating maze game genre of the early 1980s... RTS got killed by better tech that created completely new game play experiences not possible a few years earlier.
SC2 is the Ms. Pacman of RTS. Or maybe Ms Pacman is the SC2 of dot eating maze games?
Low Latency Big Team Games Killed RTS. And Pacman killed Space Invaders Space Invaders Killed Pong And Video Killed the Radio Star!
As tech progresses... even "over the air live radio" gets killed... much less something as inconsequential as a niche video game genre called RTS.
On December 08 2023 17:43 Hildegard wrote: You are among those players who had their share of fault that SC2 isn't more successful.
SC2 maxed out man. Don't blame this guy or "other" a bunch of the SC2 player base man. What follows is my lived experience with RTS.
RTS is not social enough and you can't blame your team mates. Those issues were not visible in the 90s when internet latency made a 1v1 or 2v2 the cutting edge of what was technically possible. You could not have a 10 player or 30 player low latency game in 1995 that you can in 2023. So people were happy with Warcraft2 1v1s.
Like the dot eating maze game genre of the early 1980s... RTS got killed by better tech that created completely new game play experiences not possible a few years earlier.
SC2 is the Ms. Pacman of RTS. Or maybe Ms Pacman is the SC2 of dot eating maze games?
Low Latency Big Team Games Killed RTS. And Pacman killed Space Invaders Space Invaders Killed Pong And Video Killed the Radio Star! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs
As tech progresses... even "over the air live radio" gets killed... much less something as inconsequential as a niche video game genre called RTS.
And OLED killed LCD and LCD killed CRT
That's fair. I got mad about how he dismissed female gamers, but is in some way actually right. So far girls gamers and other tries have been completely unsuccessful, Scarlett has male chromosomes and Seo Ji-soo (tossgirl) would not get the same attention with male chromosomes.
But now I told my Dote about the challenge and a pro player teaching her (not fully, it's her Christmas present), but now I am committed and need to make it work. Maybe I need to get the pro player first. Does anyone know how much an hour of coaching by Serral or Lambo would cost? Or even better, two hours with both of them? If not, could someone point one of them to this post?
My wife is in Gold. She is an occasional, part time player.
Females seem to be just as good at Texas Hold'em poker as men. The game does not involve tracking fast movements in one's peripheral vision though. OTOH, women really suck at baseball compared to men. It comes down to movement tracking.
women and men process colour and movement differently. their rods and cones are different. So the games women/girls find interesting men might not... and vice versa.
Even non-colour blind men with 20/10 vision can not process small differences in colour shades as well as women. Men's vision is generally better at tracking fast movement of objects. Each has their own purpose and different benefits and hazards.
Currently I own a small software dev shop. Soon I will leave the software game and go to optometry school and becoming an optometrist. I am following in the footsteps of Dr. Marc Grossman. I pretty much subscribe to his various theories about human vision.
You might be surprised and amazed at the differences in how men and women process the light hitting their retina.
Marc Grossman is one of the few optometrist dealing with the myopia epidemic properly. Most optometrists just throw some lenses in front of the patient's eyes and never treat the patient's underlying causes of refractive error. As the years go by the lens prescription gets stronger and stronger and the patient's vision gets worse and worse.
Fortunately, more and more optometrists are working with patients to improve their myopic conditions.
Getting back to your topic. There will always be certain activities where women are better than men. And, there will always be certain other activities where men are better than women. Also, there will always be certain activities men enjoy more than women and vice versa. meh.
On December 14 2023 01:05 JimmyJRaynor wrote: My wife is in Gold. She is an occasional, part time player.
Females seem to be just as good at Texas Hold'em poker as men. The game does not involve tracking fast movements in one's peripheral vision though. OTOH, women really suck at baseball compared to men. It comes down to movement tracking.
women and men process colour and movement differently. their rods and cones are different. So the games women/girls find interesting men might not... and vice versa.
Even non-colour blind men with 20/10 vision can not process small differences in colour shades as well as women. Men's vision is generally better at tracking fast movement of objects. Each has their own purpose and different benefits and hazards.
Currently I own a small software dev shop. Soon I will leave the software game and go to optometry school and becoming an optometrist. I am following in the footsteps of Dr. Marc Grossman. I pretty much subscribe to his various theories about human vision.
You might be surprised and amazed at the differences in how men and women process the light hitting their retina.
Marc Grossman is one of the few optometrist dealing with the myopia epidemic properly. Most optometrists just throw some lenses in front of the patient's eyes and never treat the patient's underlying causes of refractive error. As the years go by the lens prescription gets stronger and stronger and the patient's vision gets worse and worse.
Fortunately, more and more optometrists are working with patients to improve their myopic conditions.
Getting back to your topic. There will always be certain activities where women are better than men. And, there will always be certain other activities where men are better than women. Also, there will always be certain activities men enjoy more than women and vice versa. meh.
Thank you very much for this high-quality response. I don't doubt a single word you wrote, but I come to a different conclusion. It's been over twenty years since Starcraft was born and up to this day we find new strategies and even training approaches.
Mini, a player Artosis loves to talk about and who performed pretty well during the last ASL, uses a training method I described some posts above. He practices mostly alone against the AI, at least Artosis claims that. I'm also not sure if plays against the easiest or the hardest AIs. However, he scored an ASL win before and reached the finals in the last one. That means he is one of the best current Brood War players and if anyone else used that method they would be a laughingstock.
Now, we can argue about how much a pro-player method has anything to do with women playing SC2. My answer is: Everything. It proves that focussing on oneself (Mini) can be as effective as playing against other pros in practice games. Let's assume that the way women process colour is a strict disadvantage. Maybe focussing too much on peripheral vision and strict build orders is actually the inferior method.
We had so many beliefs about Starcraft that got shattered over the years and I don't need to make a list because this is tl.net and if you don't care about Starcraft as a professional level esport you are probably in the wrong place. However, if you are female, and you don't care (yet), that's fine, you are in the right place.
EPT
