EPTFirst, I know I’m only Bronze league right now but that’s about to change, I decided to take on a 3 weeks challenge, I’m not doing it for fame or anything, I’m just really passionate about Starcraft 2, not just the game but the whole community as well. I hope that by sharing my story I will motivate some other people to reach for the stars as well.
First, let me tell you a little bit about me:
For a long as I can remember, I loved videogames, I think I was about 10 when it all started, I was at my grandma’s place and my uncle still lived there in her basement. I could spend the whole week-end in the basement with him, part watching him play and part playing, Tomb Raider, Quake, Diablo 1, Heroes Of Might And Magic 2, Half life (hey back in the 90s those games were the shit). I was 12 when I started playing online, I’d play Quake and finish 1st with my 20 kills, my name online was 12YearOldKiller, I liked playing online! Knowing that when I’d headshot someone, there was a real person raging in front of his computer made it all the better. I was very competitive and would have my rage moments as well, ands still do to this day.
Videogames followed me trough my childhood and is still to this day a big part of my life, but its only recently that I was introduced to SC2, I’ve played Brood War before, maybe one or 2 games in a LAN game with my ex, he beat me so fast that I lost interest rather quickly. Until a friend of mine Jonathan Monagan, gave me a free 10h pass of SC2 on release date! I said: hey what’s the harm in trying it. Wow I really liked it not only was it beautiful and was pretty neat to play. Unfortunately for some reason that I can’t remember, my ex talked me out of buying it. The day that my ex left me, and since he kept the computer, first thing I did was to go to Futurshop, I got there, found the first salesman and said word for word: My boyfriend just left me, I’m heart broken and I need a PC that can run SC2, and a copy of SC2.
So I started playing casually here in there until I met Charles Desaulniers at work. I bonded quickly with Charles we found out that we had a lot of common passion one of them being SC2. So he told me that he would like to see me play and that if I had potential, he could coach me. I thought awesome! Here’s the pathetic part, I was such a “casual gamer” that I didn’t even know what ranks were or how they worked, Hell, I didn’t even use my keyboard to play. My play style was, BUILD ALL THE THINGS, then upgrade all the things, then make a 200 supply army and pound the enemy… all that out of one base, A little bit like how one would play Age Of Empires I guess. And Yes you guessed right, I couldn’t beat an AI on hard…So Charles coached me, a LOT, at first just basic keyboard coordination, when I got better, he showed my some build orders, aggression under 10 minutes and so on... I became good but never ranked higher than 5th in my division, Bronze of course. I didn’t have the time to practice enough; I’d only play 3 to 4 hours a week. That was back in December.
By mid January I had a lot of personal issue and I had to make some sacrifices, SC was the first thing to go. After a while things started so get better whit my life, I even started working out, not for appearances but for the fitness part of it. I’d play Sc2 but only for fun, I didn’t do more than 3 or 4 match in the past 2 seasons. I was Ladder Shy if I might say.
Then Barcraft Montreal 3 comes around the corner, I’d still watch lots of games and followed my favourite players, including White-Ra, even though I had nearly stopped playing. Also, since Barcraft Montreal 2 was a complete success, I wouldn’t miss it for anything. And, you know, I have to support Charles, I’m really proud of you by the way. Not only did I go but I also convinced 2 girls friend of mine to come along, they are both gamer, one plays LoL(Myriam) a lot and the other plays Counter strike(Marilyn), I even gave them a little SC2 101 class before so the understood what the were watching. I really enjoyed the event! I had a blast!!! Then there was a second event: Main Stage Series: White-Ra, Special Tactics LIVE! Montreal. I’ll be honest at first I didn’t wanna go, I really love White-Ra and all but I thought that 2 week end out of town, I live about an hour and a half from Montreal, was a bit too much. See, we have a young dog at home. At night or when were not there she is in a cage and it sucks for her to spend almost 36h in her cage. I know it sound dumb but I thought to myself, I decided to have a dog, now I have to assume the responsibility. I finally came around Charles and my boyfriend convinced me and me best friend Marilyn offered to baby(dog)sit our 3 month old Molly. And boy Oh boy thanks to them or I would have missed the opportunity of a life time!
For the rest well you know the story, if not, here you go: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=325532
Now that the dust has settled, I had the time to think about what I want and what I need in life. This is how I came up with my 3 weeks challenge. Let me explain; I really enjoy SC2 and if I could become very good at it, it would be even more enjoyable. Of course, I have bills to pay so I have to work and I really need to work out, its good for the body but for the mental as well. And since I work tech support for an ISP, I sit around all day so I can’t skip the work out. I have to find some kind of balance in between my job/life and SC2. So here’s my plan for the next 3 weeks:
So from Monday to Friday my schedule would look like this:
-8am to 5pm: tech support
-5pm to 6pm: workout (the gym is in the building where I work it its pretty quick)
I- usually arrive home around 6pm, 6:15pm so from 6pm to 7:30pm its dinner time and walk/play with my dogs.
-Then, from 7:30 to 11:00, SC2, Mostly laddering but maybe some custom 1v1 with friends.
-11:00pm to 8:00am. Me and Boyfriend time and sleep.
On week-ends, well it’s the week end so who knows what I’ll do! Maybe ladder, but just for the hell of it.
All this to see if, in a matter of 3 weeks, I can become Silver Rank, for now this is my goal. After I’ll see how the 3 weeks went and aim for gold and so on. I’m pretty sure that with all my hard work and effort, also all the support I get from my boyfriend Simon, Charles and all my friends, I can get there in time.
Also, every night a 11pm I’ll post on my Facebook and Twitter (At some point I’ll understand how Twitter works)how the training session went, not in super super details but how I ranked up and my wins and losses of the night. So if you wanna follow me go ahead
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/QueenElissa88
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/Queen.Elisssa
Sc2 ranks: http://www.sc2ranks.com/us/1204653/QueenElissa -----> To make sure I’m not lying
I’m doing this for me, but also for everyone that believes in me, I wanna show to you guys that I really am that committed. I don’t know, I feel like I have something to prove, I think that a lot of girls are trying to get famous trough the videogame scene without really being a gamer. The difference with me is that I do it for the passion of the game and I think that eSports should take a bigger place in everyone’s life so if I can share a little bit of my passion and convert more people to play of even just watch, my mission will be fulfilled.
Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoyed.
I’ll keep you guys updated!!
QueenElissa
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KUvUM.jpg)
White-Ra and me after he defeted me
. I hope bronze players are nice to you!
