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[G]Getting Friends into SC:BW

Forum Index > BW General
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Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-24 02:18:13
February 24 2009 01:45 GMT
#1
Alright! So over time I have noticed that not only have I seen 1, nor 2, threads regarding help for getting friends interested in Starcraft, but many:

+ Show Spoiler [After a few minutes of searching....] +

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=88397
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=80686
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=84288
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=78140 (sort of related)
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=53846 (sort of related)
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=50520 (sort of related)


I'm sure there will be even more to come, so I wrote this on behalf of those people who want to know some good ways to get their friends to play SC, but more importantly, enjoy it.

I feel, that it is near impossible to force someone to like a game. You cannot (and I quote myself lol) go up to them and be like "This is TL, theres ____, ____, ____, ____, and ____. Some famous players are ____, ____, ____, and ____. In 1v1 you need to consistently ____ and ____. Don't play noob FPM/BGH maps though, some common low money maps are _____, ____, and ____." Even if they tell you the game looks fun, and interesting, you will most probably lose their attention immediately.

How I do it:

What you have to do, is get them to enjoy some aspect of the game in the first place. Whether it be playing on (the dreaded D=) FPM, BGH, UMS, Campaign, Mass Attack games, trailers of SC2, etc. Play some games they enjoy with them, whether you like them or not(in the end you get a good friend that understands plays an amazing game with you, so don't complain too much ). Once they think they are ready to go in depth furthermore with SC, show them melee perhaps. Play some TvB, possibly comp stomps, against noobs, fastest, etc, where they aren't going to be completely destroyed and lose all hope. Start playing some better players, more advanced maps, maybe something like I am in the process of doing with my friend, showing him Pimpest plays videos, progamers VODs, and TL.

As interest increases, begin to show your friend about BO's, macro, micro, which units > others, and standard play to help them get to develop strategy on their own as well.

If you play against them try not to rape them or be BM too much, or it will frustrate them. Obviously that's not good if you want them to like the game .

I.E. Killing all their workers then running away, planting a mine/burrowing a ling at their expo, delaying the game until you get 200/200 carriers, etc.

How this is working for me:
Personally this worked very well for me, because I'm working on getting my friend into SC, but right now I'm showing him TL still. I showed him that TL is much much more than just a "starcraft site", and linked him to some funny blogs, cool news reports, etc. I showed him PP's, showed him how to 4pool(which he really loves, looks like he is going to be a Z player), and played 2v2 comps with him on Blood Bath(one of his favourite maps so far) to get his motivation for playing the game up. At school out of the blue he is like "yo, wanna go play some SC in the animation room?" and I'm like "(wow, he isn't even putting on a face, he actually likes the game =D)sure man, let's rooooooooooll ;D". Going to be playing with him tonight, he has an account on TL here(Action Bastard) but he has like 10 posts, he doesn't use it nearly as much as me(yet ), so if you see him posting, don't give him a hard time. I'm starting to show him BO's now, such as a 3 hatch build, or 9pool, instead of always 4pooling.

How I got into competetive Starcraft myself:
I used to play BGH and UMS every day, thinking there were only a few handful of progamers, the best one being BoXeR, but eventually I started hosting Obs games because I was too noob to play them myself and picked up main BO's from that. Once I figured out about TL I started lurking here, reading threads and putting them to use. Eventually I started to play in my Obs games, people asked for my iCC rank and I said "wtf is iccup?", and once I found out I made an account, played some 1v1, and created an account on TL as well. Since I made my account here and started to follow in on competetive BW my increase in skill has gone from x amount/month, to 10x/month.

TL;DR = Don't force your friends into competetive SC, get them to enjoy it, and they will bring themselves to like it as much as you do.

For those who have other ways of doing this kind of thing, or if you disagree on a point, feel free to explain why, and how you would go about it. Try to keep the flaming to a minimum though.

But remember, this guide might not appeal to all, but it works for me
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
Pokebunny
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States10654 Posts
February 24 2009 01:51 GMT
#2
Good advice probably, not very much different then what else has been posted in those various threads, but decent contribution anyways
Semipro Terran player | Pokebunny#1710 | twitter.com/Pokebunny | twitch.tv/Pokebunny | facebook.com/PokebunnySC
Sonu
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada577 Posts
February 24 2009 01:52 GMT
#3
nice.

I got a girl into competitive gaming.. but she only likes seeing the guys that play

imo as long as shes involved in SC its fine right?

nice OP btw
"I really like this wall-in, because its not a fucking wall" - DAy[9]
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
February 24 2009 01:55 GMT
#4
@Pokebunny: Yep, I know. I just compiled what I believe to be true from them, added some of my own, and organized it.
@Sonu: Uhh. Sure lol. Still pretty cool. Thanks.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
Xeris
Profile Blog Joined July 2005
Iran17695 Posts
February 24 2009 02:00 GMT
#5
why would she like the guys that play? 95% of them are ugly as fuck. unless she's ugly too OO:
twitter.com/xerislight -- follow me~~
caelym
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States6421 Posts
February 24 2009 02:03 GMT
#6
On February 24 2009 11:00 Xeris wrote:
why would she like the guys that play? 95% of them are ugly as fuck. unless she's ugly too OO:

no one can resist FBH's crotch dance. can't you hear all the fan girls screaming when he gets on stage?
bnet: caelym#1470 | Twitter: @caelym
GhostKorean
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States2330 Posts
February 24 2009 02:07 GMT
#7
Just play UMS games with them until they learn all of the units. The first game they play they'll make 50 photon canons though
Megalisk
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States6095 Posts
February 24 2009 02:12 GMT
#8
Also, when you play against them, don't kill them too bad, as it leads to frustration. I was getting my friend into the game, but he got mad and ditched it after I kept beating him.
Tear stained american saints and dirty guitar dreams across a universe of desert and blue sky , gas station coffee love letters and two dollar pistol kisses from thirty five dollar hotel room stationary .
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
February 24 2009 02:15 GMT
#9
On February 24 2009 11:12 AlphaxOmega wrote:
Also, when you play against them, don't kill them too bad, as it leads to frustration. I was getting my friend into the game, but he got mad and ditched it after I kept beating him.

Yeah that's a good point. I sort of made that mistake with a friend once. It was PvT on fastest, anddddddddd basically I killed all his SCV's with one scarab then ditched his base as BM. He ended up leaving a minute later, I could tell he was pretty pissed haha.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
imperfect
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Canada1652 Posts
February 24 2009 02:18 GMT
#10
On February 24 2009 11:12 AlphaxOmega wrote:
Also, when you play against them, don't kill them too bad, as it leads to frustration. I was getting my friend into the game, but he got mad and ditched it after I kept beating him.


this happened to me. I had 5 friends that were interested it in (after watching BoxeR's highlight videos - we had played once or twice at a PC Bang), then I beat them all with scv+marine and they all ditched it to play DotA.
blind bisu free and anytime fanboy.
TryThis
Profile Joined February 2007
Canada1522 Posts
February 24 2009 02:19 GMT
#11
On February 24 2009 11:07 GhostKorean wrote:
Just play UMS games with them until they learn all of the units. The first game they play they'll make 50 photon canons though


this is so very true. but at last they'll get the feel for it? once they've been intoduced into higher level (even 2v2 play) they will gradually get out of this habit
Dwell
Last Romantic
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United States20661 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-24 02:21:17
February 24 2009 02:21 GMT
#12
On February 24 2009 11:00 Xeris wrote:
why would she like the guys that play? 95% of them are ugly as fuck. unless she's ugly too OO:


Mi-nam MagicNs please.
ㅋㄲㅈㅁ
Kyuukyuu
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Canada6263 Posts
February 24 2009 06:04 GMT
#13
Funny, I did exactly what you say not to do and my friend is still pretty into SC (although he sucks :p)
sMi.WiZaRd
Profile Joined February 2009
United States28 Posts
February 24 2009 06:17 GMT
#14
good advice but sc/bwi is my hidden secert and il take it to the grave !! :D
aka; WiZaRd W]i[ZaRd
thunk
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States6233 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-24 06:32:47
February 24 2009 06:32 GMT
#15
On February 24 2009 11:00 Xeris wrote:
why would she like the guys that play? 95% of them are ugly as fuck. unless she's ugly too OO:


Xellos, Reach, and Yellow are fan favorites.

Winning a lot of games, and I mean a lot of games, tends to increase ones hotness. Flash has fans, he's underage and doesn't look that good.

I'm trying to get a guy into SC too and I can't figure out how to make him use build orders. I think I need to stop hard countering his build.
Every time Jung Myung Hoon builds a vulture, two probes die. || My post count was a palindrome and I was never posting again.
Osmoses
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Sweden5302 Posts
February 24 2009 06:32 GMT
#16
Like any good drug you gotta give it time, little by little reeling the suckers in, and then they're your prostitutes and you're the pimp.
Excuse me hun, but what is your name? Vivian? I woke up next to you naked and, uh, did we, um?
Julmust
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Sweden4867 Posts
February 24 2009 06:39 GMT
#17
Recently got one friend playing and another one started following the proscene So I'm pulling my weight!
AdministratorI'm dancing in the moonlight
systranerror
Profile Joined November 2008
United States27 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-24 06:57:49
February 24 2009 06:55 GMT
#18
My roommates all started playing and they got into it by just playing each other a lot and doing FFA's with me sometimes. Don't 1v1 people that are just starting even if you're going to "go easy", because it will make them hate the game. Also don't initially stand behind them and say "idle worker, use hotkeys, keep making workers." In my experience if you can't find other friends that are also terrible to start with them, they won't play.

If you have a small group of people just starting with each other they'll have fun playing each other. I got one of my roommates to start using not even a build but just an opening, i.e. 9 OL, 12 hatch at exp, and this gave him enough of an advantage over the other roommates that they wanted to learn a "build" also. Unfortunately none of them wanted to learn a real build and they mostly just fuck around playing each other, occasionally going on iccup and losing really bad, completely refusing to learn standard play or to try and get much better. I don't really care, they at least still play and will maybe decide they want to try getting better on their own later. They prefer watching pro VODs to playing.

My brother had his friend that is into most other games try playing, he was completely put off as soon as he saw it. "Ugh why does the HUD take up the entire screen, can I change the resolution?" My brother tried to teach him to play by himself, he had no other shitty people to play against and got burned out really fast. It is extremely frustrating to watch someone playing Starcraft without the mouse, doing everything incredibly slow, and doing shit that makes no sense, but keep in mind if you just yell at people to try to play like you they not only won't be able to do it but will just get really frustrated and want to give up.

My roommate who is now at least decent (still d- on iccup but like 70apm) had one of his friends play the computer, he yelled at him a bunch and told him exactly what to try doing, got really frustrated that he was so slow, and lost twice to the computer. He was so fucking slow; it looked like maybe 20apm, and after two games he said "I don't think I can play this without being on speed... I'm exhausted for now." Keep in mind how fast it seems to a new player and how unreasonable it is to expect them to keep making workers while going up a techtree they don't understand while using hotkeys they don't know yet, etc. etc.
Foreplay
Profile Joined May 2008
United States1154 Posts
February 24 2009 07:04 GMT
#19
I have a few friends that like starcraft but i they don't really understand the game and i find it hard to explain it to them so i gave up.

The other day at a party somehow SC got mentioned and i ended up going on a really passionate drunken rant about how awesome SC is to some guy who seemed interested and wanted to watch me play so i got on my friends laptop and played a 1v1 on west and just drunkenly ranted about what i was doing but he had no idea what i was talking about. I think the entire game i just went on and on about how much of a noob my opponent was for building cannons before nexus after scouting my 12 hatch.....moral of the story is, drunk people are more open to starcraft. Try getting your friends drunk first
Better than Pokebunny
Tsagacity
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
United States2124 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-24 07:58:14
February 24 2009 07:56 GMT
#20
On February 24 2009 15:55 systranerror wrote:
He was so fucking slow; it looked like maybe 20apm, and after two games he said "I don't think I can play this without being on speed... I'm exhausted for now." Keep in mind how fast it seems to a new player and how unreasonable it is to expect them to keep making workers while going up a techtree they don't understand while using hotkeys they don't know yet, etc. etc.


My older brother was a lot more receptive to experimenting with BW when we played at slower speeds. I had totally forgotten SC even had speed options but since then I've been using it with a few friends. It helps to teach them the concepts and a few strategies slowly. Once they can decently execute a strategy at lower speeds, you can slowly raise the speed and force them to execute their strategies faster reach time.

Of course the downside to teaching them this way is that most of us will go nuts if we try to play along with them at these speeds


When I first started SC, I only mostly played compstomps and with RL friends, and I think I played at normal speed for at least two years. I didn't know about the speed changes then either, and one day my friend switched it to fastest to mess around and I was like "OMG WTF?!?" I freaked out and we remade the game on normal speed.

Come to think of it, I don't know when/how I adapted to playing at fastest speed.
"Everyone worse than me at video games is a noob. Everyone better than me doesn't have a life."
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