On April 05 2009 10:04 anch wrote:
cant imagine me talking to ppl that will rip to shread like in Arcade Infinity, unless its scrubfest. I live 60 minutes from there (Pasadena) cant really play offline with those ppl.
I am going with Arc_man and with some of his suitemates, at least that will be my conversation.
cant imagine me talking to ppl that will rip to shread like in Arcade Infinity, unless its scrubfest. I live 60 minutes from there (Pasadena) cant really play offline with those ppl.
I am going with Arc_man and with some of his suitemates, at least that will be my conversation.
Hehehehe, yeah I know the feeling.

6-7 years ago, I used to have an SC friend who also knew Liquid`Nazgul (at the time he was one of the best foreigners). At one point, he got me in an MSN chat with him to discuss one of my maps. Even though it was just MSN, I was SO NERVOUS. It was like being in an MSN chat with a highschool crush, but 3 times more intimidating. I would spend literally 5 or more seconds thinking about every single word I typed, lol.
Similarly, whenever I'd be in the same Bnet channel with some well-known foreigner player, like Rekrul or Testie, I wouldn't say ANYTHING. I'd just sit there like, "OMG IT'S REKRUL! DON'T SAY ANYTHING THAT MIGHT MAKE HIM THINK IM A NEWB!"
Heck, even posting on TLnet in the beginning was hard for me. Back then, the forums had just started, and they consisted of a bunch of top- and high-level foreigners (mostly from the Netherlands and Europe), really well-known people like mensrea, and a handful of random people. I pretty much never posted anything unless it was in agreement with everyone else, lol.
Then I went to WCG Canada one year with an IRL friend to spectate. They held it at this place called the Playdium, which was relatively close to where we lived. I remember it very well 'cause we got to see Grrrr... aka GiYoM in person, the legend who had gone to Korea and used to be one of the best StarCraft players in the world!

Testie, Pride, Veg, H_Paul_Wii, and all these other Canadian star players of the day were there. And I didn't say a word to ANYBODY other than the friend I went there with. I would just sit, watch the games, and listen to the players converse with each other.
... Okay, I kinda have to go to sleep now (and I got distracted here and lost my train of thought
), but basically, eventually I just came to realize that even when someone's a god in SC or SF4, they're still just a normal, fairly-average person. 
Honestly, I regret not taking advantage of WCG Canada to talk to, well, ANYONE other than the guy I went with. Once you talk to them for a while, you'll find out that guys like Gootecks, Ed Ma, and other high-level players are all really chill people, let alone the rest of the guys there. You just have to relax, be friendly, and don't be shy or intimidated.

Heck, I'm sure Gootecks in particular, with all the things he does for the community, would LOVE to have a new face come up and talk to him for a bit. I say that 'cause personally, I would love the same thing at any event here in my city, because I am eager to see more people join our fighting game community here. With all the effort he puts into events like this, I'm 100% sure Gootecks feels the same way about random people coming out to these events: he'd love it if you became a regular member of the fighting game community in your state.
Of course, Gootecks is kind of like, the final boss of this event, 'cause it'd take the most balls to talk to him or another top SF4 player.
At the very least, just talk to some random guys you don't know at the event. Like talk about the matches as you're watching them, ask questions if they know more about SF than you, share an "OMG WOW" moment when something amazing happens, talk about playing SF4 online and BP, talk about the Gootecks podcasts or online videos, etc., whatever comes up. 
You know, I feel kind of like I'm replying to an "I'm going on a date with a girl, but I'm too nervous to talk to her. What should I say?" girl help topic, hehe. Anyway, I think I've made my point. Don't be shy or afraid, and promise us you guys WILL talk to other players BESIDES your own little group.

And don't forget to go up to Gootecks and thank him for running such an awesome event.

(The same goes for you too, Arc_man, if you're reading this.
)
(Even though I have yet to hear his show. <_< >_> )
