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I've been learning starcraft for the last few months, and I feel I have been going about it the right way, in spite of having no friends (IRL or otherwise) that play with me. I study the liquipedia, watch the streams, and every night after work I throw on the day9 daily. I do a lot of lurking on the forums and occasionally throw in my two cents. I never cry foul on balance issues, and try to develop solid techniques. When it comes to playing the game, however, I can't play for more than an hour.
I can play CS, TF2, basically any FPS for hours. I've been playing them so long that it's just easy, and aim and decision making has come naturally to me. But even when I first got into playing FPS games, they never fatigued me so much as starcraft has. There have been times in large tournaments that I've felt mentally wiped after an intense match in CS 1.6, but I've never had a map change in a public server and said "wow, I need a break".
After I finish playing a game of starcraft, I need to take a break. Not just to watch the replay and reflect on all my mistakes (and trust me there are a ton), but because the game just wears me out so fast.
make SCVs, hows the food, rax almost finished?, remember to scan, rally points ok?, build an ebay, get that upgrade? shit i forgot that depo, okay now i'm supply blocked, throw down an expansion, damn mutas are here, pull scvs and on and on and on.
I'm sure there comes a point where you just do these things without having to consciously think about them, but for me it's such an incredibly difficult process to keep up with. I commend you 200APM players who can just sit there and mass games, but I just feel that I can't ever put in 4-5 hours of starcraft. I love the game. I could watch gretorp's stream for hours. It's awesome. It's just so difficult to climb up this steep learning curve.
Win or lose, gold or diamond, those dedicated to getting better through massing games have my respect. How did you get over this initial hump of being able to execute actions without consciously making every decisioin?
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I am in the exact same position as you right now.
I have never played a game that takes such a toll on me.
Now I see why Husky didn't play and do any commentaries when he was sick.
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I am that way too. but the thing is, thats with ladder only for me.
try getting a practice partner or something.
That way, you can discuss games and with someone you can relate to.
it helps alot as well, if you go into vent/skype/ts with them and just bs the whole time.
i can't play more then 3 or so ladder games without needing to take a break. But i can easily mass 100 games with people i can relate to.
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I logged on the other day and played one practice game with my buddy. While it was the best game I've had in all of beta, I haven't been able to play since because the game was so long and tiring.
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I just play a lot. The game is always mentally taxing IMO, it's just a matter of how much stress you can handle. Eventually all the things that drive your brain into hyper-drive will become 2nd nature, and won't be as big of a deal on your brain. So just play, a lot. 
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I think it gets to a point where it becomes natural. You don't need to 'think' too much once you've been exposed. Think of it like driving a car or even better a stick shift. At first, it is so chaotic because its just so many things that you worry/focus on. Later on, some things become natural and your mind only focuses on so many things at once.
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i usually only need a break when i just played an intense game which is 30 minutes or longer.
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I know exactly what you mean, and its a damn strange change to me. I've been playing videogames in whatever form for over 20 years. Sitting down and playing something for 12+ hours at least once a week is nothing unusual to me. I have played all the games you mention above and many others, but nothing has ever fatigued me like SC.
The only solution I have found is to force "One more game" every time I get "that feeling".
If one game knocks you out, push forward and play that second.
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I think it's the high stakes and the longer games/1on1 nature of the game in relation to FPS games.
I'm in the same boat, I am a hardcore TF2 player and playing SC2 I get all sweaty and when it's finished no matter if I won or not I can't play anymore and go back to playing TF2.
In TF2 when you lose you just respawn 10 seconds later and get right back to it, my mind also tends to go crazy when I play, thinking vigorously and I feel extremely overwhelmed nearing the endgame; It`s become enough that I haven`t even picked the game back up since the beta went down before.
AND WHY DOES PLAYING SC2 MAKE ME HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM SO BAD, JESUS.
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Haha compared to broodwar, SC2 is like a relaxing vacation to me.
My first game of bw when beta was down I was so sad afterwards because it was sooo hard. Idle drones everywhere. 
Eventually I got used to it, and now SC2 seems easy again.
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I know what you mean. I used to play a lot of CS1.6 and would scrim for hours upon hours but it's very hard for me to play SC2 games back-to-back.
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From day9 and gretorp, having small goals not directly about winning, such as these few games im not going to get supply capped, or have my creep expanded to my 3rd before i expand there. Also dedicating a certain specific amount of time to starcraft, and leaving it unambiguous, such as from 3-6 im going to play starcraft solidly, save all the replays and watch them all at a 8-9.
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it's prolly b/c most other games that you play are for casuals.
BW and even WC3 players won't feel that SC2 requires more effort (in fact it's usually less)
just like i get dizzy watching my friend play FPS at crazy high sensitivity, your mind prolly can't handle all the multitasking yet.
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United Kingdom16710 Posts
you have to learn to really enjoy the stress and the mental challenges. its hard i know but once you do, its magical, addictive and richly rewarding.
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SC2 is actually really easy in comparison to brood war. Generally, in the SC1, I had over 4000 mins and gas regularly in late game because I couldn't macro well. I rarely go above 1500 in SC2 late game.
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100% agree with the OP. I've come from a huge FPS background as well, and like the OP, I can play those for hours. But one intense game of SC, and I literally walk out of my room, shut the light off, and go downstairs. Usually I don't even turn on the tv. I relax by playing with my puppy outside, but the mental fatigue sc does to me is insane. I'm not sure if its just more time playing, but I've never played a game that physically tires me out.
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it hard for me to start a session but once i do i usually play for 25+ games in a row.
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It's because of the one on one environment. A lot of "competitive" gamers aren't used to it. I use quotes because many consider them such, but haven't really done anything on a personal level. It's one thing to take full responsibility for EVERYTHING. Where as you're playing CS and some douche blocks you and you get destroyed, it's easy to look past what you did. It's the intimate one on one environment that gets you, probably.
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I think it's the 1v1 aspect, the razor-sharp competitive nature of the game. 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, even FFA are all very relaxed and fun. Why? Well, you're not judged in any way, if you lose it's not necessarily your fault, you have teammates to fall back on if you mess up, etc. But in 1v1, if you screw up, it's because *you screwed up*. In a finely balanced game like Starcraft, losing means that the other guy is better than you in some way. He outsmarted you, or had better reflexes, or had a more solid plan going into the game.
The game is easy to understand when you're on the outside looking in. Watching dailies and streams makes it seem so easy and intuitive. But when you're actually in the game, head to head with an equally skilled opponent that could run you over if you so much as hit the wrong hotkey, the pressure can be too much to handle.
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I definitely need a break after about 5 games.
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EPT
