This is a great post. It articulates everything I thought I knew, but didn't have the presence of mind to follow through. Having it out in the open will certainly help.

TheCabDriver

Canada159 Posts

August 08 2010 01:01 GMT

#63

I know everyone already said this, but it's a great post. I noticed that when I incorporate some of the things you wrote, playing is much more fun and rewarding. Kind of just chill out instead of raging "I MUST WIN RARRR"

MICHELLE

Korea (South)199 Posts

August 08 2010 01:08 GMT

#64

I'm really sorry but I have to disagree with most of your points, If you take the game a little bit more seriously than a casual player, most of them dosen't make any sence.

Kao

24 Posts

August 08 2010 01:16 GMT

#65

This explain all about Idra?

Synwave

United States2803 Posts

August 08 2010 01:22 GMT

#66

I wanted to explain this earlier but I had to get going for something.
I felt this on an extreme level towards the end of beta. I was playing random and drew a pvp mirror on burning sands. He 4gated and I 3gated robo after some initial equal zealot losses in the mid.
He kept pressure on my front enough to safely destroy my back entrance, I was on the ropes and this flow just took over. I microed WAY beyond my ability and basically flattened his push, countered and destroyed his base in such a dominating fashion it was like a pro said "move over kid lemme handle this."
It went from this tug of war to such one sided stomp even the other guy mentioned surprise. We talked afterwards and I told him I just felt myself playing way above my normal ability and he said he saw it clearly (we were chatting while watching the replay at the same time) when it happened.
Interesting stuff. Now if only they would bottle that feeling!

Reborn8u

United States1761 Posts

August 08 2010 01:23 GMT

#67

So true, I've hit that flow plenty of times, it's when I play relaxed. I first started to realize a lot of things he's sayingin the op when I started watching my own replays. I asked myself "How come I am seeing all this stuff now and not while I'm in game?" It would always seem like I was 1 step ahead of myself while I was watching the replay. Then it hit me, it was the stress and anxiety I was feeling while playing that was slowing me down. Once I focused on playing relaxed every aspect of my game improved slightly. Decision making is where I felt I improved the most. A calm mind will ALWAYS serve you better you just have to be calm yet fast in Starcraft. I think the part where the op talks about the learning curve of managing more bases will help a lot of people.

Synwave

United States2803 Posts

August 08 2010 01:25 GMT

#68

Yeah I can get there pretty fast doing kendo but damned if Im very good at finding that sweet spot of relaxed readiness in sc2 very often.

friendlybus

Australia78 Posts

August 08 2010 03:17 GMT

#69

I reached flow in a competitive FPS. I really think the added pressures of competitive play really help your game. I'd never really bothered to /try/ before that. I just looked for a win with the least effort, I never bothered to 'dig deep'. Not that I'm good or anything, I just really like seeing how much I can really put out and not how little I can put in and still get wins. Ever since then, I know I can actually try and succeed, that knowledge is like a road that leads to perfect flow and I can put in as much as I want to. Though I keep losing games cause I'm too lazy

wtb some shit tourney I can pour myself into lol.

Llame

Denmark5 Posts

August 08 2010 03:42 GMT

#70

Great post, really helped me alot.. Alot of the times when i play, i get all nervous.
Like, if someone banshee-cloak rushes me while im being a total noob and not scouting enough, i panic. I build like 20 cannons/turrets/spore crawlers(if not in lair tech yet). This helped me not overreact. :D

ImperialFenix

30 Posts

August 08 2010 04:02 GMT

#71

Like the post. It talks about some subjects I agree with, but then again I'm just playing the game for fun. Playing while tense, nervous, and constantly thinking about stats isn't my ideal enjoyment.

donut

United States3 Posts

August 08 2010 04:04 GMT

#72

flow

ugh i hate that insurance bitch, i hope i never get flow.

Orangu

Canada198 Posts

August 08 2010 05:02 GMT

#73

I'd like to add to your conclusion about "flow" and how to achieve it, since im pretty sure a large component comes from the fact that our brains are hierarchically structured, the sense of lose of consciousness, no longer having to directly think about how to do the things you want to do and instead having things seemingly just happen on screen, comes from this or atleast in part. Pretty much over time as we repetitively practice the same thing over and over again we slowly no longer actually need to consciously control what were are doing since lower brain areas actually becomes trained to perform tasks that our conscious decides we want to do. This is why the pros are able to do a bazzillion things at once with almost super human APM. They get to the point where they just see whats going on and their brain carriers out the 1000's of things it already knows it needs to do to win, automatically and efficiently. This also means practice and time are pretty much everything, but like you said ordered practice with purpose is of course going to be the most efficient, since you can only learn so much so fast, which will make you get better faster. For the ragers you just need to realize things take time and practice and learn to just take a step back and let the game flow out of you instead of trying to force it since thats just not good for your health. Train your brain and then let it do the work for you and then things will be sweeeeet.

unit

United States2621 Posts

August 08 2010 05:12 GMT

#74

this should be front paged imo ^___^ great read and might really actually help me AND a lot of users on tl.net if front paged so everyone can see it

professorben

United States15 Posts

August 08 2010 06:38 GMT

#75

OP gets it. He would do well in poker.

Paperscraps

United States639 Posts

August 08 2010 07:04 GMT

#76

I'm a big picture kind of guy and love what this post is about. People always seem to get caught up in winning, their "league" and how many points they have. True fun (flow) comes from within not from things on the outside.

greenkid

114 Posts

August 08 2010 07:12 GMT

#77

hahaha i loved this post XD made me lol pretty hard but it has a true message to all players IdrA should read this even though hes my zerg idol i will admit he rages alot