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Have you ever been focused on something with such intensity and fun that you lose track of time, forget that you're hungry, and find yourself completely lost in what you're doing?
(EDIT: That describes one end of the spectrum of these kind of experiences. These same principles also apply to having more normal experiences of fun and enjoyment from something challenging.)
In extreme cases, everything becomes clear, and your actions seem effortless, automatic, and highly precise and efficient--things can even seem to slow down.
We call the more intense instances being "in the zone," "locked in," "unconscious," or "on fire." Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi named it flow. It is among the best experiences we can have as human beings.
More often, we just call it having fun.
That feeling is the reason we play Starcraft.
We are chasing those kinds of experiences, and this game is one of the best, most reliable ways to get to it if you approach it the right way.
I'm going to break down the ten factors that accompany these experiences of flow and show how they each relate to playing SC2.
The factors are:
- Clear goals
- Concentration
- A loss of feelings of self-consciousness
- Loss of a sense of time
- Direct and immediate feedback
- Balance between ability level and challenge
- A sense of control over the activity
- The activity is intrinsically rewarding
- Lack of awareness of your biological needs
- Your entire awareness becomes focused on the activity itself
1. ***CLEAR GOALS
WHAT NOT TO DO: Don't make winning your only goal. That's because you can't always control whether or not you win, you can't always get direct and immediate feedback on whether or not you are going to win, you'll probably NOT win at least 30% of the time, it isn't intrinsically rewarding (in the sense meant above), and the very idea of winning involves your ego massively--not good for losing those feelings of self-consciousness.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Focus on executing your build order. Focus on having a plan in advance for tactics and strategy. Have an idea for your early, mid, and late game. Pick some other things to accomplish each game (upgrades, expansions, scouting, harassment, micro, macro, building placement, etc.).
Make those kinds of things your primary focus before, during, and immediately after the game. Let winning and losing roll off your back completely, make them unimportant side-effects of all of these other goals--be zen-like about it.
Have these goals clearly laid out. Write them down. Don't change them too much until you've mastered what you were working on.
2. ***CONCENTRATION
WHAT NOT TO DO: Don't let yourself have too many distractions (obviously). Whether that applies to your music, your viewers, your friends, your chatting, or things in the game other than your goals (you get caught up in micro when you intended to work on macro). Don't focus on winning because that's always going to be a distraction from your real goals.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Get laser focused on your goals. Have the plan in your mind. Go over that plan constantly. Be looking for the cues and information that apply to what you're trying to do. Day[9]'s mantra of "workers, supply, money" is a good example of this.
3. ***LOSS OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
WHAT NOT TO DO: Don't rage. Don't focus on winning. Don't flame. Don't respond to flaming. Don't get caught up in your short-comings as a player.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Be polite. Try not to let flaming or opponent rage impact you too much. Pay attention ONLY to the things on your list of goals for the game--if you suck at micro and are painfully aware of it but that's not the thing you're trying to work on, then decide in advance not to sweat micro in the slightest.
4. *** DISTORTED SENSE OF TIME
WHAT NOT TO DO: Continue glancing at the clock while playing. Listen to short music tracks that break up your experience into 3-minute chunks. Get bogged down in build-order timings that you aren't super-familiar with.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Make your basic timings one of the first things you work on, so you don't have to focus on that any more. Learn it stone-cold. As more sophisticated timings become relevant to your game, roll back your expectations on other areas so you can focus on those, master them, and move on.
5. *** DIRECT AND IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK
WHAT NOT TO DO: Decide to practice sentry force-field micro by playing in ladder games. Never watch your replays.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Pick the right approach to working towards a given goal. If you want to practice with force-fields, open the unit tester. Find a map designed for force-field micro practice. Have your practice partner mass zerglings while you mass sentries and then see how long you can prevent him from getting into your base.
Or for a different example, if you really want to practice combating mech in your ZvT, don't hop on the ladder where you may go 8 games in a row without playing against a Terran only for him to do a bio-build. A practice partner or a special map would be the way to go there as well.
Also, it's hard to get direct feedback when you're not sure how you failed to reach your goal. Check out the replay when there's missing info that you need in order to improve.
6. ***BALANCE BETWEEN ABILITY LEVEL AND CHALLENGE LEVEL
WHAT NOT TO DO: Don't build 5 bases if you have no prayer of managing 5 bases. On the other side, don't just do your cheesy all-in rush that you could do in your sleep every game without any other objective in mind to challenge you.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Take baby steps. If you aren't good at macro, focus on successfully spending all your money off of two bases. Maybe build 5 bases, but instead of trying to manage them effectively, see how quickly you can get 200 workers on the field. Or try to spend 5 bases worth of income with no regard whatsoever for whether that money is spent well. Build 30 command centers if you need to. Again, whatever you're working on, take baby steps.
7. ***A SENSE OF CONTROL OVER THE ACTIVITY
WHAT NOT TO DO: Don't play like your hair is on fire, giving yourself more things to manage and focus on than you can possibly feel like you have a sense of control over.
Also, don't be frantically mapping control group hotkeys without some kind of plan. Don't rely on the tooltips to give you the keyboard shortcuts for building a certain unit or getting a certain upgrade.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Limit the amount of stuff you have to attend to until you are very comfortable, then move up slowly. Have a solid plan for how you want your mechanics to go. Focus on learning hot keys, get comfortable managing control groups, etc..
This might be one of the most important things to do for a new player. If you aren't comfortable with controlling the game, you will have trouble doing anything else on this list of things associated with flow. You'll be self-conscious, it'll feel too difficult, you'll be distracted often, etc..
8. ***THE ACTIVITY IS INTRINSICALLY REWARDING
WHAT NOT TO DO: Focus on winning. Focus on your ranking. Focus on your win record. Focus on showing up a bad mannered jerk.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Play because you enjoy the sense that you're getting better. Play because you like reaching those little goals mentioned above.
9. ***LACK OF AWARENESS OF BIOLOGICAL NEEDS
This isn't something to strive for, more of a side-effect of being in flow.
10. ***YOUR ENTIRE AWARENESS BECOMES FOCUSED ON THE ACTIVITY ITSELF
Again, this is more of a natural product of all of the other things being put into practice. If you have clear, specific goals, and you put yourself in a position where you're focused on that and getting immediate feedback, you have a great chance of getting this effect from time to time.
The key here is the purity and intensity of the other factors. If you are really locked-in because you have a handful of these factors down pat, you're likely to get to this place.
~~CONCLUSION~~
Even if it's subconscious or they don't think in these terms, flow is often the secret sauce behind the performance of the top gamers, top athletes, top musicians, and artists in the world. It's why they can work for hours and hours on end with minimal fatigue or boredom. It's why they can remain passionate about something even after decades spent on mastery.
In fact, when it comes to Starcraft 2, you'll find a lot of these principles at work in the wisdom of everybody's favorite nerd, Day[9], and his approach to the game. If you pay attention to his advice, it's often about breaking things down into clear goals, taking baby steps, concentrating on specific things, being willing to let go of winning in order to work on new aspects of your game, and so on.
Furthermore, if you watch Daily #100, you can hear him talk about these sorts of moments and experiences throughout his career as a player in many of the same terms I've used here (loss of self-consciousness, total absorption in the task, feelings of control, his skill and the challenge at hand being perfectly matched).
You don't have to do ALL of these things to experience flow, even a handful can get you there. This approach to the game can help new players and pros alike.
By moving more towards these approaches to Starcraft 2, you are likely to have more fun, rage less, and actually get better at the game faster.
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Gr8 post, +3 
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Quality read, I like the clear goal part. So much of the game revolves around the completion of tasks that will cripple your opponent in some way. Winning is the sum of these tasks.
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thnks for this post it will really help me enjoyo the game alot more. I'm always so worried about m Win/Lose Ratio that I'm afraid of losing especially when I'm on a winning streak.
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I really like this post, great advise!
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This definitely reminds me of listening to people who are successful at what they do. Where I come from, in the music world, you'll often hear celebrity guitarists talk about the hours and hours they'd lock themselves away just practicing, playing scales, memorizing chords, working at the very building blocks of the art they've come to master. If you don't enjoy that, then there's no way you're going to go very far beyond just a few minutes locked up with your instrument. Likewise, if you don't enjoy SC, you're not going to go beyond one or two games before you lose focus.
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Or: 1. Stop taking video games seriously and play for fun (which it's supposed to be).
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![[image loading]](http://austega.com/education/articles/Flow2.gif)
Unfortunately, I'm usually sitting in the anxiety corner =P
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On August 08 2010 02:42 Loranga wrote:
Or: 1. Stop taking video games seriously and play for fun (which it's supposed to be).
If you're playing for fun, you're doing at least some of this stuff already. Some people find the game frustrating more often than they'd like.
This post is about HOW they can find that fun more often when they play.
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On August 08 2010 02:43 Jyvblamo wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Unfortunately, I'm usually sitting in the anxiety corner =P
Good find on the chart. The thing to keep in mind is that the frame of reference on that graph is entirely relative.
Even someone with objectively low skill can find the right amount of challenge for them, begin experiencing growth, and creep into the flow territory.
Probably the game that makes this easiest for players is the Rock Band/Guitar Hero genre. You've got 5 difficulty settings, and then a dozen or so difficulty levels for the songs.
That gives you over 60 progressively more difficult phases to work through. Not to mention that you can always do better on % accuracy at any given level.
I think naturally, the multi-player aspect of SC2 is WAAAAY better in this regard than SC1 due to the match-making algorithm, but as I argue above, just getting closer to a 50/50 win ratio does not always a fun experience make.
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Great post!
I really recognise this same thing when painting, I get into "the zone" and lose all sense of time. I'm not really there in SC2 though, but with more practice I hope I will be soon.
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8748 Posts
I think Liquid needs to hire this guy. E-sports psychologist!
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Very good post! I've experienced being "in the zone" a few times in Quake and other FPS games, but unfortunately as an RTS newbie I haven't quite gotten there yet in BW/SC2. I think a large part of it is the level of comfort I feel in FPS, whereas in RTS I have all these thoughts in mind of how much I suck and how I'm not totally comfortable with the system, and of course focusing too much on winning and worrying too much about losing. I suppose your level of confidence in yourself regarding the task at hand factors in attaining that flow too.
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This is brilliant. Most of it is intuitive things we would notice on our own if we thought, but putting it in such a concise and informative format is invaluable. I imagine I'll be back to this page when the game just becomes too frustrating and everything here should help that state of rage. Well done sir!
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mmmm flow...takes me back to my psych courses in college.
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This was an absolutely terrific post :-)
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9. ***LACK OF AWARENESS OF BIOLOGICAL NEEDS
This isn't something to strive for, more of a side-effect of being in flow.
This doesn't sound healthy o.o.
But yeah, awesome post <3.
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Amazing. I can vouch for it though. Played a terran who was going marines + siege tanks and I had no banelings. He was not a good player, but I had more satisfaction from sniping his tanks with speedlings than any other victory that night.
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thats exactly what Iam working on at the moment. I havent played rts games before sc2. I used to play counterstrike competitively and I was able to massgame but sc2 really skrewed me physically in beta phase1. It was hard for me to play more than 3-5games a day in ladder but I had no problem to play 50games a day with my friends or watch vods or day9 all day long.
I usually was nervous and even shaking in the first 5mins of the game, I simply couldnt handle it. And I felt exhausted after my games.
When I started to focus on getting better instead of winning games I started to enjoy playing this game in laddermatches and I am now able to play 10-20 a day without problem.
Now Iam playing with music and Iam able to sing the songs loud while Iam playing, before I couldnt stop thinking about the game and about winning and maybe what my friends think when Iam losing all day long and stuff.
5mins into the game I feel more often then not like Iam in the zone. I knew how it felt to be in the zone from counter strike, soccer, basketball or simply everything I had done to this point but I never was in the zone in starcraft2 before.
I simply dont make the mistakes I was doing before. I always knew the rules of the game, like never get supplyblocked or build workers all the time but I wasnt able to do it ingame... now I am and it feels great to play this wonderfull game!
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thanks for the wise words
on a side note where can i find that unit tester you mention?
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Sometimes it's ok to rage,
literally 10 minutes ago i played a mtahc agianst a terran player and we traded bases, I had a larger force and i knew i could win, I a-moved my army to were his main force was and while i was focussing on taking out his island expo i didn't notice my army split into "3" not 2, 3 smaller groups and were picked off by my opponent. How would you feel in this situation?
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thats very good, I need to work on not caring about my ranking and winrate. When im doing well, the next session I dont play a lot because im scared of losing points
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Awesome post. 
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Great post, well thought out and totally true!
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Dude *awesome* post. Some of the really made me reflect on how I approach the game. I'm one of those many people who often end up finding the game more frustrating then fun, and never really improving. It's why I ended up treating broodwar as a spectator sport. I loved watching it, but playing it was an ordeal.
This needs to be front paged.
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What a good post. I'm pleased to say over the past few months this is how I've learned to approach quake and it's really been improving my game.
9. ***LACK OF AWARENESS OF BIOLOGICAL NEEDS
This isn't something to strive for, more of a side-effect of being in flow.
I think you've misinterpreted this. Don't play when you're hungry or need to clear your bodily wastes, basically.
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Really nice post, I like a lot of the things written here, even from a philosophical view point, its good to apply to any activity. I hope you write more in the future!
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Nice read and great observations especially as they apply to taking an activity very seriously.
Here's to a quality post! 
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I love the lengths people go to explain how to improve/enjoy at Starcraft. I'll never understand it.
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I know this sensation, I never really knew there was a psychological name or explanation for it (I've heard the term "flow", but always thought it was just a saying) Thank you OP.
When I'm playing late into the night, my mind isn't dabbling onto other things at all. Just me and the game. My focus is 100% on the game, and I feel really optimistic about the game even if the game in no way at all has a clear winner yet. Then after I'm done playing, my mind won't stop thinking about the game, and I sort of 'act' like I'm playing starcraft, trying to do everything as efficiently as possibile, just stupid little things like throwing something away while simultaneously grabbing something off my desk in a pretty rapid fashion.
In contrast, I have games where I'm very focused on the real world, and I make huge stupid mistakes ;(
Anyways, I'm no psychologist, but I feel like trying too hard to get into your flow will actually be counter-productive. That's mostly just talking out of my ass but that's what I feel would happen to me personally.
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This post reminds me of a Michael Jordan quote:
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
-Michael Jordan
Why I think win/lose is a crap shoot. Have fun either way, your loses are the games you learn the most from and are what will get you farther.
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I'm glad some of you enjoyed it, and thanks for saying so.
Also, I caught the jokes about this post on the TL attack cast today, so I've got that going for me.
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excellent read
id like to add, before every game, i do 10 push ups. this isnt because "i want to get muscle while playing starcraft man", its because it makes me feel good. when i am just reading the forums, and feel like playing ladder i wont feel very up, but you know just doing 10 quick push ups for about 10 seconds, it gets my heart beating and i feel great
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On August 08 2010 06:29 bendez wrote:
Or play terran.
Nice.
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Amazing post. Flow kicks ass!!
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Liquid`Tyler wrote:
I think Liquid needs to hire this guy. E-sports psychologist!
This basicly applies for all sports, not just e-sports. Still, awesome post! (I believe i've seen it somewhere before tho in some science magazine)
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On August 08 2010 06:34 chekthehek wrote:
excellent read
id like to add, before every game, i do 10 push ups. this isnt because "i want to get muscle while playing starcraft man", its because it makes me feel good. when i am just reading the forums, and feel like playing ladder i wont feel very up, but you know just doing 10 quick push ups for about 10 seconds, it gets my heart beating and i feel great
As long as I'm being the e-sports psychologist, exercise is a great way to improve concentration and ability to focus. Many top chess players have rigorous exercise routines for that reason. So that's part of why you feel great after those quick pushups.
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I agree this was a good post, but there is just one problem. I think on some level and with varying degrees of intellectual depth, we understand these concepts and guidelines and know that optimally, we shouldn't play for the win, and we should just strive to improve. The problem is not acknowledging, but traslating the knowledge into a positive mental state. That's where I fail anyways.
I completely agree with all points, but I still rage after losses and get extremely frustrated. My worst habits from poker have carried over; I go on 'tilt'! After 2 or 3 losses, I will start playing progressively worse, my game degenerating into all-ins and just stupid plays to get that fast victory that I crave. It's just like going all-in pre-flop in poker cause you're frustrated! Here, it's just my ego taking over and telling me that I should win and that everything is just stupid...
But yea, you have some good points, but I don't think it will help players like me unfortunately. Anyone else who can relate to what I say?
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On August 08 2010 06:49 Jenslyn87 wrote:+ Show Spoiler +I agree this was a good post, but there is just one problem. I think on some level and with varying degrees of intellectual depth, we understand these concepts and guidelines and know that optimally, we shouldn't play for the win, and we should just strive to improve. The problem is not acknowledging, but traslating the knowledge into a positive mental state. That's where I fail anyways.
I completely agree with all points, but I still rage after losses and get extremely frustrated. My worst habits from poker have carried over; I go on 'tilt'! After 2 or 3 losses, I will start playing progressively worse, my game degenerating into all-ins and just stupid plays to get that fast victory that I crave. It's just like going all-in pre-flop in poker cause you're frustrated! Here, it's just my ego taking over and telling me that I should win and that everything is just stupid...
But yea, you have some good points, but I don't think it will help players like me unfortunately. Anyone else who can relate to what I say?
That's kind of how I am with poker. I know to play the odds, I know I can't control anything beyond that, but I still get pissed when I take a bad beat. It doesn't help that money's involved.
Sometimes I can control that, sometimes I can't. I try to at least keep in mind how much better things are when I can, though.
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On August 08 2010 05:09 UniversalSnip wrote:Show nested quote +9. ***LACK OF AWARENESS OF BIOLOGICAL NEEDS
This isn't something to strive for, more of a side-effect of being in flow. I think you've misinterpreted this. Don't play when you're hungry or need to clear your bodily wastes, basically.
I'm pretty sure you misinterpreted it. I definitely don't eat as much or get tired as early when I play lots of video games, or when I'm working really hard on HW or a project or something (assuming I am into it and not hating it).
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Great post!:D
On August 08 2010 02:42 Loranga wrote:
Or: 1. Stop taking video games seriously and play for fun (which it's supposed to be).
For a lot of people the best part about starcraft 2 is the ranking, improving yourself, wanting to know everything about the game, if you think its fun to play in the bronze league for ever, go ahead.
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On August 08 2010 06:38 retro-noob wrote:Nice.
:[
terran is the new protoss
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On August 08 2010 07:23 ZaaaaaM wrote:Great post!:D Show nested quote +On August 08 2010 02:42 Loranga wrote:
Or: 1. Stop taking video games seriously and play for fun (which it's supposed to be). For a lot of people the best part about starcraft 2 is the ranking, improving yourself, wanting to know everything about the game, if you think its fun to play in the bronze league for ever, go ahead.
I hear this a lot, but if you look at pros they didn't just suddenly appear. They didn't go from bronze to pro in 6 months, it took years of practice and they still practice and play hard. Being the best isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. There's no reason to rush it, and every reason to have fun getting there.
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On August 08 2010 07:23 ZaaaaaM wrote:Great post!:D Show nested quote +On August 08 2010 02:42 Loranga wrote:
Or: 1. Stop taking video games seriously and play for fun (which it's supposed to be). For a lot of people the best part about starcraft 2 is the ranking, improving yourself, wanting to know everything about the game, if you think its fun to play in the bronze league for ever, go ahead.
I agree with you, but I do see his points. For a lot of us (actually the HUGE majority), SC is never going to be anything but a hobby to have fun with. From that perspective, you really shouldn't be too concerned with score/league/ranking... but you are ;-)
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On August 08 2010 03:03 Liquid`Tyler wrote:
I think Liquid needs to hire this guy. E-sports psychologist!
Liquid'Psycho!
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i disagree
the best part about playing sc is winning and the way to measure winning is going up ranks. i can't change that if i wanted too, i enjoy winning too much :s.
i can't find a way to make me focus on something other then winning, and if i were to focus on other stuff starcraft wouldn't be as fun
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and my friends didnt believe me when i said that i could get "in the zone" a state of perfect micro, macro a magical time of relaxed stress, where everything is perfect.
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On August 08 2010 06:29 bendez wrote:
Or play terran.
Fuck, you beat me to it. I was going to say:
How to get more fun (and less rage) out of SC2: switch to Terran.
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This is a fantastic post, and by the looks of it, from a relatively new member. Good read.
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Nice post, enjoyable read.
Flow - bit of a cheesy name though?
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But Blizzard has been telling me for years that I need more rage.
Speaking of clocks is there a clock you can turn on in SC2. I'm used to this from other RTS games and its pretty important, I'll have to go buy one I can put next to my computer if there isn't one.
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Awesome post man. Really touches on a lot of stuff that we already know just being starcraft players but its very nice reading it in a clear and organized post. +1
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Wonderful post. I've had this experience a few times with BroodWar, and it's really amazing.
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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.
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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"
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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.
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This explain all about Idra?
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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flow
ugh i hate that insurance bitch, i hope i never get flow.
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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.
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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
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OP gets it. He would do well in poker.
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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.
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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
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Netherlands19135 Posts
Really enjoyed this, thank you very much for the read!
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Very useful read idd. and i lol'd at LACK OF AWARENESS OF BIOLOGICAL NEEDS
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On August 08 2010 20:27 Nyovne wrote:
Really enjoyed this, thank you very much for the read!
So that means you'll stop rushing me with your gay 6 rax? :p
Nice read though! Props to OP <3
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Excellent post - and I like the graph a few posts down.
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Great post!
When I play I focus sometimes so much on winning that I get nervous, angry, etc and it makes me hate 1v1. This post has made me see the light. thank you <3
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I had this stage (Or something that felt similar to it) in my prime Wc3 time when I played my absolute best. Its goddamn wonderful when you feel you have 100 % control of everything.
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So, yet another gamer gets all excited about Level1 Psychology. Welcome aboard.
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On August 08 2010 09:15 Full wrote:
Nice post, enjoyable read.
Flow - bit of a cheesy name though?
Yeah, it's goofy.
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On August 08 2010 09:16 Grond wrote:
But Blizzard has been telling me for years that I need more rage.
Hahaha, nice one (yes, I've been playing one for years too)
Very good read, and true stuff.
Also about flow it's something I've experiencing a lot when I was playing CS and DotA, I was in this state more often than not, and it feels wonderful.
However in SC2, it's really far from being the case lol, and when I finish a game while playing in such state I'm like "wow, how did I pull this off".
I guess that's a state you encounter in the majority of your games when you start reaching a pro level, or at least in games involving something not random ones.
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Love this post, really makes me want to set non-game winning goals for games, I think it'll help me a out a lot right now...
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A+ post for sure, reminded me a lot of my last psychology class on human development. Cheers  .
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so flow is just a renaming of the adrenaline response?
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On August 13 2010 02:21 kalendae wrote:
so flow is just a renaming of the adrenaline response?
No, but adrenaline does stimulate some of the same parts of the brain (indirectly) that are involved in experiences of flow. So there may be some overlap, some times you get both or some characteristics shared, but adrenaline alone is by no means sufficient for getting the psychological effect described by flow.
Otherwise, we'd feel like we're in flow whenever we were scared or anxious or angry, but those states are closer to opposites of flow. Conversely, we'd never be able to sustain flow for hours on end or in mundane situations if it relied on adrenaline, but people do it all the time.
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Awesome OP Really interesting read, something I will try out.
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I suppose this is an okay intro to being in the zone for people who don't know much about it, but the op lacks depth and does not seem to understand the subject much past bullet points.
First, flow is different from other states of meditation which do provide joy. Finding flow p32, "When we are in flow, we are not happy, because to experience happiness we must focus on our inner states, and that would take away attention form the task at hand". Having fun and less rage would have much more to do with the mindset one brings to the game.
Also take point #6 which is balance between ability level and challenge level. Note the sources wikipedia cites for these steps, date 1975/1993. I suspect Csíkszentmihály has made some changes since then. Do an image search for "flow channel", which seems to be what he means by point 6. But how does the flow channel chart reconcile with the chart on page 1 and the Wikipedia entry? Is flow possible as low skill and low challenge or is that just apathy? Perhaps lower states of flow are possible at lower levels. I suspect the recommendation, if one can manage it, would be to involve oneself with high challenges not a balance, though that might mean anxiety/arousal.
In any case, as typical with states of altered consciousness understanding is hardly in the stated knowledge and more in the practice and experience.
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On August 13 2010 03:35 Knickknack wrote:
I suppose this is an okay intro to being in the zone for people who don't know much about it, but the op lacks depth and does not seem to understand the subject much past bullet points.
I don't want to get into an argument about psychology minutia here, but I'll respond to these points because I don't appreciate the accusation that I am lacking in understanding and depth, especially because I don't think your points show my post to be lacking in either.
First, flow is different from other states of meditation which do provide joy. Finding flow p32, "When we are in flow, we are not happy, because to experience happiness we must focus on our inner states, and that would take away attention form the task at hand". Having fun and less rage would have much more to do with the mindset one brings to the game.
You're conflating a more technical definition of happiness with the common, colloquial one. Your quotation is about a more narrow, technical definition of happiness as a subjective sense of well-being. Due to the nature of flow, one will not be focused on assessing one's well-being in a state of flow. So you're not "happy" but you may very well be feeling awesome.
It's important not to confuse this more technical meaning with the common one. Flow is almost universally reported as a positive experience. Technically, that experience might not BE happiness, but because this is a Starcraft website, the colloquial use of the world probably covers it.
That being said, regular experiences of flow HAVE been shown to make people happier overall in multiple studies by people in the field of positive psychology (such as Lyubomirsky, Seligman, Fordyce, and others).
In fact, here's Csikszmentmihalyi himself in 2004 giving a talk in which he extensively talks about flow and happiness, even using words like ecstasy, joy, fulfillment etc.-- http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html.
Also take point #6 which is balance between ability level and challenge level. The references on Wikipedia point to works of 1993/1975.
Do an image search for "flow channel". That is what this point is referring to. As consistent with my experience, Csíkszentmihályi seems to have changed this. See the imagine on the first page of this tread or the Wikipedia entry. There is no more flow channel, and note how balance between low skill level and low challenge becomes recognized as apathy. However, Csíkszentmihály suggests that perhaps lower states of flow are avxailable at lower skill levels. Thus the recommendation becomes to involve yourself with high challenges, and remain in anxiety->arousal->flow if you can manage it.
You're misunderstanding this point, I think. The amount of challenge and the amount of skill are both determined subjectively. That is to say, whatever you think is easy is low challenge, and whatever you think is a simple skill counts as low skill. Whatever you think is hard, whatever you think is a difficult skill, that's what counts for placing an experience on that graph.
So I wrote about people trying to get better at the game (meaning that for them, the challenge is going to be relatively high, at least in the top-right quadrant). The typical problem for an SCII player is that the amount of challenge becomes higher than the amount of skill. That's where people get anxious or worried (and enraged as a result).
My recommendation is that people pick challenges that they think are just the right difficulty for them right now. Usually, that means backing up (to get out of the worry and anxiety zone), and then making progress through baby-steps.
You say the recommendation is to involve yourself in high challenges, but that's incomplete. The recommendation is to involve yourself in a level of challenge that gets you into a positive experience (relaxation, control, flow, and maybe arousal). If you involve yourself in a level of challenge that is much higher than your skills, you will not experience anything positive at all.
So as I said in the OP, you ought to match your skill to the challenge that you pick (and it was clearly implied in the OP that I'm not talking about someone who would pick something easy that takes no skill--that's boring and rarely if ever an issue for members of TL).
If you do a reasonably good job of balancing the skill with the challenge, you should at least land in some kind of positive experience.
In any case, as typical with states of altered consciousness understanding is hardly in the stated knowledge and more in the practice and experience.
And how does one practice it? How do you learn to get to those experiences?
Through stated knowledge. Flow (and the neighboring positive states) has been proven to be teachable and coachable based on a knowledge of the conditions that get you there. Furthermore, many people have already told me that they've benefited from this post immediately, after simply reading this and applying it to their SCII time that same day. So it appears that they gained an understanding of this state of consciousness by first reading about it here and only then going out and experiencing it.
Anyway, I hope that helps others who come across this thread better understand this subject if they're interested, and I think I've shown to my satisfaction both in the OP and here that my understanding goes beyond bullet points and can be at least trusted enough for the purposes of playing Starcraft.
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Much wisdom here.. it applies to life also
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Day9 describes the ultimate flow in his "My Life of Starcraft" daily. You'll usually don't get there when you're sitting alone in your room, playing "just another ladder match", but when competing in tournaments such as he did, you'll have hormones level up in the sky. Your focus will be entirely on the game and you'll eventually just "become one with Starcraft".
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I appreciate your detailed response.
1. When clicking on this thread I did not expect to find an overview of flow. While the flow state can be seen as finding a way to finding SC fun and having less rage...how often do you think people are going to be able to achieve a flow state and thus be more happy and rage less due to that? Overall, more ordinary things such as trying to moderating mindset toward the game are easier to realize and probably would make more difference to these factors. Also details such as the flow state itself not being merriment/playfulness/enjoyment/etc bear mentioning.
2. This will take a long time to unpack. I wrote about Csikszentmihalyi's work, the flow state, and point 6 specifically.
As I said, with that bullet point, you were regarding the flow channel chart. Basically the point is stating a necessary but not sufficient condition for flow. Other lists have left it off but put similarly "Knowing the activity is doable - that the skills are adequate". My recommendation was made in regard to having the fastest progression in order to be involved in states of higher complexity.
Here are some quotes:
Finding flow p30, "Flow tends to occur when a person's skills are fully involved in overcoming a challenge that is just about manageable."
p32, "[arousal] is not a bad position to be in; in arousal a person feels mentally focused, active, and involved--but not very strong, cheerful, or in control. How can one return to the more enjoyable flow state? ... By learning
new skills. [Control] is also a positive state of experience, where one feels happy, strong, satisfied. But one tends to lack concentration, involvement, and a feeling that what one does is important. ... Thus arousal and control are very important states for learning."
1993/1975 are the dates that Wikipedia notes for those 10 steps.
1991 in "Flow: the psychology of optimal experience" the flow channel chart is used, but not the other one.
1998, "Finding flow: the psychology of engagement with everyday life" the flow channel chart is not used, but rather the other one.
The point being that Csikszentmihalyi has been exploring flow for a long time, and it seems he has changed some of his views, and changed charts. The newer chart is more complex and a better depiction.
In the flow channel chart, it looks as if one can be at low-low and be in flow. On the newer chart, low-low puts one in apathy. This is congruent with my experience, but as I suggested, flow is not a all or nothing state, and at lower
complexity perhaps lower/different states are available. Such as one gardening and having a flow state, although it rarely occurs in passive
leisure actives. Something Csikszentmihalyi said in a talk which seems plausible is that our nervous system can only process so much data. In
flow, people don't have enough attention left over to monitor certain aspects. If one is low-skill low-challenge it makes sense that they will have lots of data path left over, which is an absence which can mean apathy.
p32 Finding Flow, Csikszentmihalyi alludes to the primary purpose of the original flow channel graph, "The graph can also be read to indicate why flow leads to personal growth". In a perfect world one could be in the flow state all the time for a game, but in reality one often goes to the sides, so improving they reach back to flow. He was not saying make sure to have the necessary condition of knowing you can do the activity you are doing adaquately. The flow state is some to do with perception, some do with reality, the other factors. A bullet point, a chart, and some words don't exactly capture it.
3. It is certainly a weakness of Csikszentmihalyi work that he deals mostly with the conditions of flow and does not give much practical advice.My relationship with flow has been one of spontaneity in sports in which I had a good degree of technical ability. It comes rarely, it goes, but can it be caught?
First piece of advice would be to read everything you can which should give you ideas. To start I'd suggest Josh Waitzkin's book the art of learning. Second, begin a meditation practice. For instance this article shows a practice, and some steps to start:
http://www.seishindo.org/articles/mushin_in_aikido_philosophy.html
Much more than that, I can not say.
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1. Intense experiences of flow are relatively rare and spontaneous. But in striving for flow, you can have mild experiences of flow (these are highly accessible) or intense versions of the other, neighboring positive states like arousal, control, and relaxation. I addressed your point about the nature of flow as relates to enjoyment, etc.--I think that's an okay way to describe flow.
2. I feel like I already addressed this point. Matching your skill level to the challenge will always put you into the flow area of the new chart assuming that what you are doing is at least somewhat challenging to you. The center point of the chart is your set point. If you are off a little, you're likely to venture into one of the other desirable states.
On the other hand, if the challenge is far too high, you will not have a positive experience.
Regardless, it's an interesting subject. I'm glad you find it interesting as well.
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great contribution to the community. I myself and i'm sure alot of others will find this helpful, not just in starcraft but other aspects in life.
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I'm going to bookmark this and reference it every now. During ladder matches, I often times get so worked up into winning, that I lose sight of my goals while my heart flutters during match-ups. It's just silly. Win/ratio shouldn't mean anything; it's your experience and transitioning into a better gamer that matters most.
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What an amazing OP, i already wrote some goals now and this is definitely going to help me rage less and play more, and have way more fun. I always had this approach when i played\trained for other things(sports) but up until know have avoided it when it came to SC2 for some weird reason.
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Wow so much insight in this one post. Thank you so much op.
I definitely had those "in the zone" moments while i was playing counterstrike a few years ago and it felt just great. I played for hours and hours and there was only me and the game. If i remember correct i sadly never achieved this state in a clanwar. Maybe because 4 other guys were screaming in battlecom ^^
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Very nice read. Thanks retro-noob.
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This is a lot of help. I've had some freaky psychological thing the last few weeks where I can't bring myself to play more than one 1v1 in a day. After reading this I feel like I can go mass game on the ladder without much worry. Thanks a lot.
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Good timing for me. I've felt some anxiety while laddering after I lost my first match, but I pushed forward and my most recent game I felt the flow. I'll be reading this from time to time. Thanks!
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Reminds me of Stoicism... focus on the things you can control.
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On August 15 2010 06:02 snuze wrote:
Reminds me of Stoicism... focus on the things you can control.
That's a great distillation of the best parts of stoicism in my opinion.
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bump
On August 15 2010 06:02 snuze wrote:
Reminds me of Stoicism... focus on the things you can control.
Accept the things you cannot control and find the courage to change the things you can!
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some useful advice here, thanks for sharing
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You're welcome, and thanks to everyone else who's saying nice things too.
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On August 08 2010 02:43 Jyvblamo wrote:Unfortunately, I'm usually sitting in the anxiety corner =P
Very interesting... Usually these charts you find online are just jokes, but this is actually cool to study
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On August 18 2010 08:41 Wolfpox wrote:
Very interesting... Usually these charts you find online are just jokes, but this is actually cool to study
It's quite accurate!
Yes, when I first got to diamond (platinum) by steamrolling 5 bronze players in beta I felt very anxious because my skill was low.. so it wasn't very fun at all. Now when I got to diamond in retail it's more of an arousal = a bit stressing but not in the negative way
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On August 09 2010 05:05 LittleeD wrote:
I had this stage (Or something that felt similar to it) in my prime Wc3 time when I played my absolute best. Its goddamn wonderful when you feel you have 100 % control of everything.
Had the same when I played Tribes 2 competitively and after almost 5 years of playing, knowing pretty much the entire game inside out, winning tournaments all over Europe, one day, one particular ladder match, I felt then I was in complete and total control of everything. And played the best match I've ever had. Lucky I even had a replay of it! Splendid feeling.
Great post.
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I also bookmarked this. Good read when you feel really down after a losing streak..
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This is a must read. Are there any other threads like this, that deal with mentality? There was one about Sun-Tzu, but that one was kind of obvious.
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haha; applying motivational psychology? ^^'
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Between this and the MULE dance dance dance video I can usually turn around any losing streak.
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i've always intuitively known this but it's nice to see it laid out in a well organised post like this. thanks TS
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This thread is absolutely great. I recently changed my mindset while gaming away from winning and more towards improving in set goals during games and outside of games. One thing I can say is that the game becomes so much more fun. I believe that if you can control all these parts of your psyche you will be a great gamer with some solid training.
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Good post.
I just wished it was visually edited a bit better.
Perhaps like this:
+ Show Spoiler +Have you ever been focused on something with such intensity and fun that you lose track of time, forget that you're hungry, and find yourself completely lost in what you're doing?(EDIT: That describes one end of the spectrum of these kind of experiences. These same principles also apply to having more normal experiences of fun and enjoyment from something challenging.) In extreme cases, everything becomes clear, and your actions seem effortless, automatic, and highly precise and efficient--things can even seem to slow down. We call the more intense instances being "in the zone," "locked in," "unconscious," or "on fire." Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi named it flow. It is among the best experiences we can have as human beings. More often, we just call it having fun.
That feeling is the reason we play Starcraft. We are chasing those kinds of experiences, and this game is one of the best, most reliable ways to get to it if you approach it the right way. I'm going to break down the ten factors that accompany these experiences of flow and show how they each relate to playing SC2.The factors are: - Clear goals
- Concentration
- A loss of feelings of self-consciousness
- Loss of a sense of time
- Direct and immediate feedback
- Balance between ability level and challenge
- A sense of control over the activity
- The activity is intrinsically rewarding
- Lack of awareness of your biological needs
- Your entire awareness becomes focused on the activity itself
1. CLEAR GOALSWHAT NOT TO DO:
Don't make winning your only goal. That's because you can't always control whether or not you win, you can't always get direct and immediate feedback on whether or not you are going to win, you'll probably NOT win at least 30% of the time, it isn't intrinsically rewarding (in the sense meant above), and the very idea of winning involves your ego massively--not good for losing those feelings of self-consciousness.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Focus on executing your build order. Focus on having a plan in advance for tactics and strategy. Have an idea for your early, mid, and late game. Pick some other things to accomplish each game (upgrades, expansions, scouting, harassment, micro, macro, building placement, etc.).
Make those kinds of things your primary focus before, during, and immediately after the game. Let winning and losing roll off your back completely, make them unimportant side-effects of all of these other goals--be zen-like about it.
Have these goals clearly laid out. Write them down. Don't change them too much until you've mastered what you were working on.
2. CONCENTRATIONWHAT NOT TO DO:
Don't let yourself have too many distractions (obviously). Whether that applies to your music, your viewers, your friends, your chatting, or things in the game other than your goals (you get caught up in micro when you intended to work on macro). Don't focus on winning because that's always going to be a distraction from your real goals.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Get laser focused on your goals. Have the plan in your mind. Go over that plan constantly. Be looking for the cues and information that apply to what you're trying to do. Day[9]'s mantra of "workers, supply, money" is a good example of this.
3. LOSS OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESSWHAT NOT TO DO:
Don't rage. Don't focus on winning. Don't flame. Don't respond to flaming. Don't get caught up in your short-comings as a player.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Be polite. Try not to let flaming or opponent rage impact you too much. Pay attention ONLY to the things on your list of goals for the game--if you suck at micro and are painfully aware of it but that's not the thing you're trying to work on, then decide in advance not to sweat micro in the slightest.
4. DISTORTED SENSE OF TIMEWHAT NOT TO DO:
Continue glancing at the clock while playing. Listen to short music tracks that break up your experience into 3-minute chunks. Get bogged down in build-order timings that you aren't super-familiar with.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Make your basic timings one of the first things you work on, so you don't have to focus on that any more. Learn it stone-cold. As more sophisticated timings become relevant to your game, roll back your expectations on other areas so you can focus on those, master them, and move on.
5. DIRECT AND IMMEDIATE FEEDBACKWHAT NOT TO DO:
Decide to practice sentry force-field micro by playing in ladder games. Never watch your replays.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Pick the right approach to working towards a given goal. If you want to practice with force-fields, open the unit tester. Find a map designed for force-field micro practice. Have your practice partner mass zerglings while you mass sentries and then see how long you can prevent him from getting into your base.
Or for a different example, if you really want to practice combating mech in your ZvT, don't hop on the ladder where you may go 8 games in a row without playing against a Terran only for him to do a bio-build. A practice partner or a special map would be the way to go there as well.
Also, it's hard to get direct feedback when you're not sure how you failed to reach your goal. Check out the replay when there's missing info that you need in order to improve.
6. BALANCE BETWEEN ABILITY LEVEL AND CHALLENGE LEVELWHAT NOT TO DO:
Don't build 5 bases if you have no prayer of managing 5 bases. On the other side, don't just do your cheesy all-in rush that you could do in your sleep every game without any other objective in mind to challenge you.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Take baby steps. If you aren't good at macro, focus on successfully spending all your money off of two bases. Maybe build 5 bases, but instead of trying to manage them effectively, see how quickly you can get 200 workers on the field. Or try to spend 5 bases worth of income with no regard whatsoever for whether that money is spent well. Build 30 command centers if you need to. Again, whatever you're working on, take baby steps.
7. A SENSE OF CONTROL OVER THE ACTIVITYWHAT NOT TO DO:
Don't play like your hair is on fire, giving yourself more things to manage and focus on than you can possibly feel like you have a sense of control over.
Also, don't be frantically mapping control group hotkeys without some kind of plan. Don't rely on the tooltips to give you the keyboard shortcuts for building a certain unit or getting a certain upgrade.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Limit the amount of stuff you have to attend to until you are very comfortable, then move up slowly. Have a solid plan for how you want your mechanics to go. Focus on learning hot keys, get comfortable managing control groups, etc..
This might be one of the most important things to do for a new player. If you aren't comfortable with controlling the game, you will have trouble doing anything else on this list of things associated with flow. You'll be self-conscious, it'll feel too difficult, you'll be distracted often, etc..
8. THE ACTIVITY IS INTRINSICALLY REWARDINGWHAT NOT TO DO:
Focus on winning. Focus on your ranking. Focus on your win record. Focus on showing up a bad mannered jerk.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
Play because you enjoy the sense that you're getting better. Play because you like reaching those little goals mentioned above.
9. LACK OF AWARENESS OF BIOLOGICAL NEEDSThis isn't something to strive for, more of a side-effect of being in flow.
10. YOUR ENTIRE AWARENESS BECOMES FOCUSED ON THE ACTIVITY ITSELFAgain, this is more of a natural product of all of the other things being put into practice. If you have clear, specific goals, and you put yourself in a position where you're focused on that and getting immediate feedback, you have a great chance of getting this effect from time to time.
The key here is the purity and intensity of the other factors. If you are really locked-in because you have a handful of these factors down pat, you're likely to get to this place.
~~CONCLUSION~~Even if it's subconscious or they don't think in these terms, flow is often the secret sauce behind the performance of the top gamers, top athletes, top musicians, and artists in the world. It's why they can work for hours and hours on end with minimal fatigue or boredom. It's why they can remain passionate about something even after decades spent on mastery. In fact, when it comes to Starcraft 2, you'll find a lot of these principles at work in the wisdom of everybody's favorite nerd, Day[9], and his approach to the game. If you pay attention to his advice, it's often about breaking things down into clear goals, taking baby steps, concentrating on specific things, being willing to let go of winning in order to work on new aspects of your game, and so on. Furthermore, if you watch Daily #100, you can hear him talk about these sorts of moments and experiences throughout his career as a player in many of the same terms I've used here (loss of self-consciousness, total absorption in the task, feelings of control, his skill and the challenge at hand being perfectly matched). You don't have to do ALL of these things to experience flow, even a handful can get you there. This approach to the game can help new players and pros alike.
By moving more towards these approaches to Starcraft 2, you are likely to have more fun, rage less, and actually get better at the game faster.
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Very good points. Out of all the real-life friends that I have on my SC2 friend's list, I'm the only player in Diamond. After seeing that, they see me as a pro and expects me to win a lot of games.
I let that got to my head so I would be striving to win every time to keep up my image, and I raged a few times when I lost some games. However, I had an epiphany yesterday - I shouldn't worry about win/loss. It's dumb to judge people like that, but we still do it subconsciously - it's like judging people on what they wear without getting to know them first.
Sure, the friends will criticize, and perhaps doubt that I'm not as good as they imagine, but screw them - at least I'm learning. Even if I'm dropping games now I feel that it's just going to be temporary. I treat it as an investment - an investment towards the future, since I'll be learning the timings and getting a sense of how the game is going to flow so I'll be able to apply the knowledge to future games and win (hopefully).
I did just that yesterday. I was learning how to play Zerg and I decided to give ladder a try. I was paired up with another Zerg, and I had never ZvZ before. I scouted a fast pool (probably on 13), but I still laid my pool down after my extractor because I want to see how many drones I can get away making and still be able to defend it. I got out a queen and two zerglings and took my natural. Shortly after that, his zerglings came marching into my base (I had to cancel my expansion, I think he had around six or eight). I used my queen and two lings, as well as the rest of my drones to defend, and I managed to hold him off! Even though I ended up losing that game, it felt extremely rewarding since I did not over-commit to get up a fast defense. I took a look at the replay, and we were neck to neck the entire game when I felt that I was extremely behind - my drone count outnumbered his by three (I had ninety-one and he had eighty-eighty), and the only reason why he was able to win the game was because he had mutas while I only had roaches, zerglings and banelings. It's a lesson towards the future that I'll need to scout with an overlord or overseer
I had fun, and I look forward to playing when I get home tonight!
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Wow, thanks for that post. It's not often I read an entire "How to" Post, especially one that detailed but i really enjoyed. My #1 issue in SC right now is being so caught up in my W/L and league rankings. I guess I just have to get into the "flow".
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Very nice post.
Over the long weekend I played a bit of SC2 (finally got my fifty wins as Terran achievement. yeah, I'm awesome , watched Mad Men and practiced the piano. While Mad Men is pretty cool, it has nothing to do with this post.
As I practiced a Bach Invention, it occurred to me that playing the piano as a hobby is actually alot like playing Starcraft for me. I'm not going to be a concert pianist, and I'm not going to be a pro Starcraft player. Heck, I'll be lucky to ever make diamond, frankly. But I've found that I get intense enjoyment out of both activities if I'm in the right mindset while doing it. If I play Starcraft to enjoy the feeling of seeing my APM rise naturally, of making smoother opening builds, of transitioning better, of scouting and reacting to the information I gain better, and in micro-ing better, then I enjoy the game whether I win or lose.
Likewise if I play the piano to appreciate the genius of the composer and my own patience in training my fingers to pick out difficult passages, then I don't need to have anyone tell me I'm good.
The OP makes interesting points about practicing as well. If you try to sit down and play a piece of even moderate difficulty that you've never seen before straight through, you might be able to make it sound alright if you're a very good sight-reader, but you'll never really make it sing. However, if you break it down measure by measure and phrase by phrase,concentrating first on fingerings, then on rhythm, then on speed, and so on, it will quickly come together and you'll play it like you were born knowing it. Just as you'd never practice playing the whole piece until the very end of your time with it, playing solely to win at Starcraft only leads to disappointment.
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nah i disagree
just have fun with sc2 your way
if you like winning , try to win
if you like playing 3v3 and massing void rays do that.. whatever
obviously if you become frustrated with the game change how youre playing
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Thanks for the post. Things I took from it:
#1 thing - most important - Don't focus on winning. Focus on the process.
and, Your skill ceiling will become larger if you intrinsically like performing the act itself; not what the act results in.
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very very nice post. this is basically how to play
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Great post, it's important to get your behaviour and mentality right because if you get it wrong, the game cannot be rewarding for you.
Winning is just an after-effect of achieving your smaller goals.
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United States7481 Posts
fantastic post, I think it explains why i was so eager to play when I first got the game and was palpably improving every game, and now play less often because i have too much focus on winning.
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Man this post is so freaking good and I just now discovered it. I'm bumping this because it showed up on reddit today and since the last post was in September perhaps it's worth a revisit and I'm sure many others haven't yet come across it.
Articulating 'the zone' is very difficult. Bravo.
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I can't believe I missed this the first time around...excellent post sir^^
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Awesome post, thanks alot for brining it up again. Way to much wisdom to get lost in the dusty archives.
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An example of that rare thing: A good thread necro. Glad I read it: I know a lot of that stuff, but not in the detail you describe, and it's always good to be reminded of these things.
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I haven't seen this thread before and I think it's great, I do get frustrated and I suffer pretty much from everything that you shouldn't do, I guess. I get a lot of satisfaction from having a build and it all going according to plan, but there are a lot of situations where I think it's all fine and then I lose and there's no consoling me. It's never enjoyable to lose so I don't really know how you can turn that situation into fun.
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great post, thumbs up to the OP.
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Thank you for writing such a wonderful post. Much appreciated
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thank you for necroing this thread, didnt see it before, definately worth the read.
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amazing read. Thank you for taking the time to write this post up to help us, gamers. Will definitely be trying to apply this to my play.
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Fucking awesome post dude, serious. As a student of psychology myself I've been itching to provide this kind of information for quite some time. Now that you've gotten the ball rolling, I think its time to start generating this kind of content as often as physically possible for the benefit of the SC2 community.
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Well played necro!
Awesome post
#9 is the truest thing ever... I can go hours and hours w/o eating if I'm playing SC2 or guitar.
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wow, thanks for bringing this thread back to life, needed that read!
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wauw thank you dexterique for bumping this one, amazing!
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The one thread I wish I never missed a year ago.
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Great post man, gotta read it often.
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great post, cant believe this is so long ago ; 0
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Thanks for the necro, never saw this, great read :D
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bookmarked, can be extended into other areas of life.
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This is the kind of thing I read and think "I need to be more like this!" then I go play and get 6 pooled when I scout last and stop again lol.
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Great post. I have not been playing to much sc2, i used to be a top 10 masters player but now i dropped down to like 70ish because I just cant bring myself to play. I get bored to fast and your right I do focus on winning or rage when i lose. I will def try some of these things out, now I am going to go shake off a few cobwebs and try this stuff :D great post.
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Love this post (: Great view on it, and I understand the feeling completely, I have only gotten this feeling/state of mind from sc2 once or twice, but I always look forward to it.
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This was worth the time reading. Thank you!
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EPT
