• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 16:20
CET 22:20
KST 06:20
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-1812Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises1Weekly Cups (Dec 15-21): Classic wins big, MaxPax & Clem take weeklies3ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !11Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4
StarCraft 2
General
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Chinese SC2 server to reopen; live all-star event in Hangzhou Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises Starcraft 2 Zerg Coach ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !
Tourneys
OSC Season 13 World Championship $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship $100 Prize Pool - Winter Warp Gate Masters Showdow Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Winter Warp Gate Amateur Showdown #1
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 506 Warp Zone Mutation # 505 Rise From Ashes Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion What monitor do you use for playing Remastered? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ (UMS) SWITCHEROO *New* /Destination Edit/ What are former legends up to these days?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] LB SemiFinals - Saturday 21:00 CET [BSL21] WB & LB Finals - Sunday 21:00 CET Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Mechabellum Beyond All Reason Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread 12 Days of Starcraft Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
National Diversity: A Challe…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Saturation point
Uldridge
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1237 users

Is SC skill natural or trained? - Page 24

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 22 23 24 25 26 30 Next All
writer22816
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States5775 Posts
October 08 2011 02:43 GMT
#461
It's neither. Anyone can be masters in SC2.
8/4/12 never forget, never forgive.
Gurblechev
Profile Joined May 2011
188 Posts
October 08 2011 03:01 GMT
#462
It seems obvious that success at Starcraft is highly influenced by genetics.

A Starcraft match includes essentially a series of reaction time tests. Intelligence is also required to learn strategies and make good decisions in game.

Intelligence and reaction time are highly heritable. Some are born with the potential to play Starcraft at a professional level, and others are not so fortunate.

g and speed of cognitive processing
The consistent relation between shorter reaction times and higher intelligence mainly appeared to reflect genetic effects shared by both measures. Luciano et al studied a wider range of information processing measures such as inspection time, choice reaction time, delayed response speed and accuracy with IQ in a sample of 245 MZ and 298 DZ twin pairs. Their results indicated the presence of a general genetic cognitive factor affecting both IQ and psychophysical phenotypes, as well as additional genetic factors explaining the additional test variance and covariance.

http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v14/n6/full/5201588a.html

Starcraft ability being highly related to intelligence would also help explain Korean dominance at tournaments. East Asians have a higher average IQ than Whites and therefore have a larger pool of potentially great players to develop.
Hodgy
Profile Joined September 2011
United States64 Posts
October 08 2011 03:13 GMT
#463
If you dedicate your life to something, you expect something in return. I guess you could say, this is the return.
"I'm not an asshole, I just don't give a fuck a lot." -Tyler the Creator
CatNzHat
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States1599 Posts
October 08 2011 03:14 GMT
#464
I think that it takes natural talent to be top 10 in the world, but I believe that anyone with an IQ over 90 can easily make it top like top 500 on ladder in their respective region (mb top 1000 on KR).

Experience and training makes up around 95% of sc2, if not more, the rest comes down to how well you can control your own body, how well you function under stress, etc... etc... These can all be augmented through training though.
zmansman17
Profile Joined March 2011
United States2567 Posts
October 08 2011 03:21 GMT
#465
Baby I was

Born this way
♞ - His EKG is flattening get me a defib stat! Prepped and Ready! - ♞
Gurblechev
Profile Joined May 2011
188 Posts
October 08 2011 03:24 GMT
#466
On October 08 2011 12:14 CatNzHat wrote:
I think that it takes natural talent to be top 10 in the world, but I believe that anyone with an IQ over 90 can easily make it top like top 500 on ladder in their respective region (mb top 1000 on KR).

Experience and training makes up around 95% of sc2, if not more, the rest comes down to how well you can control your own body, how well you function under stress, etc... etc... These can all be augmented through training though.

Genetics will be a key factor at every level of play. Someone new to Starcraft but with a high level of intelligence and fast reaction time will get a lot higher on the ladder in 50 games than someone with the same experience level but low intelligence and slow reactions.

I think you are vastly overestimating the importance of experience. People completely new to starcraft often immediately place higher than bronze just due to natural ability while other people spend thousands of games in bronze and will never reach any higher.

Starcraft ladder ranking is likely as highly correlated to intelligence as the SAT or other similar tests of cognitive ability.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
October 08 2011 03:27 GMT
#467
On October 08 2011 12:24 Gurblechev wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 08 2011 12:14 CatNzHat wrote:
I think that it takes natural talent to be top 10 in the world, but I believe that anyone with an IQ over 90 can easily make it top like top 500 on ladder in their respective region (mb top 1000 on KR).

Experience and training makes up around 95% of sc2, if not more, the rest comes down to how well you can control your own body, how well you function under stress, etc... etc... These can all be augmented through training though.

Genetics will be a key factor at every level of play. Someone new to Starcraft but with a high level of intelligence and fast reaction time will get a lot higher on the ladder in 50 games than someone with the same experience level but low intelligence and slow reactions.

I think you are vastly overestimating the importance of experience. People completely new to starcraft often immediately place higher than bronze just due to natural ability while other people spend thousands of games in bronze and will never reach any higher.

Starcraft ladder ranking is likely as highly correlated to intelligence as the SAT or other similar tests of cognitive ability.


If my SAT/GRE scores corresponded to ladder ranking I'd be high masters.

Sadly being able to take tests well doesn't make you better at RTS, playing RTS makes you better at RTS.
sopporku
Profile Joined October 2011
13 Posts
October 08 2011 03:29 GMT
#468
the brain and body interact hugely.

the heart interacts with the brain constantly sending neuropeptides.

its the combination of both that decides how good you can be at something, in conjunction with any mental proclivity towards it genetically.

cheers.
forsooth
Profile Joined February 2011
United States3648 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-08 03:37:40
October 08 2011 03:37 GMT
#469
Whatup wrong thread...
Proof.
Profile Joined August 2011
535 Posts
October 08 2011 03:41 GMT
#470
Intelligence is irrelevant. This game is more about training muscle memory, which takes time. Experience eases this process.

Experience would include other rts games, or just gaming in general. It would also include how much dedication you had towards your past games as well. I.e. if you casually played BW for a month, then it probably didn't contribute anything lasting to your skillset.
All past games you dedicated yourself to provide little advantages over players than haven't had any experience at all. It doesn't even have to be exactly like SC2. For example, I played casual dota 4+ years. I was trained using hotkeys, looking at the minimap to spot enemy heroes, microing the **** out of my heroes (and leaver heroes/duplicate heroes a.k.a meepo), etc. I wasn't pro-level, but I wasn't bad either. Yes sc2 can be a macro oriented game but I came into it with a tiny initial skillset. I just made that skillset better by practicing.
tl;dr: Trained.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how
BeeNu
Profile Joined June 2011
615 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-08 03:46:10
October 08 2011 03:42 GMT
#471
It's partially both I think.

I myself am a very competitive gamer, doesn't matter what game it is or what type of game it is, I want to win when I play. Sure winning isn't everything but when I play games I do it with a very competitive attitude, that competitive attitude is what gives me the motivation to improve, so long as I'm actually playing a game that I find interesting and fun.

So basically, yes I think just about anybody could theoretically get better at this game, there is no reason to think otherwise.
But having the competitive attitude that will drive you to actually take those steps to get better? I think that is something different people are born with.

For the record, I'm masters now and would consider myself "trained", I basically never laddered back in BW and in SC2 worked my way up from Gold. Whether I'm playing a fighting game, an rts game, a shooting game, whatever, I just have most fun when I'm giving it my utmost concentration and figuring out how to get an edge on people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Gurblechev
Profile Joined May 2011
188 Posts
October 08 2011 03:43 GMT
#472
On October 08 2011 12:27 jalstar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 08 2011 12:24 Gurblechev wrote:
On October 08 2011 12:14 CatNzHat wrote:
I think that it takes natural talent to be top 10 in the world, but I believe that anyone with an IQ over 90 can easily make it top like top 500 on ladder in their respective region (mb top 1000 on KR).

Experience and training makes up around 95% of sc2, if not more, the rest comes down to how well you can control your own body, how well you function under stress, etc... etc... These can all be augmented through training though.

Genetics will be a key factor at every level of play. Someone new to Starcraft but with a high level of intelligence and fast reaction time will get a lot higher on the ladder in 50 games than someone with the same experience level but low intelligence and slow reactions.

I think you are vastly overestimating the importance of experience. People completely new to starcraft often immediately place higher than bronze just due to natural ability while other people spend thousands of games in bronze and will never reach any higher.

Starcraft ladder ranking is likely as highly correlated to intelligence as the SAT or other similar tests of cognitive ability.


If my SAT/GRE scores corresponded to ladder ranking I'd be high masters.

Sadly being able to take tests well doesn't make you better at RTS, playing RTS makes you better at RTS.

But being more intelligent makes you better at both.
VPCursed
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
1044 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-08 03:44:43
October 08 2011 03:43 GMT
#473
On October 08 2011 09:35 Figgy wrote:
It's all natural talent.

I got into masters in less than a week of playing, yet I see people on this board saying after months of trying everything and doing everything that they can't break out of Silver league.

No ammount of training will make a cripple an athletic runner, and no aamount of training will make someone who doesn't have natural talent a GSL champion. Training is a part of everything when you want to be the worlds best, but to think someone that isn't the best can make it into the top .001% of players through training alone is ridiculous.

take your natural talent to korea then.
I mean after all, if its all talent.. Foreigners having a larger player pool should do just fine against the koreans.
o wait
Loes
Profile Joined May 2011
Canada115 Posts
October 08 2011 03:46 GMT
#474
On March 21 2011 22:35 Seala wrote:
As a high masters player on a pro team, I think literally anyone can atleast get in to masters, it's all about your mind set and how much work you put in to it.


Which pro team are you part of?
Kairos~
Profile Joined June 2011
Canada129 Posts
October 08 2011 03:51 GMT
#475
On October 08 2011 12:46 Loes wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 21 2011 22:35 Seala wrote:
As a high masters player on a pro team, I think literally anyone can atleast get in to masters, it's all about your mind set and how much work you put in to it.


Which pro team are you part of?

He is on TEAM:Seala.
Huge EG Fan Right Here ^
Xaggah
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada45 Posts
October 08 2011 03:53 GMT
#476
I believe its a combination of developed skill and natural talent. However, I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent being, and its that attribute that helps the most. If a player has (relatively)low apm, but has impeccable decision making, they have potential to be very good at the game.
For The Swarm!!
CeliosB
Profile Joined December 2010
Canada100 Posts
October 08 2011 03:54 GMT
#477
im high diamond/ masters and i think some of it is just naturally being good at strategy but most of it is just playing a lot because you cant just naturally have 200 apm.
"To ze bank" -Stephano
Gurblechev
Profile Joined May 2011
188 Posts
October 08 2011 04:00 GMT
#478
On October 08 2011 12:43 VPCursed wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 08 2011 09:35 Figgy wrote:
It's all natural talent.

I got into masters in less than a week of playing, yet I see people on this board saying after months of trying everything and doing everything that they can't break out of Silver league.

No ammount of training will make a cripple an athletic runner, and no aamount of training will make someone who doesn't have natural talent a GSL champion. Training is a part of everything when you want to be the worlds best, but to think someone that isn't the best can make it into the top .001% of players through training alone is ridiculous.

take your natural talent to korea then.
I mean after all, if its all talent.. Foreigners having a larger player pool should do just fine against the koreans.
o wait

Asians actually have a far larger pool of talent relative to Whites due to their higher average IQ. Far more of them are capable of playing at a professional level.
dhe95
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States1213 Posts
October 08 2011 04:08 GMT
#479
Sports is rarely natural. You must not know how much time every athlete puts in in order to play professionally. Same thing with SC. Skill is all trained. People may have some advantages at the beginning, but their success is never completely due to "natural ability"
Offhand
Profile Joined June 2010
United States1869 Posts
October 08 2011 04:09 GMT
#480
On October 08 2011 12:01 Gurblechev wrote:
It seems obvious that success at Starcraft is highly influenced by genetics.

A Starcraft match includes essentially a series of reaction time tests. Intelligence is also required to learn strategies and make good decisions in game.

Intelligence and reaction time are highly heritable. Some are born with the potential to play Starcraft at a professional level, and others are not so fortunate.

Show nested quote +
g and speed of cognitive processing
The consistent relation between shorter reaction times and higher intelligence mainly appeared to reflect genetic effects shared by both measures. Luciano et al studied a wider range of information processing measures such as inspection time, choice reaction time, delayed response speed and accuracy with IQ in a sample of 245 MZ and 298 DZ twin pairs. Their results indicated the presence of a general genetic cognitive factor affecting both IQ and psychophysical phenotypes, as well as additional genetic factors explaining the additional test variance and covariance.

http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v14/n6/full/5201588a.html

Starcraft ability being highly related to intelligence would also help explain Korean dominance at tournaments. East Asians have a higher average IQ than Whites and therefore have a larger pool of potentially great players to develop.


East Asians do not dominate SC2, Koreans do. Koreans have practice houses and a structured training environment. The whole of Asia minus Korea doesn't amount to the NA or EU scenes yet. This does not make sense if what you says is at all true.
Prev 1 22 23 24 25 26 30 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
The PiG Daily
21:15
Best Games of SC
SHIN vs sOs
Reynor vs Zoun
herO vs Classic
Solar vs Reynor
PiGStarcraft0
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 201
RushiSC 105
Nathanias 53
ForJumy 8
PiGStarcraft0
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 14657
Dewaltoss 179
ggaemo 128
Shuttle 92
BRAT_OK 89
firebathero 86
Dota 2
PGG 63
League of Legends
C9.Mang0210
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu486
Other Games
Grubby5524
tarik_tv2412
FrodaN2392
Beastyqt965
fl0m804
Mlord435
B2W.Neo267
ArmadaUGS90
QueenE84
Trikslyr45
KnowMe42
NarutO 15
Organizations
StarCraft 2
angryscii 46
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 91
• Adnapsc2 14
• Reevou 4
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV793
• Ler113
Other Games
• imaqtpie3298
• Shiphtur243
Upcoming Events
OSC
2 days
Korean StarCraft League
3 days
OSC
3 days
IPSL
3 days
Dewalt vs Bonyth
OSC
3 days
OSC
4 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Patches Events
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-12-29
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W2
Escore Tournament S1: W3
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Thunderfire SC2 All-star 2025
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
Nations Cup 2026
Underdog Cup #3
NA Kuram Kup
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.