• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:07
CEST 19:07
KST 02:07
  • 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
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 234ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7
Community News
Weekly Cups (June 29-July 5): Solar Doubles0MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon435.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes40Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch5[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation0
StarCraft 2
General
MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon Most successful SC2 players of Q2 2026 Serral wins Maestros of the Game 2 Is the larve respawn broken? 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)
Tourneys
Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10 Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League GSL CK #5 Race War HomeStory Cup 29
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 533 Die Together The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery
Brood War
General
Starcraft vs Retro Category on Twitch ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool 60% Keyboards Viable for Starcraft? Snow On New ASL S22 Map, Zerg Nerf BW General Discussion
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 Small VOD Thread 2.0 IPSL Spring 2026 Top 4! CSLAN 4 is Coming!
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Summer Games Done Quick 2026! ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor 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
TL Mafia
NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
UK Politics Mega-thread US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard? Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Major Shifts in the Gaming I…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 9324 users

Is SC skill natural or trained? - Page 29

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 27 28 29 30 Next All
Xenocryst
Profile Joined December 2010
United States521 Posts
October 09 2011 00:42 GMT
#561
only natural ability is intelligence but believe it or not u CAN actually increase ur IQ mostly by critical thinking and vocabulary. its just being smart and practice
Deadlyhazard
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1177 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-09 00:57:57
October 09 2011 00:53 GMT
#562
Reminds me of the talent vs training art debate. Sargent painted this when he was 14: in goddamn watercolor (hardest painting medium IMO)

[image loading]

Yes, intelligence also factors into art aswell. People born as geniuses will be able to understand rendering and other visual information much faster than an average or below average person. How smart you are in a certain area of the brain depends on how far you can take a skill in that certain area of the brain. What might take someone 10 years to draw a decent figure might take another 2 years.

The same goes with StarCraft or any other skill, I presume. The more mathematical minded players will stomp those who are not as mathematically intelligent.

Another thing to note is also the amount of effort one puts in to a skill. There are so many variables its not even worth wondering whether one might be talented enough, because some people are slow to learn but once they do learn the material they excel above almost everyone else. There are varying degrees of talent and many of them have different limits and quirks.

Sometimes talent doesn't seem to make sense. Some people can skip rocks the first time across water while others can't do it no matter how many times they try. Life is odd.

A mix of training and talent is necessary therefor. Different people learn different facets of StarCraft faster and slower than others. Effort makes these things increase. But no matter how hard I practice, I will never be Jaedong. And I'm fine with that.
Hark!
Xenocryst
Profile Joined December 2010
United States521 Posts
October 09 2011 00:59 GMT
#563
On October 09 2011 09:53 Deadlyhazard wrote:
Reminds me of the talent vs training art debate. Sargent painted this when he was 14: in goddamn watercolor (hardest painting medium IMO)

[image loading]

Yes, intelligence also factors into art aswell. People born as geniuses will be able to understand rendering and other visual information much faster than an average or below average person. How smart you are in a certain area of the brain depends on how far you can take a skill in that certain area of the brain. What might take someone 10 years to draw a decent figure might take another 2 years.

The same goes with StarCraft or any other skill, I presume. The more mathematical minded players will stomp those who are not as mathematically intelligent.

Another thing to note is also the amount of effort one puts in to a skill. There are so many variables its not even worth wondering whether one might be talented enough, because some people are slow to learn but once they do learn the material they excel above almost everyone else. There are varying degrees of talent and many of them have different limits and quirks.

Sometimes talent doesn't seem to make sense. Some people can skip rocks the first time across water while others can't do it no matter how many times they try. Life is odd.

A mix of training and talent is necessary therefor. Different people learn different facets of StarCraft faster and slower than others. Effort makes these things increase. But no matter how hard I practice, I will never be Jaedong. And I'm fine with that.



wow that is a beautiful painting
algee
Profile Joined September 2011
Germany12 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-09 09:40:18
October 09 2011 09:38 GMT
#564
here is how i put it.

skill is the ability to perform certain tasks, the better the skill the less training time needed.

in rts games, its the skill to remember when to do things, how to react in any possible situation, and to do multiple things at the same time very fast.

skill is natural, and the lack of skill can be compensated with more training up to some extend.

some people have skills to sing, others have skills to write stories, other people have skills to invent stuff and be creative. its already built into ones brain. one of my skills is remembering long sequences of numbers and codes, thats why i never have trouble with my passwords and phone numbers D:
i think the effective 'quality' of a skill in later deployment depends a lot on the factor of early discovery. the earlier one finds the skills he has, the earlier he can start to develop and make use of them.

probably thats why asian people seem to perform better in rts games then the rest of us, because they have the natural skill already "built in" as part of their racial evolution, and with sc being so popular and everyone wanting to become an sc hero, they all rush for it.
not that god said 'you shall be good at rts', it rather comes down to several skills, including the key ones mentioned above, that coincidently seem to be very good in their hands.

well that evolution thing is just an assumption i made, but it really comes down to, that some people are better at rts games then other, just because they bring better qualifications with them.

so basically, a total rts newb with no rts skill can possibly become a rts pro, but it takes a lot of practise and therefore will also take that much longer for him to get into the game. also, the inevitable setbacks he will encounter will likely make him lose interest eventually.
My favorite number? Jay.
BleaK_
Profile Joined November 2010
Norway593 Posts
October 10 2011 01:57 GMT
#565


Only practice 3-4 hours a day, and be this good. That's alot of natural talent.
nttea
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Sweden4353 Posts
October 10 2011 02:07 GMT
#566
On October 10 2011 10:57 BleaK_ wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jws0EBIGro&feature=player_embedded

Only practice 3-4 hours a day, and be this good. That's alot of natural talent.

I'm not saying he's not talented, but he also said in the panel they formed to waste some more time that he doesn't do much at all other than sc2. Watching replays, thinking about the game etc.. also counts as practice imo still the amount of effort he put in seems low compared to his incredible skill.
Zariel
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Australia1312 Posts
October 10 2011 02:16 GMT
#567
Like all games and sports, it's all about developing the game sense. Or in SC we call it star-sense.

Of course, different people develop this sense at a different pace.

Then comes the specific game learning curve. Such as remembering each unit for every race, build orders, build times, hotkeys, maps.. list goes on. Which of course, solely comes through sheer practice.

The next thing I'd say would be a mental vision of the game, I dunno whats the technical term or whatever, but I'll try to describe it:

- A pro-gamer, may play starcraft from the whole map perspective (a macro player), meaning in his mind, he has a constant layout of the map in his thoughts. Map specifically, attack routes, focal points, bases, attacking grounds. Such players will likely to have strong multi-tasking skills.
- Other players (normal people), may not be fully aware of the whole map constantly and their focal point is always where their screen is showing, but when they see what they see, they know what to do (ie: a battle engages, he should use his forcefields, guardian shield, move zealots around etc..). These are more micro based players.

However, this mental vision is very talent based, it's a difficult and lengthy process if one has to learn this from scratch.

TL:DR: There are hard-workers and geniuses. The geniuses who are hard-working are the real gods of the battlefield.
sup
phaleos
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia105 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-10 02:33:13
October 10 2011 02:32 GMT
#568
Definitely talent is needed too. Your ability to understand situations and make rational decisions, overall game sense, etc. It's like on ladder, there are high master like myself that has only played like 300 games since the game's realize (i have to uni) and some that have played like 2000 but are actually lower master than me.

Everybody in korean is practicing 10 hours a day, why does Nestea stand above all other zergs else? He certainly doesn't have the best mechanics, but he understands the game, his decision making combined with his 'good-enough' mechanics allows him to be ahead in his games.

Not everyone can be in GSL, imo any healthy human being should be able to get out of bronze in under 100 games and get to master in under 1000. If that didn't happen, they shouldn't try playing this game, it's too hard for them.
The very essential of quoting... is not having one.
aksfjh
Profile Joined November 2010
United States4853 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-10 03:17:41
October 10 2011 03:15 GMT
#569
It's all trained one way or another. "Natural" talent is normally just extra effort put into something that you aren't aware of. I was "naturally" talented in math growing up, but it was really just me not accepting failure and always going over the problems I missed. At the time, I thought I was smarter than everybody else, but I was just practicing good habits without realizing it. Even now, I approach hard problems with effort outside of directly attacking the problem. It's the same for those in all calculated competitions. However, when peered into from the outside, it just looks like these people are able to do so much with so little.

You can spend 120 hours a week playing and refining mechanics, but without thinking about the game, you're going to find a wall eventually. The same thing with thinking critically about the game most of the time, you're eventually going to find yourself lacking the mechanics to keep up with those thoughts.
Silidons
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States2813 Posts
October 10 2011 03:19 GMT
#570
it's definitely trained. i started out in bronze like most people and worked myself up to masters
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon Bonaparte
nira
Profile Joined April 2010
United States116 Posts
October 10 2011 05:02 GMT
#571
On October 10 2011 12:19 Silidons wrote:
it's definitely trained. i started out in bronze like most people and worked myself up to masters


welp there we go folks. we finally have the answer.
Kimaker
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States2131 Posts
October 10 2011 05:21 GMT
#572
I feel like natural talent is simply the starting point and does not determine the ceiling.

In an athletic sport, because physicality directly influences how well you can do in certain circumstances, this isn't always true. Michael Phelps pretty much has the "ideal" body type for swimming. No way around that. A taller Basketball player will typically have an advantage over a shorter one of equal skill. However, in regard to a mentally reliant game like SC, I believe that anyone can train themselves adequately given the proper dedication.

That being said, that proper dedication is difficult to come by and a rare thing indeed.
Entusman #54 (-_-) ||"Gold is for the Mistress-Silver for the Maid-Copper for the craftsman cunning in his trade. "Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall, But Iron — Cold Iron — is master of them all|| "Optimism is Cowardice."- Oswald Spengler
Azarkon
Profile Joined January 2010
United States21060 Posts
October 10 2011 05:21 GMT
#573
The bottom line, I think, is that you never really know whether you can be a great player, unless you put in the time and actually try to do it. Skill, I reckon, comes differently to different people - and while talent may play a large role in this, training is no less important in developing that talent.

Many people who can be great at Starcraft, are not, because they don't want to be, or because the training isn't there.
SniXSniPe
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States1938 Posts
October 10 2011 07:42 GMT
#574
On October 10 2011 10:57 BleaK_ wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jws0EBIGro&feature=player_embedded

Only practice 3-4 hours a day, and be this good. That's alot of natural talent.


I know some well-known people who practice just as less (and have some good results) =/.
MrBitter
Profile Joined January 2008
United States2940 Posts
October 10 2011 07:50 GMT
#575
On October 10 2011 10:57 BleaK_ wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jws0EBIGro&feature=player_embedded

Only practice 3-4 hours a day, and be this good. That's alot of natural talent.


3-4 hours a day of SC2 is okay. Not good. Certainly not great. But okay.

But don't discount the thousands of hours Stephano had as a top War 3 player.

He was one of Grubby's main training partners for years. (Years!)

War 3 is not SC2

But War 3 is RTS, and RTS skills translate, easily.
Epoch
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada257 Posts
October 10 2011 08:09 GMT
#576
That's true MrBitter but he's still soooooo young. With 3-4 hours of practice a day and his performance compared to those who work much harder for much longer, I think Stephano put's this "theres no such thing as natural talent" bullshit to rest. Atleast he should.
polybios
Profile Joined December 2010
Czech Republic111 Posts
October 25 2011 09:51 GMT
#577
"We have a tendency to assess children and determine their course of education relatively early in life, but here we have shown that their intelligence is likely to be still developing," says Professor Price. "We have to be careful not to write off poorer performers at an early stage when in fact their IQ may improve significantly given a few more years.
"It's analogous to fitness.A teenager who is athletically fit at 14 could be less fit at 18 if they stopped exercising. Conversely, an unfit teenager can become much fitter with exercise."
"The question is, if our brain structure can change throughout our adult lives, can our IQ also change?" adds Professor Price. "My guess is yes. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that our brains can adapt and their structure changes, even in adulthood."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020024329.htm

these are words from cognitive neuroscience professor and are based on hard data and formal research.

when you say "stephano has a natural talent because he trains 4 hours a day and still is one of the best!". well, then I say he uses his time more effectively than others.
Mouzone
Profile Joined April 2011
3937 Posts
October 25 2011 10:37 GMT
#578
On October 10 2011 17:09 Epoch wrote:
That's true MrBitter but he's still soooooo young. With 3-4 hours of practice a day and his performance compared to those who work much harder for much longer, I think Stephano put's this "theres no such thing as natural talent" bullshit to rest. Atleast he should.

Stephano has played WC3 for a long time though. Coming from an RTS background you get A LOT for free.
LaduxB
Profile Joined June 2011
Australia9 Posts
October 25 2011 11:11 GMT
#579
I made masters in 3 days with no previous RTS experience on a PC running at 15fps and I guess it's because of my amazing IQ level hang on I need to sip my martini and smoke my pipe.

I really hate those sorts of egotistical posts.

The fact is that most people make vast improvements in the things they choose to work at. I started at 2 wins, 15 losses in the bottom of bronze league. I don't think it gets much worse than that. This season I got placed platinum - and I know I can improve up to diamond with enough time and effort.

I remember living with a guy (who was kind of a moron) that was 'talented' at music. I can't even play a single drum in time. He got guitar hero and was obviously much better than I was. But since I had nothing better to do at the time I would play it continually til I was better than him. Then his ego freaked out, shouted that he'd easily beat me if he 'really' wanted to, then went ahead and deleted the save file in anger. I can't tell you how satisfying that was.

Sure talent matters but for most of us it's more important to practice and learn about practicing efficiently. If you do that you will get good. Maybe you won't make the very top of the iceberg but you'll definitely be better than the 95% of people who didn't work as hard.
Evangelist
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
1246 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-25 11:33:24
October 25 2011 11:29 GMT
#580
You all have to remember that it's more complicated than "I got plat in the first week, I'm naturally better at the game than you."

I don't think it's a stretch to say that today's Silvers could have beaten most Gold-Platinum level players, both in terms of macro AND micro and strategically, at the start of the game. The skill curve for the entire game has shifted upwards over the last year. Plenty of people got high rankings by just using one really overpowered build and then have sat in the MMR system, rarely ever declining and playing as few games as possible.

Natural talent accounts for some of it, but some of it is familiarity, and other parts of it are just a willingness to practice. I'm not particularly disciplined, but I'd say at my best I'm probably Platinum/Low Diamond level (having given Diamond Leaguers a right hammering in private tournies), and at my worst I'm probably the worst of the Bronze Leaguers. It makes sense I average out to Silver. I do some really fantastic pressure and my game sense when it's turned on is really pretty good, but I often get so flustered I don't know what the hell is going on and I'll miss really obvious things or react in totally the wrong way.

I think it's a hell of a lot more complex than people make it out to be. However I think if there are two natural skills that do contribute hugely, they'd be:

- conceptual ability: the ability to see how something might be used
- executional ability: the ability to turn something in your mind into something physical

Personally I'd say my ability to dream up concepts is vastly better than my ability to execute them, at least in the context of Starcraft 2. About the only thing I'd say is it isn't necessarily intelligence based. A lot of it is just intuition, I think, and how you go about seeing the game.
Prev 1 27 28 29 30 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Big Brain Bouts
16:00
#121
RotterdaM906
IndyStarCraft 129
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 906
TKL 155
IndyStarCraft 129
BRAT_OK 56
RushiSC 34
MindelVK 15
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 2144
BeSt 757
EffOrt 537
Horang2 434
Soulkey 409
Larva 367
actioN 320
ggaemo 319
Rush 281
Hyuk 278
[ Show more ]
hero 209
ZerO 203
Mong 101
Zeus 77
Sharp 62
Hyun 56
Free 45
sSak 35
Sexy 29
JYJ 28
ToSsGirL 28
sorry 27
soO 26
Rock 24
Hm[arnc] 24
910 23
scan(afreeca) 21
HiyA 15
Terrorterran 12
IntoTheRainbow 12
Dota 2
Gorgc7733
qojqva1540
XaKoH 464
Counter-Strike
fl0m1702
kRYSTAL_87
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King110
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu23
Other Games
Grubby2317
B2W.Neo780
Beastyqt516
Hui .151
ArmadaUGS118
mouzStarbuck57
ZerO(Twitch)14
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick32834
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 63
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• EmpressLilyy 44
• musti20045 27
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV425
League of Legends
• Nemesis3612
Other Games
• Shiphtur219
Upcoming Events
OSC
4h 54m
Replay Cast
6h 54m
RSL Revival
15h 54m
Serral vs Bunny
ByuN vs GgMaChine
CranKy Ducklings
16h 54m
Afreeca Starleague
16h 54m
Snow vs Jaedong
YSC vs hero
SC Evo League
18h 54m
ByuN vs Classic
Cure vs Solar
IPSL
22h 54m
Dragon vs Ret
RSL Revival
1d 15h
Solar vs Rogue
Maru vs NightMare
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 16h
IPSL
1d 22h
Bonyth vs Hawk
[ Show More ]
GSL
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
WardiTV Weekly
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
CrankTV Team League
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
CrankTV Team League
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026

Upcoming

ASL Season 22: Wild Card Qualifier
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Heroes Pulsing #3
Eternal Conflict S2 E2
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.