I'd also note an element of ladder anxiety comes from other peoples judgements of you. The worst case of ladder anxiety I had was when I used to be active on the WoW PvP forums and I knew every time I posted an opinion that deviated from the norm, I'd have some idiot armoury me and start mouthing off about my rating.

I know it's cliche to say "just get over it" but that's basically what you need to do.

Disconnect

United States84 Posts

April 10 2012 18:17 GMT

#242

On December 22 2011 05:48 Bane_ wrote:
Could the design of the SC2 ladder itself be exacerbating the issue? I honestly don't remember hearing about this in previous games yet threads relating to it pop up all the time now on TL.

This is most certainly a huge problem. The league system causes a huge amount of issues. If you are rank 30,000 then falling to 30,100 isn't really a big deal. Falling from gold to silver however while in reality could be the exact same thing actually feels far worse for many people.

If I remember correctly warcraft 3 had a system where if you were not above a certain level you simply were not ranked. This would give a stress free environment to many people. For the people good enough to be ranked you would just have a straight up number and not all this league BS that doesn't even mean anything anyway.

That's the thing that baffles me the most. The leagues and your rank within that league actually doesn't tell you anything very meaningful. Yet it causes all these issues. The league system is just one more of Bnet 2.0's innumerable failures.

ishyishy

United States826 Posts

April 10 2012 20:51 GMT

#243

If you want to enjoy the game, and you are one of those unfortunate morons that is scared to play 1v1, just play multiplayer like 3v3 and 4v4. I am a lot happier now that I quit 1v1 annd only play multiplayer. Yeah sometimes it sucks when you go against a premade team, but sometimes you actually beat them too and its awesome.

Here are some reasons why I think anyone that relates to this thread should quit 1v1 and play multiplayer:

1. You dont have to worry about doing everything "perfectly" and on time, you can slack a little bit.

2. You can rely on the other people on your team to give you support and answers (like scanning a DT for example)

3. You get to enjoy starcraft 2 while not having any "stress" on whether or not you are going to win or lose. You know why? Because if you lose in 4v4, so did the other 3 on your team. You arent alone

4. If you have a good game with some of the people on your team (or even the other team) you can invite them afterwards and continue to play good games.

After having played only 3v3 and 4v4 over the past week, I can honestly say that there is no reason to play 1v1, especially if you are going to stress over it. If you refuse to take my advice and at least try it for a while, and you want to continue forcing yourself to play 1v1 and suffer, then I dont feel sorry for you; you are an idiot.

deathabene

Denmark83 Posts

April 11 2012 06:03 GMT

#244

this is a great thread im a master terran and im afraid off loseing to players that are in diamond league but i think this whoud help me alot thanks and agien great thread

United States813 Posts

April 11 2012 06:18 GMT

#245

all of my friends that play league of legends are afraid of doing ranked matches. and thats like 20 of them.

Incze

Romania2058 Posts

April 11 2012 11:38 GMT

#246

For me the "Demotion can be good" part helped the most, because that was what I was afraif of the most. I've learned to accept that and now I'm having loads of fun playing sc2
Thanks man

ishyishy

United States826 Posts

April 11 2012 18:52 GMT

#247

If you play multiplayer, it is hard to get demoted. Losing just has no meaning or impact. You get to play only the good parts of this game.

United States813 Posts

April 13 2012 07:44 GMT

#248

its not that people are afraid of ladder. people are afraid of competitive gaming in general. 1v1 makes it feel competitive.

Scila

Canada1849 Posts

April 14 2012 10:52 GMT

#249

I used to have terrible ladder anxiety (im high masters). I would literally get shaky hands when playing and make a lot of mistakes. Then one day, I left the GSL on while playing starcraft 2. Interestingly enough, Tastosis talking, and the GSL music made me feel relaxed. So I did an experiment. I turned on some soothing music...and I won 11 games in a row. I felt relaxed, and didn't have any thoughts like "omg I'm going to lose" or "I won a few games, my streak is going to end now" and the other anxious/demoralizing thoughts.

TLDR: try turning on whatever kind of music you find "soothing" or "relaxing" and play some games.

Confuse

2238 Posts

April 14 2012 11:16 GMT

#250

Great article to bump in light of the "Nobody plays 1v1 anymore" thread. We were warned... and those warnings were only seen by tl'ers

I really like the article though... think i ll go ladder later ; )

jshnaidz

Canada57 Posts

April 22 2012 20:55 GMT

#251

Interesting read. While you're looking into sc2 from a psychological approach, I wonder if anyone could do a psychological analysis as to why certain people pick their sc2 races.

tZeal

Canada5 Posts

April 27 2012 13:20 GMT

#252

Very well done article, I really appreciate the amount of effort you've put into this. I have only been playing starcraft for about two months now, I rarely get around to playing Ladder games because I always stress about heading into a game (most of the time clicking the find game button and then cancelling it and starting a bot game... >.>).

I have found your advice extremely helpful and will hopefully be able to play more often than I have been

MigzR

Portugal89 Posts

April 27 2012 13:21 GMT

#253

ladder anxiety is silly lol

sayu

Germany5 Posts

May 17 2012 23:12 GMT

#254

thank you to the OP and everyone that has commented in this thread, because this helped me A LOT. like said in the OP, once I realized that what I was feeling was just the adrenalin I had a way easier time clicking the Find Match button and more importantly to actually click it more than once. I still have the adrenalin rushing into my head whenever I play a game but I don't really get bothered by it now. I hope if I keep playing eventually the adrenalin won't even come at all, but I don't know if that is even an expected result.

Naniwa

Sweden477 Posts

May 17 2012 23:22 GMT

#255

ladder fears? didnt realise there was anything at stake on the ladder :C

United States813 Posts

May 17 2012 23:22 GMT

#256

its not called ladder anxiety. its called fear of competition aka casual players.

Snoodles

401 Posts

May 17 2012 23:38 GMT

#257

You should read the book on Day9s recommended reading list: The Art Of Learing. It's written by a Chess Prodigy and Tai Chi Chuan champion. There's a lot of stuff in there on finding a relaxation trigger, attitude towards failure, using cheesers to fuel your passion rather than enraging you, playing well under pressure, etc.

I think it's to everyone's benefit to play 1v1. If you're the type of person who gets ladder anxiety what else are you afraid of in life that's holding you back? Getting over your fear of failure and rejection is something that can only help you in life.

bigbadgreen

United States142 Posts

May 18 2012 00:05 GMT

#258

Some people just aren't up to competition. If you get that anxious over a game it's probably better to find another way to enjoy the game or stop altogether. You can only perform to your ability. With that in mind you shouldn't be scared of ladder but you should embrace it. You can never improve until you understand that playing is the only way. So you lose. Just que up another match and start clean. There are no real consequences if you lose. Unless you're a pro and make a living playing the game. This percieved notion of being measured and judged based on your ranking is hilarious. You play people in your general skill range. They are also strangers. It's the internet. If you think ladder is bad wait until you lead a meeting at your job, or you are in charge of a huge project where your job could be on the line. This is a game for most of us. It's in your best interest to learn how to take things in the correct perspective and see that ladder is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

whiterabbit

2675 Posts

May 18 2012 00:14 GMT

#259

Wow, great article, props for doing this!

I am one of those people with brutal ladder anxiety, I still play Custom games and only those few maps that are played often because I just can't find strenght to play ladder that often without getting totally depressed after bad games and points/standing/league loss... it is bothering me so much but I just can't deal with it so I am just playing Customs most of the times, where nothing is on the line and where I am not constantly bombed with information saying how bad I am. :/

Worst thing: I was Diamond in beta where I somehow managed to explained to myself "it's beta, ladder means nothing, it will get ereased pretty soon, just play have fun and get better with each game - it's almost same as playing customs!" and for some reason after huge break from SC2 and after getting into lower leagues I just can't deal with it anymore.