EPTIn practice though, it would not impact much below the top pro level of play, if anything.
Here's a pretty relevant thread that directly concerns age & SC2:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=300008
Does age matter in SC2 - Page 8
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FallDownMarigold
United States3710 Posts
In practice though, it would not impact much below the top pro level of play, if anything. Here's a pretty relevant thread that directly concerns age & SC2: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=300008 | ||
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bendanielrocks
United States2 Posts
Drunk Kid Plays - SC2 | ||
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opus55
Germany31 Posts
Compared to a slight decline in physical ability, these advantages may in fact be huge - and while the physical decline may prevent you from reaching pro level, it might even be easier to reach masters with 30 or 35 than with 16 or 20, if you invest the same amount of time. Of course this depends on when you reach what level of maturity. | ||
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RogerShah
Netherlands131 Posts
I think reaction time and speed are a lot more important when playing shooters. | ||
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Tegu
Great Britain93 Posts
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SoulFilcher
Brazil43 Posts
My cousins who are more than 10 years younger than me definitely play faster than me, but I managed to beat them a few times because I made better decisions. Ohhh we are all low-ranked players by the way, so I'm not sure the comparison is useful here. | ||
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CrushDog5
Canada207 Posts
1. Reaction times will definitely increase as you practice, even up to the professional level, likely because of motor learning (automatizing common sequences of commands), perceptual changes (being faster at sizing up and army, or seeing what's in a base you're scouting), and decision-making changes (knowing what to do so that it doesn't take time to decide). 2. Reaction times will definitely decrease as you age, starting at a surprisingly young age. Given the above, a younger person with equivalent experience will be faster, and faster is definitely better. There will always be exceptional players that have slower than normal APM for their league, but across everyone, APM is good predictor of league, especially at the highest levels (Masters-Pro). That said, at the amateur level, you still have lots of room to improve, regardless of your age. We're (the Cognitive Science Lab) working on an aging paper now that outlines the influence of age in SC2 based on the original 3300+ SkillCraft.ca sample. Will post when available. It will be a few months, probably. | ||
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-stOpSKY-
Canada498 Posts
On May 17 2013 09:16 synd wrote: If you think you lose because you lack speed, you're totally wrong. No way in hell you can't hit masters if you have the knowledge and know how to react in most of the situations. You very likely don't have the knowledge yet so you have to study more. And no, there's no skill cap, age skill cap or whatever people may ever call it. The moment you start thinking you can't improve anymore, you're admiting to yourself that you won't improve anymore because you don't want to. If there is no "age skill cap" why would Flash would beat Boxer 99% of the time? Boxer was the prime at Flashes age and now Flash is prime at that current age. That has nothing to do with anything? A 30/40/50 year old man could do just as well? Doesn't matter? | ||
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willstertben
427 Posts
i am 24 and i can think quicker and move my hands faster than i ever could in my earlier years. it's all a practice thing and! VERY IMPORTANT: being able to adapt to changes in how the game is played. i believe the reason most older players would retire at a certain age is because of other priorities (includes military service for koreans), not being able to adapt or unwillingness to practice as much or just simply losing their enjoyment of the game. | ||
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Belha
Italy2850 Posts
Older guys have: (1) Less time to practice. (2) Learn slower (ofc you could be smarter than a younger guy, I'm just pointing the average human facts) (3) Slower reactions. Still, If you always played RTS, you have the mechanics there, so you should be in much better spot. Same goes if you keep a good brain/ hand training like playing piano or chess, that mitigates point 2 and 3. Point 1 is very important since to be at top in Sc2 you need to memorize crisp build orders. For the record, I consider myself an older guy for an RTS, never played online RTS games before Sc2 and I'm master, so is still posible. I'm 100% sure as other said that at least (3) is not a limiting factor until high master/gm. And in any case,age shouldn't matter, since you should play just for fun! If you want a challenge, play chess, that is good brain excersice, not Sc2. | ||
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myVidster
5 Posts
So a 33 yro with 1k games played, APM 30 is matched with an 18 yro (I asked whn the game started), 5k games played and 60 APM. So does age matter, HELL YA, a 30 yro has a full time job (correction: a career), other interests, a girl friend, etc. While an 18 yro lives w mommy and goes to school. The issue is not w the age, it is Blizzard failure of matching players and is why we are having such discussions. | ||
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Dingodile
4133 Posts
On August 19 2013 06:57 myVidster wrote: [...] The issue is not w the age, it is Blizzard failure of matching players and is why we are having such discussions. Age does apply to everything. reaction-time usually decrease if you are 19, you reach the best reaction-time from 17 to 18. 90% of all games (where time plays a big role) show this, the older you are the more knowledge/experience you have and overcompensate it. From 16-19 years old player is reaction-time by far the biggest strenght vs people with bad reaction-time but have more knowledge/experience. | ||
Destructicon
4713 Posts
However, I'd say that until a really, really advanced age, your reaction speeds and mechanics shouldn't deteriorate to the point where you couldn't be competitive. What really kills competitiveness in players as they advance in age is more their mindset. Your outlook on life on life changes, your priorities shift, you feel the the burden of responsibilities you may have not shouldered before and all this changes you, to the point where you may not want to be a pro player any more. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, like NesTea, but in general as you grow older I just think you lose your passion. I have no doubt if your put a 30 year old and a 20 year old together to practice with all things being equal, motivation, practice time, environment, equipment, talent etc they could probably reach the same level more or less. More directed at the OP, your problem isn't that you are old, its that you only play 25 games per week, you just can't advance in skill any more with that small number of games, especially when there are people playing 25 games per day. | ||
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willstertben
427 Posts
if you want to play with people your age group i am sure there are ways. 1 suggestion: just make a thread here and ask, i'm sure there are lots of 30+ year olds here who still play (i think i've even seen a thread like that before?). | ||
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bypLy
757 Posts
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myVidster
5 Posts
On August 19 2013 07:15 willstertben wrote: the match making is working as intended. if you get players you feel you can't beat right now, just give it a couple of games and you will be alright. if you want to play with people your age group i am sure there are ways. 1 suggestion: just make a thread here and ask, i'm sure there are lots of 30+ year olds here who still play (i think i've even seen a thread like that before?). I tried making a thread to recruit and did not get a response (my guess is that most 30 yros left the game), any other suggestions? Also I am top 8 plat if you are curious. | ||
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myVidster
5 Posts
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-Kaiser-
Canada932 Posts
I can play roach/hydra in zvt at a much higher level of execution than muta/ling/bane, for example. | ||
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smaug81243
94 Posts
The issue is not w the age, it is Blizzard failure of matching players and is why we are having such discussions. I'm not entirely sure what you are suggesting instead. Matching against players of similar skill (overall) is a great way to handle matchmaking. Sure, some players are going to be faster at certain things than others, but to be playing at the same skill level they are going to be worse in other areas. I think age is absolutely irrelevant until you get to a very high level (I'm talking high masters+ at a minimum, and age certainly does not matter at the diamond/low masters level). For example, in golf you still have older players who can have fairly solid scores through the short game and beat younger players who may drive the ball 50 yards farther than them. Let's look at your basketball comparison. Let's say you are playing in a pick-up game and everyone is exactly 33 years old, including 1 NBA professional who happens to stop by and play with you guys. Is his skill level the same as yours? Not even close. However, you could substitute plenty of 20-25 year olds and they could be an even match, much worse than everyone or much better than everyone. It is more about whom has dedicated more time to improving/who has done so the most efficiently. So does age matter, HELL YA, a 30 yro has a full time job (correction: a career), other interests, a girl friend, etc. While an 18 yro lives w mommy and goes to school. It really sounds like your post is more of an excuse for being mediocre at starcraft 2 and putting blame on the matchmaking system. I mean, the quote above is ridiculous. There are plenty of 18 year olds who have a job, a girlfriend and other interests in addition to school. If you actually care about starcraft 2 (doubt it's particularly important to you), you can make time despite the obligations you listed to improve to a reasonable skill level. Master's isn't particularly difficult to obtain with a low APM. | ||
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EAGER-beaver
Canada2799 Posts
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