Starcraft II with ADHD
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iGrepair
34 Posts
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Ettick
United States2434 Posts
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AnachronisticAnarchy
United States2957 Posts
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Azera
3800 Posts
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GT350
United States270 Posts
Hello everyone, my name is Drake "Repair" Porter. I am currently the Team Manager of Team iGnite. I came today to talk about what its been like playing Starcraft in general with ADHD. I was born with ADHD and have tried various medicines and treatments. I have never been able to "fix" my ADHD. I started out playing Starcraft Brood War VERY casually and grew to become fairly good, never realizing what doors I could open with it. The key I have found to playing RTS games with ADHD is repetition. In starcraft every game I do not think very much, I just do things and play very passively due to my ADHD. When I plan things out for builds that I specifically make for my ADHD playstyle, I keep in mind that ADHD makes it very difficult to focus on many things at once so I try to create the least amount of possibilities and also work on having high EPM not APM as spam will lower my focus on the game. With ADHD I have to practice more than the average pro, I used to play about 14 hours a day of straight practice. I have won almost 1,500 ladder games in Starcraft II and am only Diamond. Please keep in mind that I played Brood War as well. In my mind heres how it goes. Game starts: Split Workers, I naturally begin doing my build without thinking of it. I often think about how my day has been and the fear of demotion. I then begin thinking of bunnies and unicorns while i reach into the mid game. As we get into the late game I begin doing horribly, usually cause I haven't planned out what to do in a situation like late game. People with ADHD do not play like people without. The constant drills that I do are the only reason im diamond and the amount of time I put into the game should result in more skill. I will update this blog responding to questions and things like that. I began straying off the topic and really want to bring notice to the players with ADHD (mine is very bad just saying) but I dont really know what players who have no ADHD are wandering what its like so ask questions and leave recommendations please. | ||
Bigtony
United States1606 Posts
do builds -> victory. | ||
BigFan
TLADT24920 Posts
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ParkwayDrive
United States328 Posts
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ultrakiss
97 Posts
If I don't keep constantly doing things Ill start to daydream and my apm/mechanics will go to zero while I stare at a space whale or something. (I've lost a lot of games where I basically forget to play and my 50 supply lead becomes a 100 supply deficit just because im not doing anything.) I guess the more mechanical macro of zerg keeps my hands busy even when I space out mentally. | ||
Typhoon1789
Australia292 Posts
I know it can be hard to focus sometimes but over the past 20 years ive learned to control my self alot better. Maybe instead of relying on the drugs, learn abit of self control, it is indeed possible with adhd to do so. I am living proof of that. Also, being impulsive is a great thing to work with. I say that can be an advantage in SCII. Sometimes doing so will lose you a game, but most of the time for me it works out. I should add, i have very bad adhd or atleast used to till i started forcing my self to control my self a little better. In school, i done no work, i'd talk non-stop, wouldnt listen to the teachers at all and cause all sorts of havok even when i was on the meds. It got to the point where i was only allowed at school for about half a day. 9 am - 12 PM. Im surprised i was not expelled, i guess i got lucky. | ||
SEA KarMa
Australia452 Posts
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ultrakiss
97 Posts
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Smancer
United States379 Posts
The shear number of kids today diagnosed with ADHD, to me, is just plain wrong. I am not saying that the OP doesn't have a serious disease, handicap, whatever you want to call it. When I was a teacher, a lot of kids used their ADHD as crutch, and as an excuse. As a result I have grown to generally dislike for kids that have it, and tell other people they have it. To expand, when I was teaching there were two sets of ADD kids. Those who, when you read their "file" (IEP, 504) it would list ADD, but you would never hear then say it. They would try really hard in class, but wouldn't do well because they couldn't pay attention. They would be quite, do what myself and other teachers asked with guidance. I generally felt bad for these children because it was obvious that they really had something debilitating. Then there was a second crowd. Loud, obnoxious sort, that wouldn't do what you asked, never even tried at school work because they didn't care. These kids would constantly fall back on the line "well I have ADD so I can't". The former group I feel for, and was rare. The second group I feel is a result of over diagnosis, and bad parenting. Resulting in kids with shitty attitudes. They couldn't try or focus in school, and they would let you know it. But yet, their focus in football, or xBox was incredible. The former group struggled with things they even wanted to try and pay attention to. It is my belief that if you try and focus your attention on something you really love, like Starcraft and you struggle, then ADHD is really a problem for you. However, if your ADHD kicks in at school, but you have no problem playing halo, or football, or chatting with a girl, or any other task you enjoy, you don't have ADHD. I really think as a solution, parents and doctors should never actually inform the child that they have ADHD. If it is diagnosed. The child should be told they do not have it. Even if they do. Then, teachers, guidance counselors, etc, can make adjustments accordingly, without the students knowledge. It is just discusting to see some kids constantly use their diagnosis as an excuse. They are the worst type of person. | ||
meteorskunk
Canada546 Posts
When I see a micro situation in a game of sc2 I know what i want to do and have no problem focusing. The problem is too much focus on something like micro. I will obsess over it too much and forget about the over all game in the process. Getting a perfect opening is much harder for me. I have 2k games of 1v1 broodwar not to mention practicing the 3 hatch muta in single player a lot and still it is hard to not mess up an early game. I would definitely call myself debilitated in some ways compared to other players. Cannabis and alcohol both make me perform better, but alcohol and looking at a constantly moving screen is not good. ADHD unite and trade tricks!! Edit: yeah someone will say "this is everyone's problem" but it is exaggerated for some people and we know it. | ||
U_G_L_Y
United States516 Posts
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iGrepair
34 Posts
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