I'm curious to see if other people experience the same thing. As much as I like playing StarCraft the game definitely tired me out. Whenever I play for an extended session I'm always quite wore out at the end.

Take today, I played for probably about 5 or so hours, and honestly I felt more drained and worn down from that than I would from playing 36 holes or going for a 10 mile run.

Maybe its like physical activities in that if you play more you just get used to it, but man, as much fun as SC is I can't even imagine playing for 10+ hours a day week in week out; I just wouldn't have the focus and my play would be so sloppy.

Your thoughts?

justiceknight

Singapore5741 Posts

April 19 2010 08:34 GMT

i can play 50 games in fastest but less than 10 games in ladder,maybe its due to multitasking and thinking.

HobbitGotGame

Canada178 Posts

April 19 2010 08:38 GMT

man up, skate it off

jodogohoo

Canada2533 Posts

April 19 2010 08:41 GMT

i can only play like ONE game before getting tired

exeexe

Denmark937 Posts

April 19 2010 08:43 GMT

yeah me too, but yesterday i maneged to play the whole day. When i started out with starcraft i could only play 2 games or so before i had to go and play another game or watch the rep.

meeple

Canada10211 Posts

April 19 2010 08:47 GMT

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=107159

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=101679

There was another couple... one fairly recentlyish that I can't find right now. I don't understand why people are surprised to get tired after exertion in starcraft... Anything that takes that much concentration and energy to play will obviously tired you out eventually.

L_Master

United States8017 Posts

April 19 2010 08:56 GMT

On April 19 2010 17:47 meeple wrote:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=107159

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=101679

There was another couple... one fairly recentlyish that I can't find right now. I don't understand why people are surprised to get tired after exertion in starcraft... Anything that takes that much concentration and energy to play will obviously tired you out eventually.

Thing is, especially with the stigma surrounding video games, people don't really think of playing video games as exerting. And most aren't, playing some random fps for hours on end doesn't have the same effect at all, nor does playing an RPG or puzzle solving type game.

StarCraft takes alot of concentration and mental energy, but as far as actually using energy, it still isn't that high. You don't burn a whole lot more calories playing SC than you do sititng on the couch watching TV.

I just find it interesting that a few hours of StarCraft leaves me feeling more drained than running 10 miles or playing golf for 8 hours. I;m not surprised that I eventually get tired, but how StarCraft actually can wear me out faster than other activities that require significantly more "energy" in the biological sense.

Slayer91

Ireland23335 Posts

April 19 2010 09:16 GMT

I'm not sure if you ever played serious chess but mental focus usually drains you a LOT more than exercise. I find exercise kinda gives you more energy like really soon after. I imaginephysical exercise before/after SC will make you LESS tired.

Though with SC2, I can play for a long time if I have some music running.

Neak

United Kingdom124 Posts

April 19 2010 09:30 GMT

It is mostly because of your eyes. Playing a game is not the same as surfing or checking e-mails etc. You are constantly looking at the screen and indeed a degree of mental focus in also involved. I used to do this exercise back in my programming days

Every 30 minutes, lie down and message your temples for 2-3 minutes. Then wait a few more minutes before you take your seat.

Also reducing gamma and brightness helps. Oh and of course, goes without saying i guess, try sitting a bit further away from the screen.

evanthebouncy!

United States12796 Posts

April 19 2010 09:37 GMT

#10

lol stop playing if it's not fun :p
don't be OCD

3FFA

United States3931 Posts

April 19 2010 11:08 GMT

#11

On April 19 2010 17:41 jodogohoo wrote:
i can only play like ONE game before getting tired

Same but I'm not tired of the game! I also end up hot and as my cpu heats up I heat up(since I got my fingers all over the thing and use a laptop with a good Logitech® mouse attached). Take last Saturday for instance, I played for 6hours straight at which point my stomach told me it was Lunch time and then I logged off b.net(only got Mac and for some reason ICcup will ALWAYS kick me even with bootcamp)and while I was eating my awesome PB&J sandwich(I was pretty tired out and couldn't use my imagination and just used what 1st popped in my head, if it was cereal, I would've had cereal!)my Mom came in the room and she said, insert name here,"you look like you've been sitting running miles every hour, not playing SC!" I looked down and literally all of my skin was red! I felt really hot but the pure hunger had taken priority.

Then I realized something...

... I usually only play for 3-4 hours a day straight up! Now I knew why!

krndandaman

Mozambique16569 Posts

April 19 2010 12:11 GMT

#12

--- Nuked ---

In)Spire

United States1323 Posts

April 19 2010 12:49 GMT

#13

Iono, I used to have 12 hr gaming sessions during the summer and I had no real problems with it. Maybe because I'm Korean lol...

sYz-Adrenaline

United States1850 Posts

April 19 2010 15:56 GMT

#14

Go for a 10 mile run and compare please

Im sure you'll say the 10 mile sucks more

merz

Sweden2760 Posts

April 19 2010 16:10 GMT

#15

I've never really had this problem to be honest, more like the opposite, if I know that I can only play 1-3 games before I have to do something else, I'd rather not play at all and just surf tl.net for example ;o Kinda makes me stressful to know that I "only" have 3 games to play, whereas when I know I can basically play all day it feels much less stressful.

L_Master

United States8017 Posts

April 19 2010 16:17 GMT

#16

Go for a 10 mile run and compare please

Im sure you'll say the 10 mile sucks more

10 miles, suck...you got the wrong idea man, thats good stuff. I typically run anywhere between 50-80 miles per week, so I've done plenty of runs of 10 and longer. As long as you run most of your runs at a nice, easy pace and don't try to do too much to fast running isn't bad at all.

And don't get my wrong, I'm not saying the StarCraft isn't fun in these longer sessions, just that it was surprisingly draining.

Axonn

Croatia287 Posts

April 19 2010 22:42 GMT

#17

Oh you are absolutely right about mental energy needed to play starcraft and yes it's quite hard and you feel exhausted. BUT! (there's always a but :D) Just remember that this is more then just a game this is something that you can benefit from irl and if you are tired from lots of tense games as Dr. Day 9 would recommend: play some BGH. Have fun

Hypnosis

United States2061 Posts

April 19 2010 22:54 GMT

#18

go outside after 3-4 games and walk around, it makes you way better when you come back inside!

N.geNuity

United States5111 Posts

April 20 2010 00:13 GMT

#19

Were your eyes tired? Did you drink anything? Those are probably the biggest two.

I have no idea how long 36 holes of golf would take, but I'm guessing if you do that in the sun it'd be much more exhausting. And as for 10 miles, yeah 10 miles at an easy pace (easy pace is relative to how fast you are) might be less exhausting, but the analogy would be 10 miles easy pace : leisurely surfing the web.

5 hours of intense starcraft : 10 miles of hard running, the 10 miles will be more tiring.

But I'm guessing you a) didn't drink enough liquids b) didn't eat enough c) eyes got tired d) focusing on anything for 5 hours is tough