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I suck, I realize quite clearly that I am not a very good player, but the thing is ... I love this game, I loved it 10 years ago when I was in high school and I love it now.
But playing on ranked and losing (currently at 37% Win rate) over and over really kills me on the inside. (I am a very competitive person, so it hurts when I lose)
How do you guys keep the motivation to keep playing and not get ultra depressed? Because what happens now is I play, I lose a lot then I get depressed and don't play, which makes it harder to do well next time i do play.
Any help or personal stories on how one overcame their own demons?
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For me it's all too easy. I just think this is the nature of the game - there will always be people that will beat you to a state where you think you're retarded, nothing can be done about it. The way to keep motivated for me, when I used to play more and I was B-/low B at ICCup was to compete with myself, not with other people. When I watched my replays I noted what I did wrong, which were all sorts of things. Then I would start to root them out of my game, one by one. Like, I am messing the build. Ok, I focus on being timely with buildings and probes, at least until the layout of the build is done. Then macro, then micro. That was the priority. Thus, at some later point in time, I'd watch a replay and see that I am doing at least the build correctly. This itself was an amazing improvement at the time. When a few builds became fluid, I focused on other parts of the game and that's pretty much it.
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This is definitely a common issue and one of the big reasons why 1v1 games can be the most mentally taxing. I've actually gone through a very similar situation myself recently, so I can offer advice on what helped me stay motivated.
About a month before SC:R was to be released, I decided to get back into Brood War to relearn all the things I had forgotten over 12 years of not playing. When I played on the Bnet servers it was very difficult to get games and the games I did get tended to be super beginner players. So, I turned to the Fish server to practice and learn. I was told I needed to play 72 hours and get 20(?) wins before I could play ladder. In my effort to do that, I ended up going 16-88 in regular melee 1v1s over the course of the month.
It was extremely rough, and toward the start when I was 2-40 or so, I considered giving up because they just had so much of an experience advantage. But, I remembered something I learned in BW back in the day and from playing poker. The most important thing is not whether you win or lose, but personal growth and progress.
Instead of worrying about winning these games, I just focused on refining my build orders, multi-tasking as well as I possibly could and spending time outside of playing to learn all the common strategies for each race.
I went into single-player and practiced at least 1 build for each race and matchup (up to a certain point for each one) for a few hours, until I felt like I had a solid grasp on how the build progressed and was able to perform the build at least 95% optimally without an opponent.
This was step one, spend time outside of vsing people learning the game and improving everything I could without the stress of losing.
After this, I took my game back to bnet and started putting what I'd learned into motion. I'd play 5 games each day and spend whatever other time I could allocate to Starcraft making out of the game improvements. Single-player build order practice, micro maps, some Fastest Map Ever for fun and to practice macro. Replay analysis and watching YouTube videos such as the "Translated Starcraft Videos". I watched the EffOrt Escape from F series repeatedly and managed to pick up new small information each time.
I slowly began to see myself get better, but on Fish it still wasn't particularly obvious in my results because the players there were just so good.
But, all that losing and single-player practice paid off as soon as Remastered came out. I was able to quickly gain ranks on the ladder, breaking 2000 MMR in the first couple of days and feeling really good about myself. Now, I'm at another roadblock, stuck ~2300 MMR and I'm back to the drawing board doing the same thing. 5 games a day on work days, ~20 games a day on weekends and lots of outside the game study.
It's a long journey, but the important point is that Starcraft is a game of personal growth. I know it's difficult, but try not to judge yourself so much by whether you win or lose. Judge yourself by what you've learned, how you've progressed, and your tenacity to continue getting better.
When you start to see different skills, even things as simple as worker splitting go from conscious incompetence, to conscious competence, to unconscious competence it's extremely rewarding and feels great to have the knowledge that your practice is working.
Sorry for the super long-winded response, hopefully this was helpful at least haha!
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You know that does help, I think I've just been putting way too much emphasis on winning and losing. I'll try what you guys said and try and focus instead on improving myself.
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If you have interest in getting better than improve yourself and in turn when you see the results of your improvement it gives you tons of motivation.
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The reason why I stopped playing BW It is very hard for me to lose and I was bashing my keyboard quite often playing until 4am to get just that one win before sleep. Not the right approach if you ask me. I think IntoTheStorm gave a very good advice. Such is the nature of the game. Something that I would try doing now if I did want to invest more time in BW. Watch your replays every time, don't be lazy. Refine your builds and try to play better each consequent game. Don't give up just yet!
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Choose a race, choose a map, choose a build. Repeat it as much as you can. Losing means nothing, especially now because this "Frontier league" is a test thing and going to reset later, take your time to practice until next season. If you get bored/stressed from ladder just create your own lobby like "1:1 noob". You can try BGH or 2x2 for warm up. Don't set a goal like x amount of wins BUT x amount of games no matter what result will outcome, this will keep you playing no matter what results. GL!
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I'm naturally insanely competitive but every time i get angry the thing that seems to relax me a bit is to stop and remember it's just a game and then I either watch the replay or super analyze what i could have done better and what i did wrong.
IntoTheStorm brings up SUCH an great point and im glad i read it just now because that is how It was for me when i came back to starcraft. It was all about improving myself and loosing didn't really matter, I could care less. Then i started to take losses personally and wanting to avenge myself and totally forgot about the main goal which was to concentrate on improving the mechanical part of my gameplay.
Really grateful for that comment, reminded me of what I was trying to do 2 months ago. Games lately have been really stressful, feel like i'm on the same boat. Thanks
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I have had a lot of patience previously learning difficult multiplayer games with a small seasoned playerbase,(Quake, Street Fighter) but Brood War really is something else. I have realized that a lot of the reason it's so frustrating to lose is how the game itself is designed. In Brood War you actually spend so much time initially in the match just trying to macro correctly which is in itself difficult 'game' and you expand, tech and build production constantly building up to an expectation which is so often very suddenly disappointed. And when that happens, it's usually due to something you could have done, something you know you should have done but that you likewise just didn't do, since the game is about multitasking and not getting distracted. I believe this is also the reason the game feels so "balanced" since it's hard to chalk things up to not being your own fault. I think it's an amazing game though and that it's just as elating to actually win a match as it is distressing to win one.
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Play only for fun and it will make you not care about losing. Play some silly builds to break your anxiety. Usually people quit because they are on a prolonged slump. Losing streaks are why most people quit sc. So learn how to be a better loser. Play non-traditional even if it means you'll lose more. Key is to have more fun.
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I've always loved the game and wanted to be good/better. But I didn't know what I was doing when the game was released so I put it down for ~16 years and picked it back up last year. I played on iccup and hovered around 0 points for a while and eventually started winning like 1/3rd of my games so I think I know where you're coming from.
What people already mentioned here is good advice but what I think keeps me motivated is that I consider this game to be like exercise. I think playing the game competitively is good for your brain and reflexes and hand+finger dexterity. So while aging, I'm hoping this is a better use of some free time compared to just watching TV or browsing mindlessly.
Also, I find it fun.
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On October 23 2017 00:50 oldbozo wrote: I've always loved the game and wanted to be good/better. But I didn't know what I was doing when the game was released so I put it down for ~16 years and picked it back up last year. I played on iccup and hovered around 0 points for a while and eventually started winning like 1/3rd of my games so I think I know where you're coming from.
What people already mentioned here is good advice but what I think keeps me motivated is that I consider this game to be like exercise. I think playing the game competitively is good for your brain and reflexes and hand+finger dexterity. So while aging, I'm hoping this is a better use of some free time compared to just watching TV or browsing mindlessly.
Also, I find it fun.
It's hard to have fun when someone with 198 APM completely wrecks me in a game just for the lulz, I wouldn't mind some gradient of learning. I'm not learning or having fun when someone beats me within 2 minutes with a perfect build order. It would be like telling someone to box Mike Tyson who wants to learn boxing.
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Is there actually a safe space where people that are picking up the game again after over 10 years can play without playing diamond level players on their 24th account?
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I think smurfing is much less of a problem now with the ladder. I would guess that the main reason you suddenly face much more tough opponents is due to the fluctuating player base over the course of the day. If you play during Korean hours you will face much better players at the same mmr than on their off hours.
If you are very new, you can also create 1v1 melee games for noobs.
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On October 23 2017 01:06 Cryoc wrote: I think smurfing is much less of a problem now with the ladder. I would guess that the main reason you suddenly face much more tough opponents is due to the fluctuating player base over the course of the day. If you play during Korean hours you will face much better players at the same mmr than on their off hours.
If you are very new, you can also create 1v1 melee games for noobs.
That's unfortunate, I'm trying to play games with my friend who lives in Japan, and unfortunately we play in the early morning / Korean Evening.
Maybe we'll have to play another RTS, because playing well seasoned players, and then getting flamed is pretty discouraging.
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i hate myself so much after a lossing streak that i quit the game for 1 or 2 days.
thats my way of dealing with loss.
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United Kingdom12009 Posts
On October 23 2017 01:09 XenOsky- wrote: i hate myself so much after a lossing streak that i quit the game for 1 or 2 days.
thats my way of dealing with loss.
That really doesn't help. If you want to get better you need to play a few games a day honestly.
Taking a break means your mechanics don't get engrained in your muscle memory as much.
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i know that, but mechanics is not my problem when lossing.
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You should make friends that are around your level and play them when you can.
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On October 22 2017 17:43 DeuS_CaNoN wrote: How do you guys keep the motivation to keep playing and not get ultra depressed? Maybe try this: Change your attitude from winning into become a better player and enjoy the game itself.
For example: Analyse replays to find holes in your playstyle and read liquipedia, talk with others* about theorycraft, on how to react to specific situations. If you are a competitive player, you should be able to enjoy this and get motivation to try it out and play the game again. Even after hard losses.
Another Example could be dont worry about fancy vulture micro, muta micro or whatever your race is. Focus on macro and get your game flow of mechanics running. Set up three bases and enjoy how it feels to have them under control, switch quickley from screen to screen with hotkeys and manage your army. No need to. Dont rush an attack in a good position, if you have a feeling, that it would turn the game against you: There are two ways to be victorious, either by winning or opponent surrendering.
But celebrating a victory isnt the only thing. Having a "good" game is fun too, wether win or lose. Or just do some custom maps in between for variation.
*discord is the new skype for chatting and talking
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