Any tips on explaining this game to people with no background in rts or gaming at all?
Girlfriend and Starcraft
Blogs > imjorman |
imjorman
United States580 Posts
Any tips on explaining this game to people with no background in rts or gaming at all? | ||
LonelyIslands
Canada590 Posts
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Roe
Canada6002 Posts
On April 21 2011 12:46 imjorman wrote: Just throwing this up as a quick question for everyone out there. I have a girlfriend who has little to no interest in Starcraft/ESPORTS/gaming in general. I don't mind that she has no interest to play, but when we get together, I generally want to watch a series or two with her. The problem is, I have no idea how to explain it to her. We watch matches and I'm just like "uhh he's trying to kill the other guys units." The only thing she gets right now is that the higher food count is more than likely winning. Any tips on explaining this game to people with no background in rts or gaming at all? well. let's SEE WHAT WE CAN DO first. think about what interests you in the game, what drives you to watch more. then just spell that out in wording. so like, oh wow, he completely shut down his economy...he better do something fast or else he'll be out of the gayme!! uh yeah. other than that, if it doens't interest her then try not to force it upon her, but it seems like she's giving it a shot, so perhaps another thing would be to pick up and illustrate the finesse of the players and their actions. mucho sorry i'm a bit drunk, but i hope that helps. it's like anything else though. like hockey, how would you explain to her what's going on? or poker, chess etc... hope that helps oh and does she have any hobbies she likes that you dont? does she do anything to get your interest in them?(DONT tell me boobies I already thought of that) hope that helps thanks for reading roe | ||
Chill
Calgary25940 Posts
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imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 12:53 Roe wrote: well. let's SEE WHAT WE CAN DO first. think about what interests you in the game, what drives you to watch more. then just spell that out in wording. so like, oh wow, he completely shut down his economy...he better do something fast or else he'll be out of the gayme!! uh yeah. other than that, if it doens't interest her then try not to force it upon her, but it seems like she's giving it a shot, so perhaps another thing would be to pick up and illustrate the finesse of the players and their actions. mucho sorry i'm a bit drunk, but i hope that helps. it's like anything else though. like hockey, how would you explain to her what's going on? or poker, chess etc... hope that helps oh and does she have any hobbies she likes that you dont? does she do anything to get your interest in them?(DONT tell me boobies I already thought of that) hope that helps thanks for reading roe I'm going to try maybe casting a few games for her and just explaining how things work out or perhaps have her watch some gsl vods! The casting archon will do a great job at at least getting her excited. Then from there I can perhaps expand into telling her a little more about units, whats going on, etc. Then perhaps play a game for her so she can see what's up? idk... Thanks for your help though bro :D Drunk or not, you did well. She likes basketball and she gets my attention by well...ok I still hate basketball | ||
Darkchylde
United States473 Posts
I'm lucky enough to have a fiancee that was brought up around video games by her brother and actually enjoys playing BW (even though she plays with cheat codes). At least your girlfriend is willing to watch, my best friend's fiancee watches TV while he plays and she mimics things she hears a lot like "SCV ready". | ||
imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 12:57 Chill wrote: I don't get how you can't explain Starcraft easily to someone... That's my delima Mr. Moderate temperature. I want her to get it, but I also don't want to flood her head with tons of data she's not gonna use and simply confuse her. This also has other practical applications. my apartment mates have no idea about starcraft and I suck at explaining that to them as well : / | ||
Zapdos_Smithh
Canada2620 Posts
On April 21 2011 12:46 imjorman wrote: We watch matches and I'm just like "uhh he's trying to kill the other guys units." So what...you talk to your girlfriend like she's 10 years old or something? | ||
Grobyc
Canada18410 Posts
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Legatus Lanius
2135 Posts
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imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:00 Zapdos_Smithh wrote: I'm sure you didn't come out of the womb with RTS knowledge and had it explained by somebody or a caster or w.e...so why don't you teach her as you were taught? Go over basics perhaps? Build from there? I can understand how it might be difficult to get somebody to understand something...but to have no clue how to even explain something flabbergasts me...turn your thoughts into words and bam...explanation. So what...you talk to your girlfriend like she's 10 years old or something? I think it's more of a lack of my ability to verbalize what I do rather than her ability to understand. She's very intelligent and I just don't know how to put such a complex game into terms that a nongamer can understand. Watching some GSl vods will be a good start. maybe some TSL on Saturday? | ||
Mikilatov
United States3897 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:00 imjorman wrote: That's my delima Mr. Moderate temperature. I want her to get it, but I also don't want to flood her head with tons of data she's not gonna use and simply confuse her. This also has other practical applications. my apartment mates have no idea about starcraft and I suck at explaining that to them as well : / I think you're likely looking at it in a much too complex manner. Keep it basic (resources/mining/units/techchoices/workercount comparisons), and then explain more complex moves as they happen. There's also a chance they're just plain not interested. Can't really force it on someone, but I do feel that after watching a bunch of games they'll grow to understand it naturally. Also, it helps to lure people in with personalities/storylines. Show em' games between big named players with storylined backgrounds. (Idra/Cruncher thingy, Mondi's return, etc. etc.) Quality commentary where the casters explain and get excited about these storylines or moves within the game helps. (Because they end up doing the explaining for you.) | ||
mikeymoo
Canada7170 Posts
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Chimpalimp
United States1135 Posts
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imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:17 mikeymoo wrote: Does she really care about the game or does she want to spend time with you? Does she have any interest in learning what the hell you're watching? I think it's both. She wouldn't watch it if I wouldn't have presented it to her, but like because we watch it she is interested in learning about it. At least at a spectator level, I doubt she'll ever be a player so I don't force the issue. I think I'm just gonna let some GSL/TSL VODS do the talking for me and try to fill in the gaps. Seems to be a general consensus. I'm still open to new ideas, however :D | ||
Chill
Calgary25940 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:00 imjorman wrote: That's my delima Mr. Moderate temperature. I want her to get it, but I also don't want to flood her head with tons of data she's not gonna use and simply confuse her. This also has other practical applications. my apartment mates have no idea about starcraft and I suck at explaining that to them as well : / Just explain the basics. The basis of the game is getting resources. Players make units to kill each other. Tell them about unit control and if something cool happens, explain what the player physically did that makes that cool. I can't really help any more. I've never had any problems explaining it :O | ||
Chill
Calgary25940 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:17 mikeymoo wrote: Does she really care about the game or does she want to spend time with you? Does she have any interest in learning what the hell you're watching? Irrelevant. I've never seen anyone have Starcraft explained to them well and show no interest. | ||
imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:24 Chimpalimp wrote: I think more or less she doesn't give a care what your watching, she just wants to spend time with you. If she really cared a little, it wouldn't be very hard to explain the basic idea of the game to her. I would consider thinking about what she wants to do, you might just be boring her by watching games while she is around. She has said before to me that she would enjoy the game better if she understood. So we decided not to watch anymore games until I could figure out how to explain it better. Also I plan on making a thing out of our first viewing: hook laptop up to tv, make popcorn, drinks, like a "movie night" kinda deal. | ||
Heyoka
Katowice25012 Posts
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imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:27 Chill wrote: Just explain the basics. The basis of the game is getting resources. Players make units to kill each other. Tell them about unit control and if something cool happens, explain what the player physically did that makes that cool. I can't really help any more. I've never had any problems explaining it :O Your also a top caster | ||
Chill
Calgary25940 Posts
Tell her to call me. I'll help. | ||
annul
United States2841 Posts
then she saw starjeweled, and she fucking loves that game. so thats the gateway to getting her into the game proper. | ||
imjorman
United States580 Posts
PM your skype info lol, I'd appreciate the help :D | ||
imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:34 annul wrote: show her starjeweled. i showed a female friend (not girlfriend, though) a lot of starcraft, only because she was curious what i was paying such attention to when we were skype camming. she always knows i watch lots of starcraft, so she started to watch it too, knowing absolutely nothing. then she saw starjeweled, and she fucking loves that game. so thats the gateway to getting her into the game proper. We've played a team game of starjewled once. She did the actually bejewled part and I picked what units to send, it was fun. | ||
RedJustice
United States1004 Posts
And get her to play custom games with you. It's much more laid back than ladder games, and a lot of variety. I'm sure there will be some games she likes that make a good introduction to actually playing the game. | ||
imjorman
United States580 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:40 RedJustice wrote: Mmmm... I had a good friend who was playing sc2, and got curious about it. I went and watched about 12 hours of husky (I know he's not a high level caster, but for someone with no idea about rts games, you can get the gist of what's happening at an intro level fro him), and learned to recognize the units of the different races, the general look of the meta game in the different matchups, and the basic macro ideas. Pretty much watching and paying attention to intro level casting (I think totalbiscut also does some intro type stuff) for a week or so should give you enough of an idea of the game to be able to watch and appreciate it with someone you can ask questions to. And get her to play custom games with you. It's much more laid back than ladder games, and a lot of variety. I'm sure there will be some games she likes that make a good introduction to actually playing the game. good help bro! I'll defiantly check out some H to the usky Husky tonight. | ||
Bereft
United States1007 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:35 imjorman wrote: PM your skype info lol, I'd appreciate the help :D LOL. chill & your gf 1 on 1 time do ittt! On April 21 2011 12:53 Roe wrote: oh and does she have any hobbies she likes that you dont? does she do anything to get your interest in them?(DONT tell me boobies I already thought of that) and hahaha, this is hilarious. | ||
mizU
United States12125 Posts
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Dhalphir
Australia1305 Posts
Dr Phil advice aside, consider just explaining the basics of how the game works, and make sure you watch as many games cast by Tasteless and Artosis as possible, as they tend to explain thigns quite well in beginner terms (my own fiancee watches SC2 with me) Is she not at all interested in playing the game? That would be the best way. | ||
Pwnographics
New Zealand1097 Posts
And I was someone who had never played Starcraft before, but when I bought the game I could indentify all the units, their abilities and roughly what they countered and how each unit was made. Sure I wasn't great at the game nor did I have a refined build order or anything, but I understood how the game worked. | ||
TheRhox
Canada868 Posts
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XenOsky
Chile2147 Posts
when his bothers and his friend get together and play she always go with them and pwn em, i went once and i won 2v1 and 3v1 vs these guys XDD | ||
Turgid
United States1623 Posts
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Antimage
Canada1293 Posts
Just make sure she understands the concept of 1. get workers to mine minerals and gas 2. use resources to make buildings 3. use those buildings to make an army 4. repeat personally i feel comfortable telling her wahts going on and why its exciting - i'd rather not listen to a cast or a day9 daily b/c then we dont get to talk about the game during =) | ||
Eluadyl
Turkey364 Posts
My gf is a gamer, and has been one since a long time ago. She plays bw and has played every damn rts, fps, unheard of genre there is. I can't get her to play sc2. She simply doesn't want it. What should I do? | ||
Anktious
United States190 Posts
On April 22 2011 00:50 Eluadyl wrote: I have a somewhat stranger dilemma. My gf is a gamer, and has been one since a long time ago. She plays bw and has played every damn rts, fps, unheard of genre there is. I can't get her to play sc2. She simply doesn't want it. What should I do? You should cry Or get her to watch the day9 daily. | ||
dstryr
United States69 Posts
On April 21 2011 13:28 Chill wrote: Irrelevant. I've never seen anyone have Starcraft explained to them well and show no interest. Chill, will you explain Starcraft well to my gf please? OP: I think it's difficult for someone with no hands-on experience with the game to get excited to watch it (at least initially.) I'm sure people have discussed it before, but the reason many people watch professional sports on US television is because they can relate to it-- they know the rules of the game, have played it themselves, or have grown up being influenced by it in one way or another. That being said, if she continued to watch it with you I'm sure she would pick up on more things and it would be more exicting, but when you have no idea what's going on it can't be very fun to watch. | ||
Insanious
Canada1251 Posts
On April 22 2011 00:50 Eluadyl wrote: I have a somewhat stranger dilemma. My gf is a gamer, and has been one since a long time ago. She plays bw and has played every damn rts, fps, unheard of genre there is. I can't get her to play sc2. She simply doesn't want it. What should I do? You should pick up BW, and play that with her . Problem Solved. | ||
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