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A little about this experiment Like most of us here at Teamliquid, I have this fantasy of one day making it as a progamer. We all know a massive amount of practice goes into it, and the chances of making it big time are slim to none. However, because I still want to feel what they go through, tomorrow I am going to be doing what it would feel like to be a "Progamer for a day." With this experiment will be coming blogs, streaming, and maybe pictures.
A little about me I'm Imjorman, an upper platinum Terran player who is trying to get into masters before the end of the fall semester (December). My goal isn't lofty, but I really just want to get masters so I can feel like I can really "start" playing the game for all its worth. I really just want to get better at this game, and this experiment would make me realize how much work would actually go into being soo good at this game. The longest I've ever played before was 4 hours and man that felt like a marathon. What would it feel like to play for 10-12 like the pro's do daily?
Here's the schedule I'll be following (all times EST):
10:00 AM - wake and do morning routine 10:30 - 12:30 PM - Play ladder games 12:30 PM - 1:30 - Working lunch: Eating while analyzing replays from 10:30 - 12:30 session; as well as posting an updated blog on how things are going. 1:30 - 5:30 - Play ladder games 5:30 - 6:30 - Working dinner: eating while analyzing replays from 1:30 - 5:30 session; as well as posting an updated blog on how things are going. 6:30- 10:30 - Play ladder games 10:30 - onward - Analyze final session of games (6:30 - 10:30), post a final blog on how things went, and then not look at anything SC2 related
Objectives [ ]Perfect a build order for TvT (probably blue flame hellions into more blue flame hellions ) [ ]Work on transitions against zerg. 2 rax pressure into tank is what I'm doing right now, but need more options :D
Bonus [ ]Get promoted into diamond league
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This is pretty much what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. I realize that Pro's do more than ladder in their practice, so if anyone wants to do some practice games with various scenarious, let me know in Bnet at Imjorman.348. In addition to all of this, I'll be streaming the ladder on my twitch.tv account at: http://www.twitch.tv/imjorman and updating my progress on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/imjorman
I hope you guys tune in to watch this and read the blog as it will be interesting to see how the "progaming" life effects just an average joe :D
edit 1: Changed schedule a bit to reflect not doing micro trainers, just simply playing. edit 2: Added objectives...more objectives to come? edit 3: Added twitter info edit 4: A link to the prologue for today - http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=252876 A link to the review of my first play session - http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=252919
edit 5: going to be updating in here from now on. 1:30-5:30 session is terrible. Lost all but two games. I just can't keep this kind of focus. I have a new respect for the players that practice all day everyday. I'm prertty much exhausted. I'm gonna call it for today and it sucks I didn't meet my 10 hour goal, but honestly I feel like I was hurting my play more than helping.
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good luck man, dont think i'll be able to watch your stream but i hope it helps you get better and learn more about programer's lifes
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ill play with u
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Most I've played is about 200 games right before MLG DC over a 3 day span. Played about 16 hours a day. There was a lot of cheesing involved. I'm pretty sure I very rarely went past 2 bases in my gameplan.
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Katowice25012 Posts
This sounds fun, best of luck
Looking forward to hearing the updates!
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micro/macro trainers are very pointless. But regardless, gl :O!
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On August 09 2011 04:06 KawaiiRice wrote: micro/macro trainers are very pointless. But regardless, gl :O!
Well that's good input :D Would you just say its better to grind out games and analyze? In addition, does my schedule resemble something of yours or other pros? I don't wanna have an "unrealistic" experience.
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Hey goodluck man. I've done the Progamer for a day experiment as well (although I didn't publicize it). You'll find that you'll learn a lot more by playing those extra hours, and you'll see it in a matter of a few days after once your brain has soaked in all of that information. It's quite exhausting though. I remember my mind was steaming from the stress of taking in so much info. It's a good thing you made time to analyze your replays, you'll definitely want to have a break.
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Sounds like it'll be a fun stream.
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Good luck in your busy day!
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Thanks for all the support :D I'm going to have my webcam streaming that day as well (just be overlayed on top of the the game screen) so you guys can see me slowly implode under the exhaustion that is sure to incur
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For the most part I think your schedule is good. I don't recommend playing standard macro games all the time though, have at least 2-3 hours dedicated to perfecting a particular build order and testing it against different races on different maps. I'm sure progamers don't practice standard 1v1 all day - they probably try out a list of things including a very special cheese that works well in a map, or practice to counter it. Maybe if you can get a couple "practice partners," you should work on cheesing / defending cheese. I'm not a good player (nor do I have the time to play the game for that long) so I can't be your practice partner D=
Other than that, should be a fun but exhausting experiment. Best of luck, you're going to need a couple energy drinks I think =)
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On August 09 2011 04:37 OpticalShot wrote: For the most part I think your schedule is good. I don't recommend playing standard macro games all the time though, have at least 2-3 hours dedicated to perfecting a particular build order and testing it against different races on different maps. I'm sure progamers don't practice standard 1v1 all day - they probably try out a list of things including a very special cheese that works well in a map, or practice to counter it. Maybe if you can get a couple "practice partners," you should work on cheesing / defending cheese. I'm not a good player (nor do I have the time to play the game for that long) so I can't be your practice partner D=
Other than that, should be a fun but exhausting experiment. Best of luck, you're going to need a couple energy drinks I think =)
This is good input Yeah I doubt ladder will have the ability to provide me solid practice all the day long. I probably will spend some time against the computer (or alone) practicing some builds for the various matchups. Like in TvT, I don't have an actual build, I just kinda wing it. So that can be something! I need to make an objectives list!
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I might do this myself some day. Not tomorrow though, must watch GSL code S!
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I'll probably try to contact you to play some games, your idea kinda made me want to play again :D
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On August 09 2011 04:51 Capsize wrote: I'll probably try to contact you to play some games, your idea kinda made me want to play again :D
Glad I could be of service. Yeah man, hit me up I'm looking for partners hardcore for tomorrow :D:D
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I'll be watching your stream best of luck!
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On August 09 2011 05:05 billiebrightside wrote:I'll be watching your stream best of luck!
Thanks I'm looking forward to the experience.
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great idea, ive been trying this but just cant force myself to stick to my schedule as i have a tendency to wake up later than i plan for T.T the times i have though, its been incredibly helpful gl
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I'm getting pretty excited. In this blog I'll link to my updated blogs so the OP doesn't get ridiculously long lol
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I tried grinding games too, it depends if I win or lose I guess. If I win, I think I can go on for like 4 hours, if I lose- 2. I'm adding you too for practice, my TvZ needs refinement.
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the most important thing about grinding games is that you need an extremely solid game plan for each matchup. You need a detailed idea of what to do vs every possible thing they could throw at you, and then practice the crap out of it. i suggest you post it here for feedback
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On August 09 2011 06:39 TheAwesomeAll wrote:the most important thing about grinding games is that you need an extremely solid game plan for each matchup. You need a detailed idea of what to do vs every possible thing they could throw at you, and then practice the crap out of it. i suggest you post it here for feedback
In my blogs tomorrow I'll be posting replays that simply don't make sense to me or ones that I can't seem to analyze properly. Obviously against T I have a lot of responses to various scenarios played out, but against Z and P I need refinement.
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Cool idea I wish you best of luck!
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Nice little experiment! Pfft if I would that that schedule for one day, I would be so tired :D. I hope you succeed in your objectives and wish you the best luck! GLHF!
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depends on what you mean by pro. I doubt there are very many non Korean players who follow a routine that strictly, a lot of them actually talk pretty openly about how little they practice.
Korean players however, probably do this but even more hardcore
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On August 09 2011 08:38 Xeris wrote:depends on what you mean by pro. I doubt there are very many non Korean players who follow a routine that strictly, a lot of them actually talk pretty openly about how little they practice. Korean players however, probably do this but even more hardcore
By pro I mean good ones ^^
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On August 09 2011 08:39 imjorman wrote:Show nested quote +On August 09 2011 08:38 Xeris wrote:depends on what you mean by pro. I doubt there are very many non Korean players who follow a routine that strictly, a lot of them actually talk pretty openly about how little they practice. Korean players however, probably do this but even more hardcore By pro I mean good ones ^^
dang that was rough!
GL HF!
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On August 09 2011 10:25 Kfish wrote:Show nested quote +On August 09 2011 08:39 imjorman wrote:On August 09 2011 08:38 Xeris wrote:depends on what you mean by pro. I doubt there are very many non Korean players who follow a routine that strictly, a lot of them actually talk pretty openly about how little they practice. Korean players however, probably do this but even more hardcore By pro I mean good ones ^^ dang that was rough! GL HF!
Haha after Anaheim there was a great post on reddit about the practice schedule of the Koreans vs. the world. They just practice sooooo much more. It might not be healthy overall, but if we think about it, the people who excel most at their craft in this world lack in other things. If being "well-rounded" is your goal, then that's great, but if you want to truly be the best at something, you have to sacrifice. Outstanding thread and viewpoint, really.
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You should try to get a coach and/or practice partners. Porgamers don't just ladder all day. They play customs with coaches over their shoulder, try new things.
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Rycerz.425, diamond protoss on EU&US last season and haven't played any ladder since. PM me or ask here whenever you want to practice TvP, I would gladly help
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Definitely sounds like a great idea, best of luck!
A few things though seem a bit off, why so much ladder? Surely you can find a couple of practice partners for different match-ups?
What about replay analysis and build order refinement before you go on the ladder, so you could practice the whole process from "wow that guy plays guuud, I wanna copy his build" to "wow I play guuud"?
And if you really want an artifical trainer, try the TL multitasking trainer, it's a lot of fun and pretty insanely hard =D
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