248: Slave to the Overmind

[SultanP]

Anything that a computer has a chance of doing better I can't ever claim to be a "sport" or even "pro" at.

What about a computer with a "body"? A computer with an engine and wheels could beat people at running, is it no longer a sport? Just because we can build something that can perform a task better than we ourselves could, shouldn't mean it isn't a sport any longer. Eventually, as technology progresses, we'll run out of things to call sport.

 

[Kurt Horsting]

If you aren't learning, then your truly losing. In any game. I have been C- in iccup for forever, but at least i still have fun when i play (and currently 90th in my platinum division... so ya, not the best by far.) Also, if you really want to improve yourself, you need to see yourself more objectively. As in, have someone else help you see your faults and improve them. Just feel that you can always learn, and you can always improve, and don't let losing get to you.

Fighting games are my main competitive genre, but I do want to get better at rts because i respect the skills of the genre, and i think it makes me a better gamer in general.

I know playing competitively isn't for everyone, but I'm still having fun trying to do my best against the best my local community can bring against me, learning new things, meeting new people, challenging rivals, and bringing up new players. Thats what real competition means to me anyway.

 

[Starke]

He's dead right about one thing. Competitive Starcraft is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. When it comes to actually playing, I migrated off to DoW years ago.

 

[Dectilon]

"And when I finally uninstalled it, I had nothing to show for all my efforts."

Well, not entirely true. You'll have a much easier time picking up other RTS' now at least.

I had a similar problem with Wc3 until I realized it's a matter of perspective kind of. Relinquishing the thought of "goin' pro" makes these games a lot less stressful. Now, it's probably easier in Wc3 since it had a better matchmaking system and a much better UI so there was more focus on the fighting than on queuing up units to replace the ones you lost. A better game if you didn't have big ambitions I guess.

If you haven't you really should try SC2 when it comes out. It's much easier to pick up and play even if it's currently not exactly issue-free.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Wow, great article. Very much reminds me of my teenage years playing Counter-Strike, except I never seriously aspired to play competitively. I only ever got to play one scrim and the only kills I got were in one epic round where I hid behind a box and steam-rolled all five opponents with an MP5. ANYWAY, what I can relate to is the frustration and desire to achieve more in a game that I obviously had little talent in. Thankfully I eventually resigned to only playing CS for the enjoyment of surf maps and gun game, which actually improved my shooting skills. Now I play the hell out of TF2 and am pretty good at it, but I don't binge on it the way I used to binge on CS. Thanks for writing this article.

 

[D-Ship]

No, I don't have a lot of respect for chess and neither did Bobby Fischer after a while. Its a memory game with finite number of moves.

If you think a "perfect" or insanely cheap AI couldn't be made for an RTS you are sorely mistaken. Many maps have a finite number of places to move, attack from, and work with. Some of the hardest parts of making an AI once the system is solid is to make a realistic AI, not some insane cheap thing that can outperform some one to frustration.

Think about it, two of the fastest people in the world at micro managing and making decisions play out their strategies 1:1 and whoever happened to start first will win. Many of these games are decided within minutes and a well balanced game always has a counter.

That's a fair point, but I still think progamers should get their due. Not being able to beat a computer is becoming less and less a mark of shame at the rate tech is improving. Sports in general (not the e-variety), aside from creative endeavors, are probably farthest away from seeing the impact of improved AI/robotics, but that won't always be the case.

There are still modern analogs - take players and enhancement drugs in pro sports. It's becoming more and more the case that taking steroids or whatnot will disqualify you from playing. Why? Aside from health risks and legality, it's an unfair advantage. The whole "gun to the knife fight" scenario. We want to see players competing with raw and naturally refined talent. The same could be said of cyber games. Yes, an AI will beat them, but that's the same artificial VS natural argument of juicing in sports. Whether or not artificially improved players are better is not the issue - it's who performs best on their own.

The argument is kind of a stretch, but I can't help but think the underlying theme is similar.

 

[Valiance]

This article is so incredibly close to home, I don't even know where to start a comment.

Considering I played Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Unreal Tournament 2004, Quake Live competitively, and even had a team sponsorship (no, not a clan, a TEAM) for Starcraft and Quake Live, I don't even know what to say.

The Starcraft feeling is beyond true.

There were days where I would "play" Starcraft for 6 hours, which basically consisted of me going on PGT (before iCCup) or a TL hamachi and observing more games than I played.
There would be the days where I'd head back on US East and idle in a couple clan channels hoping I could find someone to practice TvP with, when it ended up being a giant pissing contest in a battle.net chat room.
There would be days where I just go on and couldn't even arrange a map because no one would play Gaia or Paranoid Android and just refused to play anything but Lost Temple and Luna. Or no one wanted to play against a Terran. And 45 minutes would go by with me just dicking around wishing I could practice and couldn't.

When I actually did get to practice, most of the time everyone was incredibly rude.

If I won, we'd have like 6 people in obs who would insult and ridicule the other player after the game, who would be angry and bitter at me, complaining that my strategy was stupid or cheap or I'm "all hands" and "no brain."

If I lost, it'd be the reverse, except I'd be more gracious about it, and be labeled a pussy in their clique.

It got even more terrible once I had a team, because it seemed like I was the only one who wanted to play and get better without any drama. My best friend there was German and he and I got along great because we played with each other often. There was never an ill time, a bad word, just simple, polite, professional gameplay, with not much speaking other than a "gg" and "glhf." If everyone in the community was like that, I probably would have continued on.

However, any loss was a 30 minute bitchfest in chat before the next match started, and any win was echoed throughout the tubes of the internet until someone "heard you beat up my friend/clan-man/teammate. you think you're good? play THIS GUY, and have your skill be judged off one game on one map you don't like in a matchup that isn't your best."

For me, the community was the PROBLEM. I wasn't interested in winning, losing, or being accepted. I was interested in playing the game with good people in a good environment to better myself and improve my skills.

There was nowhere for me, as I couldn't be above people who called anyone who beat them scrubs and made excuses for every loss, since, as you know, WINNING is what mattered to them.

~~~~~~~~

In the end, the accounts expired, 2000+ games are all erased from record, the forum accounts deactivated, my personality not missed, except for one person I met in real life who had watched a VOD of a tournament game I played in and recognized me in real life from admiring me as being an up-and-coming Terran.

That made me feel pretty great, but I had felt like I failed, it was nigh-impossible to achieve any goal of playing 'professionally,' and to be honest, it wasn't even very fun when I WAS playing.

The social implications ruined it for me, because no one was as clean and simple and professional that I could find unless they were much, much better than me, and I couldn't gauge my progress against them, since I'd pretty much win or lose in the first 5 minutes.

 

[Sevre]

You really know how to put me off Starcraft 2.

 

[Red_Fog]

This reminds me of when I was playing Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance competitively. The whole playing a game just to win thing kinda takes the whole point of having a fun experience away, but for a while, the ranking system and win-loss records did make it more exhilarating. The fact that each match has a consequence in your rank makes it seem like more is on the line and seemed to make the close matches just that much more intense due to each player's drive to win. I eventually reached rank 27, which was awesome for me. To be ranked in the top 30 people in the world at something was a huge sense of accomplishment. And when you do a random match with someone and they're like "Oh shoot. I know your name, I saw you in a game replay I watched, you're good!" it makes you feel awesome.

Then I went on a vacation with my family and didn't play any ranked matches for almost a week, come back and see my rank has gone down nearly 10 places. That's when I caught myself thinking, "Man! Now I'm gonna have to play like 5 extra matches a day to catch up to where I used to be!" I stopped right then and there. I knew that if I had done that it would have taken over my life, and all over some game that even most gamers haven't really heard of.

That being said, those ranked matches were some of the most challenging, and fun experiences I've had. I remember one day I was randomly matched up with the #2 seed. It was an epic, awesome battle that I lost with honor, then right after that we were randomly matched up again on the exact same map only switching starting points, had an even more awesome, epic battle and I pulled some crazy plan out of my butt and won! Those were the two best games I ever played, and we were both very polite in our victories and honorable in our defeats. Also probably why I had as much fun as I did, most people who played that game had more "gaming honor" than I've seen in other games. Very few people complained or bitched about losing or lorded victories over their opponents. I encountered a couple, but not many, and most were helpful, and many experienced player, including my self would offer advice, even during the game if they were clearly noobs.

 

[backlashhg]

Its too bad that you didn't have fun getting competitive.

I think the reason getting competitive at Starcraft (C- on ICCUP, not amazing of course)was so fun for me was because I did it with 3-4 friends and we all kept on 1uping each other. Competitive Starcraft, far from being stressful, was mostly relaxing Yes it requires constant attention and adrenaline during the match, but that's something I liked and it was very stimulating.

 

[Necrofudge]

Weird... I've been playing Starcraft for maybe 5 years now and I've never had these problems. I quickly picked up on the strategy and enjoy the game to this day. And maybe if you didn't play on a private network, you'd realize that there are more types of games than the standard FFA or Melee map. Try playing Use Map Settings games if you suck that badly.

 

[Koganesaga]

Eh, I beat damn near everyone around me in Starcraft, but you're a fool if you want to tango with the big boys, no matter how good you are they'll likely dwarf you within minutes of the match.

P.S. WTF is with that stupid APM thing? Oh cool you can do 300-400 APM all match! What are you doing with those actions? Going over things you know aren't done or ready with hotkeys, going really fast to seem like you're doing something important. Seriously, if someone could give me a valid reason to care about APM or why it's not utterly stupid, please explain.

 

[MagmaMan]

This is why I'm pro/casual. I certainly like to win and will try my best to win, but I put having fun above all else. That's the point of video games. Entertainment.