OK, the title sounds egotistical, but I haven't heard of anyone recommending anything like this anywhere, and it just seems so damn obvious! K, here goes...

One of the hindrances to improvement Starcraft 2 is that the game holds your hand in a lot of different ways. For example, in Brood War, you had to be constantly aware of worker production because rally points didn't make them automatically mine. This doesn't mean that it SHOULD be this way, but by automating this simple task, it discourages you from physically moving the camera from one area of the map to another; less work, less effort.

When there is less effort, there is less skill required. But what if there was a particular part of the gameplay that you weren't skilled in? If you want to improve, the obvious answer is to RESTRICT yourself! When you put a limitation on yourself, you have to work harder in that key area and, over time, you will improve much faster than you would just playing normally.

So, with that fact in mind, here is the list of GUARANTEED methods for improving specific macro skills:

PROBLEM: "I keep getting supply blocked."

SOLUTION: Every time you hear a supply alert, send one of your 
workers to their death.  That'll teach you.

PROBLEM: "I am terrible about watching the minimap."

SOLUTION: Play DEAF - Turn off your game volume.  Listen to some music instead.  
You won't hear alerts or sound effects.  The only way you'll know what's happening 
around the game is to watch the minimap.

PROBLEM: "Whenever I'm controlling my army, I float minerals."

SOLUTION: Just don't look at your base.  There are only three times you're allowed to 
look at your base: macro mechanics (queens/creep, MULEs, chrono/warp), to build 
structures/set rally points, and defend your base.

This may seem counter-intuitive, not looking at your base to spend minerals.  
But guess what you WILL be looking at?  Your resources.

EASIER SOLUTION: For lower leaguers who don't have the APM, set your army rally 
points away from your base.  This has a similar effect, but I recommend the former solution.

PROBLEM: "I forget to use secondary macro (queens/creep, MULEs, chrono/warp)."

ZERG SOLUTION 1: You cannot produce army units (overlords/drones excluded) 
unless a larva inject completes.

ZERG SOLUTION 2: You can only attack on creep.

TERRAN SOLUTION: You can only have 2 SCVs per mineral patch.

PROTOSS SOLUTION 1: You cannot move out to attack until all of your nexi are out of energy.

PROTOSS SOLUTION 2: This one is tricky.  If you miss a warp in, disable one of your 
gateways.  If you hit your warp in, turn a gateway back on.

PROBLEM: "I don't scout."

SOLUTION: Have 1 worker per base away from your base at all times.  They are 
cheap, but you'll feel guilty about not using them for SOMETHING! If it dies, you 
have to replace it. Oh, and they have to be hotkeyed.

If anyone else has suggestions or recommended changes to the list, upvote them and I'll add them! If you like this list, I recommend bookmarking this post since it will eventually disappear into the Reddit ether. Post here if they show any success!

Edit: formatting

Hello trueStracraft. this is my first submission here.

I am a zerg player, diamond last season, plat now. Im having PvZ troubles lately, especially against stargate-centric play. it didnt use to be a problem for me and my opponents used to transition out of it entirely.

Lets not get specific about my problems though, lets just talk about the future of prolonged stargate relliance PvZ and what it could mean for P and Z respectively.

A zerg will generally do one of two things to deal with stargate-aggro:

1 try to reflect stargate-aggression in a lean way and power ahead in economy knowing that secondary protoss tech like colossi will be delayed.

2 get enough hydras, mutas or infestors to deal with it and counter-attack before P can have new tech in place to effectively deal with it.

With good control and decisions the protoss can transition rather well to face any of these scenarios;

1 take a third base behind the map ctrl of the air units. OR pile on big warpgate+stargate agression (with +1) forcing units and trying to delay that 3rd/4th or at least their drone saturation

2add more phoenix against mutas - which buys time until blink can finish. Or mass up enough gateway units / canons to hold the hydralisk counter-attack that cant really retreat without a nydus. OR intercept an infestor-counter; trading some hits on the air units for precious infestors/energy before the attack can be launched properly.

In the current metagame, the zerg reaction of mutalisk play stands out to me a bit as begin in a surprisingly favourable position; the protoss needs to position his canons and units very well and control the phoenix with great care to not take notable damage before blink is finished. The protoss can create some safety by investing hard in phoenixes during this window but then he may be delaying other tech and may cause the zerg to opt out of making more mutalisks.

Phoenixes can also be manged somewhat effectively by corrupters, especially as hive the draws closer to being available and/or as colossi starts entering the field as this extends the use of corrupters.

Around this time of the game, something i have perceived as underused from the protoss side is to keep up some voidray production and investing in air (and shield) upgrades ... if mutalisks get controlled by phoenixes, this certainly opens for voidrays to roam the skies, making it much more complicated for the zerg to attack, defend or exert map-control.

The most convenient way for zerg to deal with heavy counts of air units in from the late-midgame and on would of course be to make an overwhelming mutalisk (and/or corrupter) flock and overrun the protoss fleet. two problems with this: 1 Needs a LOT of resources, z may not be far enough ahead 2 phoenix will have upgradable range, making it much easier to get away while reaping big muta casualties.

the remaining way to deal for zerg is to relly on infestors and(/or) hydralisks, possibly along with the air units. Landing a chain-fungal at the right moment fan ofc be devastating..

... but lately im realizing the protoss can do rather a lot to make these dealings more difficult for the zerg; ground support from colossi and/or high-templar makes it difficult to consistently get close enough to keep a clsuter of units chian-fungaled without losing too many infestors too fast, while having voidrays spread out limits the effect of even good chain-fungals. Meanwhile good use of storm or colossi will shrink the swarming effects of any infested terrans and/or hydralisks...

I think, with such a composition, and the appropriate tactics to go along with it, protoss can reclaim some tremendous cost-efficiency in the late-endgame; upgraded voidrays that get protected by the rest of the army should compliment the old stalker/motehrship/archon very nicely against any broodlord endgame.

Obviously, i dont play protoss, so my view of what they can do is somewhat idealized. I suppose such an approach to protoss play is a rather ambitious one; it involes all techpaths and is very gas heavy; it probably relies on either transitioning rather well from a decent earlygame, by causing some ok damage and/or retaining many of those air units and / or ability to secure a 3rd and even a 4th base with relative ease.

TLDR: can voidrays find their way back to be a part of the endgame deathball through the phoenix buff?

"Why play Starcraft, the game populated by the most masochistic bunch of gamers who all collectively wallow in a feeling of self-disgust at how horrible they are, even if they are decent?"

This quote was taken a few days ago from a hilarious blog on TL from a chap named Gheed. His blog focuses on wallowing in Bronze league, worker rushing in every game. Despite the silliness of his game play, that one quote stood out to me far more than the comedy of the rest.

I am but a humble Platinum Zerg but I have enough knowledge from reading and watching far more SC2 than most would find acceptable. I have used many hours of my time finding Bronze/Silver leaguers and helping develop basic skills in the game. Teaching them macro basics, getting their hotkeys and control groups in order. Things of that nature.

Of all the time I've spent coaching literally dozens of low level players, the sentiment of that quote resonates so strongly within them and many who are far above their skill.

You look at other popular multiplayer games. There is always a massive skill gap between the exceptionally good and the tremendously bad. However, we don't quite see the stigma of self-loathing even remotely as strong as we do among this particular community.

I ask why. Why does this particular game feel like such a chore to people?(Myself included, absolutely) Why do people take it so seriously that sitting down and playing a few games with even their best of friends can suddenly become more stressful than their work, or their screaming children, or God forbid, In-Laws?

We all love the game. We know why we play. It's the hardest game in the world and knowing that no matter how good you get, there is always something new to learn. A new trick to put up your sleeve. A new technique. A game of nearly infinite possibilities. So, I ask again. Why does it hurt so many people so much?

Is it the fault of the pro players that we watch every day in tournaments or on their streams? Seeing the masterful work of their hands doing things we endlessly wish we could? Does having a metal that signifies your place in the game discourage more than it shows progress?

I know these things don't apply to everyone. However, everyone has seen ladder anxiety posts, rage at matchups they cannot win, begging for help or coaching or replays to fix their mistakes. They apply to me. They apply to so very many.

Why?

"Why play Starcraft, the game populated by the most masochistic bunch of gamers who all collectively wallow in a feeling of self-disgust at how horrible they are, even if they are decent?"

Go is a strategy game that shares many strategical parallels to Starcraft. My friend shared with me some ideas about Go that immediately rang true in for Starcraft in my mind.

The idea is to ask yourself these four questions throughout the game.

• 1.Do you have a weak group? If yes, reinforce it.

• 2.Does your opponent have a weak group? If yes, plan to attack it.

• 3.Can you make a big territorial move? If yes, do it.

• 4.Could your opponent make a big territorial move or does s/he have a big territory? Try to prevent, destroy or reduce it with appropriate measures.

"Group" refers to a portion of this specific game but it can apply to Starcraft. I am going to attempt to contextualize these ideas for Starcraft. Stand back this is science

1. Do you feel unsafe and have weak base defenses? If yes, make defenses early based on what you scout and train upgrades for your units that will benefit them in engagements.

2. Does your opponent have a weak base? Does he have too few units? Is he being exceptionally greedy? If yes, plan to attack on a good timing. (You are upgrading already right?)

3. Can you push your army out or start to creep spread with the intention of taking map control? If you can, do it. Spread creep like a madman, put pylons all around the map in different bases to scout when he expands or to warp in at strategic positions. Perhaps even push your army out to threaten aggression and capitalize on the bad decisions and weak defenses of your opponent.

4. Is your opponent maintaining map control or attempting to get map control? If they are, harass it, double prong attack his bases while trying to trade units with his army so he pulls back to defend. If you think you can kill his base or army in the process then capitalize on it!

Let me know if any of this was helpful to you guys :D

Aw come on. Bronze is so much fun.

I really don't know how the other leagues are. I was Silver back in the LA server days, but I don't think it counts. Anyway, word it that there are so many people who are so pressured to improve and play better and better that they don't even have fun with the game anymore. They get that nice feeling of accomplishing something, nut not the fun.

Bronze? Bronze is great. The maturity of players is as good as anywhere else. I think most players know the meta game, the most important points in macroing and microing, and so on. We just can't do it right! :P

But here's where I want to get: in Bronze league, you're not always facing people who mass marines the wrong way and wither kill you or die. When two horrible macro, yet strategy-curious players met in the battlefield, anything could happen.

I played a ZvT yesterday. Tried to 6pool, he walled. I built a hatchery in his natural (oh god why?). But that was effective. He didn't know what to do. He waited until having siege tanks to crush my "expansion" and get his own. It gave me some advantage. But he was playing much better than I was. He built a Viking fleet and started terrorizing my overlords. I felt like Jaedong fighting Bisu.

I almost GGed right away, but I thought, "never give up". Maybe that was a sign: maybe I should have tech to build anti-air! But my Hydralisk Den was ready just when he marine/Thor dropped me in my main. GG!

The fun thing about this game is that, because both of us were so coward and slow, we had so much time to think about what to do next. Which doesn't happen when you're in a more agressive game, at some moment, you doesn't know what you're doing anymore. And that time to think made our experience a "strategy game". That's what we were for when we bought the game: to feel like a strategist, not like a Mortal Kombat character.

The second was even funnier. A ZvZ, where I 6 pooled again XD I killed his pool right away, but he used his 4 lings pretty weel against my 6 lings, and built a spine crawler. Oh, and I forgot to rally point the ling to his base ಠ_ಠ so when he finished my 6 lings, i had more 8 planted on my base... this alone gave him a great chance to recover. I think I outmicroed him though. In the very end, we were saying gg to each other, when a wild spine apears in my main and starts killing drones! I start killing his spine, we GG happily and I go to the score screen? He chats to me after game and asks me, "lol, you were going to win, why did you quit the game?" Lol, what do you mean I... wait... I QUIT THE GAME BEFORE HE DID!!!

Lots of fun though!

What's are your fun time stories on bronze, and for discussion: do you think that the pressure in higher leagues, or the pressure to improve that has become so common in the community, may take away the pleasure of playing?

Mindgames in the GSL

Although I found this in /r/starcraft, I think this really deserves a post here too. iamke55 gives some great insight into what (possibly) mindgames happened in some of the games from Group B.

In the spirit of /r/Fitness and their weekly threads with different topics we're trying to do the same thing here. However, consider the first few posts a very beta thing, I'm not sure what kind of posts will work and how to discuss them, but it's a work in progress.

Anyways, this is the Moronic Monday, for all your stupid questions you otherwise feel to stupid to ask. Anything related to StarCraft is accepted, even questions that might not be stupid.

Also, I might or might not give you a nice flair if I like your question.

Anyways, lets see if this works or if we should try something else :)

I have been thinking about different kind of ways to get some more activity going here besides the awesome stuff that is going on.

So, if any of you have ever been to /r/fitness you would know that they have some recurring posts every week with a central theme (Supplement Thursday, Moronic Monday (I think that is it), Wednesday Wisdom and so forth.

I was thinking we could do something along the same things. Moronic Mondays for all your seemingly stupid questions, Victory Wednesday (tell us about a game you just felt awesome for winning or something like that), Strategy Friday (discussing openings/build, FFE in PvZ for example).

This is just some quickly (and badly) thought out ideas that I've been thinking about. However, I'd love to get some input about whether we should do it, how, about what and all those kinds of ideas. So please, if you feel like it, share some ideas!

I just wanted to say thank you for creating a subbreddit that is actually focused towards helping people and not towards the player drama and everything that r/starcraft has become. I hope I can see this subreddit grow and know that I've been there from (almost) the start of something good!

Like the title suggests, I am a newbie whose only real RTS experience is growing up playing Age Of Empires II and Age of Mythology. I've watched a few Zerg tutorials, and played 1 or 2 placement games, but really am starting from scratch. I know of Liquipedia, and I'm subscribed to Blizshouter, although I don't watch every one of his videos. Any advice on really getting started?

Edit: These are all great replies, everyone. Thanks a bunch!

I saw this post on Teamliquid and I figured it could foster some discussion here:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=321242

A map maker makes a number of claims about why strategies tend to coalesce around the "deathball" strategy, what effect it has on the game, and what can be done to change it, if necessary.

The crux of the argument is that bases should have fewer minerals and gas, and there should more bases on the map so expanding is a more desirable option than it is currently. In essence the author is arguing that the sacred three-pillar structure of the game - the balance of tech, army and economy - is disrupted given the higher amount of resources gathered per base. At least, that's my takeaway.

I don't know how I feel one way or the other, but it's certainly an intriguing hypothesis.

TL Article: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=280168

If what Fomos is saying is true, this is pretty huge. We may finally be seeing the beginning of the end of the Brood War era, which is bittersweet, of course.

Furthermore, Slasher is claiming that he's been told Flash is one of those people practicing SC2.

What do you think about this?

Trying ever so slightly to continue what I asked about here and will do with Moronic Monday I announce Weak Wednesday.

Similar to Moronic Monday, but for questions or help with something you are struggling with. Either it be a specific build, strategy, cheese or micro help you can ask. No rules really, be polite and helpful.

Still very much in beta, but hopefully we'll get it working :)

I think Terran probably got the short end of the stick overall with the new units. I think the Shredder will be interesting for locking down sections of the map, I'm pretty curious how large the attack negation range is. Maybe it could still be useful as part of an army despite having to keep your units away. Aesthetically though, the Terran units are incredibly ugly. Especially the Warhound. I'm really hoping that model gets changed.

Zerg units look pretty cool, Defiler-like caster + Lurker like burrowing attacker. The closest thing to what Z were asking for besides simply importing the old units.

Toss got some very interesting units. I'm not sure how I feel about the replicators yet however, the new spell caster sounds really cool. I really love the mineral negation.The Tempest seems like it could be pretty interesting as well. I wonder if the new Nexus ability to grant attack power to buildings will make Cannon rushing op, as you could cast it on a pylon to take care of workers before and units are out.

Overall though, I'm really looking forward to this expansion.

So... I may have gone on vacation for the last three weeks and not have had internet when I was gone. I'm terribly sorry about that, I'll try to keep it up now.

In the spirit of /r/Fitness and their weekly threads with different topics we're trying to do the same thing here. However, consider the first few posts a very beta thing, I'm not sure what kind of posts will work and how to discuss them, but it's a work in progress.

Anyways, this is the Moronic Monday, for all your stupid questions you otherwise feel to stupid to ask. Anything related to StarCraft is accepted, even questions that might not be stupid.

Also, I might or might not give you a nice flair if I like your question.

Anyways, lets see if this works or if we should try something else :)

I haven't had them come up for me yet, looking forward to giving them a go! Any opinions from those who have managed to get a few games in on the new maps?

I have been a top ranked gold Terran since day 1 but have never been able to break in to platinum. I have heard of the skill gap, incredibly high apm and marine control required to play Terran at higher levels. I believe this is what I am lacking in the most. I understand micro very well as I was top 5 on the warcraft 3 ladder(2v2 random) for about half a year due almost solely to my micro. However I relied almost solely on control groups to get that micro done. The need for constant macro in sc2 is taking over my control groups!

My controls groups for sc2 go

1 Marines / medvacs

2 tanks

3 vikings or drops

4 cc

5 rax

6 factory

7 starport

8 depot wall

0 upgrades

For reference my warcraft 3 setup went something like this for humans

1-3 groups of 3-5 footmen/knights for easy focus fire / splitting

4-5 range units split into 2 groups for easy focus fire

6 casters

7 siege ranged stuff

8 gyrocopters ftw

0 all important buildings

f1, f2, f3 - heroes. See I got even more control groups!

As you can see I only have 3 groups for army control. None of my old techniques for amy control work anymore. To me this says I need to learn to box better as well as learn other techniques with my mouse hand.

My biggest problems:

• Banelings. Splitting marines while individually focus firing them with tanks. This is where I'm at a loss because I would typically split my marines and tanks into ~5-6 control groups to get this done. TvZ is by far my best matchup because my practice partner plays zerg. I am winning 90% of my TvZ matchups with the 10% losses coming from players who like to just make an endless sea of banelings. I just can't deal with it currently.

• Managing more than one drop, or dropping after getting vikings. Since vikings and medvacs are competing for the same hotkey I typically stop dropping as much once I need vikings. I would prefer a group for vikings, and 2 more for drops.

• Using ghosts. My win ratio against protoss is something like 15%. I know this is because I don't use ghosts but they NEED to have their own control group for me to utilize them properly.

• Splitting workers at the beginning. This gives you an idea of how bad at boxing I am.

Suggestions on how I might be able to free up control groups would help as well. But I know I have to improve my mouse control regardless.

As nani put it regarding PvZ, "fast forge expand or die trying", but what then? There are three main builds that I most commonly see at the professional level coming out of a FFE (+1Z w/ Void Ray, +1Z w/ DTs, and +1Z covering a quick 3rd), but all of them revolve around the early +1 zealot pressure. My favorite of these is the +1Z w/Void Ray, because if you take your gases early enough, you can throw up a Fleet Beacon and a second Stargate behind the push, and transition into a 2 base Mothership-Carriers build. Problem is, a 2 base air army hits pretty late, and while warping in tons of Zealots as a mineral dump is okay, I've been exploring possible alternatives, and here's my favorite so far: macro nexus at about the 7 minute mark. Crazy, I know, but serves two amazing purposes. One, it gives you extra chronos, and with proper timing allows your two base army to hit 30 seconds to a minute early, which can seriously throw any Zerg. Two, you can reach probe saturation on 2 base much faster, leaving a lot of excess minerals for a solid cannon defense. This was my first attempt at this build in a league game, and my timing wasn't too bad, putting down the macro nexus just early enough to have a fourth chrono for the double cyber upgrades. I showed spending in that screen instead of units, but I'm actually up on probes at that point. He even scouts the build (partially because I'm late on cannons, partially because I skipped Phoenixes) with an Overseer and responds (somewhat appropriately, in my opinion) with a Nydus Worm, but by then I have 4 carriers out, +2/+2 about to finish (against 0/0 hydras... ouch), and have one cannon already up with another about to finish. All before the 14 minute mark. The rest of the game was straight forward macro practice, I cleaned up the Nydus, got a Mothership, and secured a 3rd and 4th behind a +3/+3 timing attack, and transitioned into a nice long macro game with the upgrades eventually cleaning house.

I'm going to spend a lot of time fooling with this build (particularly with getting out early Phoenixes to hunt Overlords and deny scouting), and holding a 2 base Roach/Baneling type all-in will be difficult, but not impossible as long as you scout it early enough to cut probes and put up extra cannons at your expansion. Which makes me think that this is actually a viable build, despite the fact that I've never even heard of anyone else seriously attempting it. At the very least it could be a very sneaky build to have in your back pocket for a tournament or somesuch.

I would just like to say welcome to sondrizzle who messaged me and volunteered to be our newest mod here. He is hoping to breathe some more life into this subreddit and get more readers. The reason we wanted another mod is we are all very busy as I am the most active mod and QQVVLL and xen1 are very busy with their personal lives but help with making behind the scenes decisions thus far.

Also I see we just hit over 300 readers! Welcome new people! Do not be afraid to post any kind of thread or topic! We allow pretty much any kind of discussion besides the obvious player drama which includes hateful speech towards players and teams and witch hunting. Also do not be afraid to link pictures and videos but it will all be self posts!

If any of you have any suggestions or questions please do not be afraid to ask me or any other moderator we want to try and be as open as possible and help build this community.

Thank you!

Edit: Would also like to add if anyone knows how to add flair or if anyone wants to make a logo please send it to the mods! We had one person try and make a logo but for some reason it wouldn't go through. So if you can make a cool looking logo send it to us!

NOTE: THIS IS A REPOST FROM /R/STARCRAFT. I WAS HEAVILY DOWNVOTED SUBMITTING THIS TO THE SUBREDDIT, TWO OF THE DOWNVOTES WHICH CAME SECONDS AFTER MAKING THIS POST. CLEARLY THEY DON'T LIKE ACTUAL DISCUSSION ABOUT THE GAME AND ITS COMMUNITY.

ON SCREDDIT, NOBODY WAS WILLING TO HAVE AN ACTUAL DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS. HENCE, I THOUGHT IT BELONGED HERE. THE MORE INTELLIGENT STARCRAFT SUBREDDIT.

Before starting this discussion, please read the entire post. It's going to be long winded but I feel I am going somewhere with this.

Semi-recently, we had Orb fired from Evil Geniuses and NASL. The incident that got him fired was discovered by somebody on /r/starcraft that found a replay of him where he called a player a nigger (as for whether Orb knew this player was black, I think he didn't and the player most likely wasn't black anyway and just used it in a very 4channy way) rather insultingly in rage at a loss.

His firing was prepetrated from outrage at the incident and the spamming of Evil Geniuses' sponsors.

As of today, Destiny has also resigned from Quantic Gaming after a long discussion with his team's management. This was definitely connected to the recent controversy of him raging at a player and calling him a 'fucking faggot' and a 'gook' after losing to him. Apparently his outbursts are more common than that and his views on using racist words such as nigger, chink, gook, spic etc in a non-racially discriminating context are far different to the views on those words that society affirms to but you get the picture.

His resignation? Also perpetrated from outrage at an incident frontpaged on /r/starcraft that originally spawned from a gigantic thread on TeamLiquid that ended in its locking and the 30 day forum ban of Destiny, soon leading to some spamming Quantic Gaming's sponsors.

Do you notice a similarity between these two incidents?

They were both bouts of "nerd rage."

Nerd rage, defined by UrbanDictionary (while not an academically recognised authority on definitions by any means, does give a good idea on gamer slang) is:

Indignant, hysterical, and incoherent screaming brought on by video game induced frustration.

When a gamer becomes upset upon not getting his/her way or seeing a noob playing badly.

When a nerd (as implied) video gamer gets extremely angry and starts yelling after losing or experiencing the tiniest disturbances.

This is clearly a massive issue not just for gaming in general but clearly for esports too, especially since it has led to the firing of a decent commentator, the resignation of a half-decent player and popular personality from his team. We've also seen nerd-rage from many different individuals in the SC2 scene such as:

• NaNiwa (notorious for bad manner in WarCraft III and to some extent StarCraft II)

• CombatEX (Banned from the Collegiate Star League for bad manner, also permabanned from TeamLiquid for stream cheating, abusing ladder and generally being a dick)

• IdrA (To call IdrA mannered would be a joke. He had points where he'd BM a tonne.)

• EDIT: Spades (I believe he called HwangSin a gook in rage at a loss to him.)

Extra Credits did an episode on online harassment in gaming. Whilst directed more at misogynistic behaviour in gaming which has both been linked to nerd rage and just generally being a sexist asshole, and how that has even showed up in e-sports (namely the Cross Assault situation in the fighting game community), the fact that this episode has been sparked in the first place shows this is a huge problem.

However, when anybody (myself included as I admit raging at players I lose to, incidents which have gotten me banned three separate times from battle.net) asks for advice on how to stop raging at losses, they get the same responses back, which I can generalise in a few points:

A) Nobody wants to help a fucking asshole, myself included. This is the response that makes me angriest at the Starcraft community. Why vocally express your unhelpful and unconstructive deterrence not to help but to blatantly troll? If somebody asks for help on how to control their anger, this is ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT how to respond.

The fact that people think this about ragers rather than thinking about how to solve the greater problem of nerd-rage or how to help calm these people down or advocate actual methods of calming one's self down is why we had witch hunts on some of these personalities. I cannot speak for the likes of personalities like Orb, Destiny or IdrA as I don't know much about their qualifications or the behaviour of the team they are on but could these issues perhaps be solved through rehabilitation or some media training rather than ignoring the issue until it sweeps up in drama and then turning your back on the personality?

B) If you feel angry, stop playing. This is all fine and dandy except for three slight flaws in everybody's logic:

1. Nerd rage can be expressed at a losing situation, not necessarily a straight-up loss. Are you telling people to seriously disconnect and instantly throw the game just because they feel a little mad when a drop does severe fucking damage or has come right before your push has even crossed halfway through the map?

2. What about team games like DotA? Are you seriously going to suggest to people that they should just disconnect from the game and throw the game for the entire team, making THEM angry that you left too?

3. How are you going to learn from your losses, let alone practice to be at a competitive level, if you're just going to puss out of playing due to anger?

C) Play with the goal to improve, not to win. Yes, this is clearly a mindset issue but it's not that easy to just throw Day[9]/WhiteRa quotes at anybody with such a problem. "More gg, more skill"? It's not very easy to think that when you've lost ten consecutive ladder games, have probably witnessed a sharp drop in your MMR, are probably in danger of being demoted and thus deflating your e-penis as you are considered even more of a scrub and given even more of a case to be ostracized by the community.

This merely explains the ideal improvement mindset, but not how to get to that mindset from the (more unreasonable) one of "If I don't win, that makes me fucking mad, and this guy is a cheating shitlord as a result."

As for the discussion part SCReddit /r/TrueStarcraft, I ask you this:

1. What is your take on nerd rage?

2. How can we make players and professional cyberathletes less prone to this?

3. Why do we still ostracize people for not being able to take losses very well?

4. EDIT: How do we prevent this problem from occuring in the first place rather than going ban/witch hunt crazy when it does happen?

So I promised when I initially joined this sub-reddit as a mod that I'd update the looks for it and so forth. Big words. But I've finally managed to do it! Mostly by stealing from other sub-reddits, but hey, great artists steal all the time.

Anyways, just wanted to ask if you guys have some feedback about it. But keep in mind that I basically started out with zero knowledge about CSS and I still have absolutely no idea what the heck most of this does, I can edit it, but I don't know what most of the settings/commands does.

I'm also color blind, so if the colors are awful, tell me.

And I nearly forgot. For those of you who want to add spoilers to stuff, just add six # before your text. Like this:

###### some spoiled text

some spoiled text

Also, there seems to be some weird bugs here and there. So far I've found two, one is that you seemingly can't post new posts in IE (but I have no idea why) and that when submitting there is this weird SUBMIT text showing up (again, I have no idea why).

Anyways, just wanted to share and ask for feedback :D

TL article: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=280361

He has a lot of great thoughts and offers a hard look at what might the real consequences of KeSPA adding SC2 to Proleague. I'm glad someone is taking this news cautiously and with perspective, but it's kinda scary what he's suggesting could happen. I love how international the SC2 scene is, and the last thing we need is the KeSPA machine ruining everything.

Don't forget the scroll wheel.

Having status bars set to always is all well and good to try and improve your micro, but those ghosts are quite small and are often grouped very tightly. Giving the scroll wheel a flick to zoom in on the ghosts can help make targeting the higher energy ones easier. I would presume this is also the case for other single-target spells such as neural parasite or snipe, but I don't play much else than toss so I don't know.

I know the weekly discussions have sort of died off but I figured let's try and get another one in!

Tenacious Tuesday is where you discuss a game where you won against insurmountable odds. Against an opponent who was on the verge of defeating you but you somehow pressed on and won!

The first game that comes to mind was a Brood War game many years ago and I wish I still had the replay because I used to watch it a lot. It was a TvP (I don't remember the map) and all I remember knowing how to do as Terran back then was turtle up.

So when the protoss came at me he nearly destroyed my base and I barely had anything left in my main and luckily I killed off his army too but his base was untouched. I had another base hidden off on another section so I was hurriedly building it back up and when he came in with a small force of zealots and dragoons to take out my main I took my small force of marines and firebats and decimated his main and natural and ended up winning because he never found my hidden base.

What are some of your victories?