Hi. My name is Puck, and I’m a casual gamer.
angsty, no?
For a while, I’ve been pretty convinced that I could choose one of two paths in the gaming world:
1) Game socially, have a life, and forever suck
2) Game seriously, have it be my One Thing, and get good… maybe
Well, I’m now putting that assumption to the test. Wish me luck!
-Puck
P.S. – any advice for me would be extremely welcome. I’ll be scouring the internets for advice and training regimens, but I’ll take any and all criticisms; I have no delusions or ego about my skills.
About Me
I’m in my late 20s and have been into PC games since my mom threw away our NES and we discovered Q-Bert. I have a wife and a little ‘ling on the way. I work 50-60 hours a week here, and have a side business or two. And now I’m an aspiring StarCraft II gamer.
the Mission
I have two objectives:
Main: Discover if it’s possible to become a formidable gamer whilst balancing adult responsibilities
I have a life – a pretty busy life. But I still want to game. More specifically, I want to be able to play StarCraft II alone and with my buddies and not suck at it. This will be an experiment to see if it’s possible for me to get good at Starcraft II without dedicating so much time that it pisses off my wife. I want to see if gaming can be a lifestyle (as opposed to a phase or an obsession).
Note: I have no idea what “good” means. I know – great goal-setting, right? Does it mean getting to Diamond? Masters? Impressing my gaming buddies? Winning 51% of my games? I don’t know, but I’m open to suggestions.
Note: I have no intentions of becoming a professional gamer. That would be contrary to the spirit of this Main Objective.
Secondary: Create a template for n00bs like me to use in training
I love nerds. I’ve either been one of them or associated with them since I’ve been able to speak. But let’s face it – nerds have serious inferiority complexes. To compensate, we elevate the complexity of our interests and hobbies to such a level that it creates an intimidating barrier to entry for ‘lesser mortals.’ I want to see if I can create a basic algorithm for a n00b to become Advanced.
Note: there is a distinction between difficulty and complexity. Mastery of Starcraft II is plenty difficult without us adding in complexity.
Note: I don’t know if the scope of this goal will end up including overcoming the socio-cultural barriers around SC2 and the Pro Gaming world. Time will tell.
I will be my own guinea pig. I’m starting out at the bottom of the Bronze ladder (well, almost the bottom. My initial placement was 99th), so this is really going to be an exploration into the full life-cycle of mastering StarCraft II (assuming someone’s played through some of the campaign).
the Pledge(s)
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Play two 1v1 games per day… against a humanNo more, no fewer (Dec 4, 2011) Note: If I’m jonesing for more than 2 games, I will watch replays. Note: Social gaming situations (like our weekly game night at work) are an exception. |
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the Curriculum
Other than the Pledge, I have no idea how I’m going to achieve my objectives (see my Secondary Objective).
At this point, I don’t know what I don’t know. As I learn, I’ll be creating (and updating) the following curriculum to include things that I need to learn to become good.
Evolution
