HUR DUR IT'S ALMOST NEW YEARS SO I'M ONLY NOW GOING TO DO SOMETHING I'VE BEEN WANTING TO DO AND I'M SUPER SERIAL ABOUT IT AND WILL STICK WITH IT BECAUSE IT'S A NEW YEARS RESOLUTION.
Fuck that. Arbitrarily waiting until new years to do/change something important in your life is pathetic. If you want to get in better shape, you can go to a gym today. If you want to quit smoking, you can throw out that last pack today. There is literally nothing stopping you besides your own apathy.
I'm sure we will see plenty of resolutionists showing up at Sampa. I guarantee that AT LEAST 80% of them will quit shortly after they begin, either because they will realize just how out of shape they are and won't be willing to put in the time to change it, or because their ego will get in the way and they won't understand or be able to deal with the idea of "tapping out" to their sparring partners on a regular basis while they improve. There will be even more resolutionists at the gym I work out at. I guarantee the vast majority will show up with new exercise pants, running shoes, water bottles, etc., lightly jog on a treadmill for a little while, do some curls, leave, and not want to ever go back because they will be hit with the sudden realization that working out (ACTUALLY working out, you know, when you follow a legitimate program and sweat once in a while) isn't always the most super-fun, pleasant experience in the world. You WILL have days where you have to force yourself into the gym and stick to your fucking program. I love working out, and I still have one of those days once in a while. It happens.
If I suddenly realized that I need to change something in my life, but happened to come to that realization in the middle of February, should I sit on my ass for 11 months so I can start on New Years? No, because that's fuckin stupid.
Do you want to start exercising regularly? Get a gym membership, get your ass under a bar, and start squatting. RIGHT NOW.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Competitive Starcraft: why it's totally fucking awesome
The final major tournament for Starcraft: Brood War took place recently. This
game has been the top competitive video game for over a decade.
People have made hundreds of thousands of dollars playing it. South
Korea has 2 television stations dedicated to airing professional
matches. Starcraft changed everything as far as how seriously video game
competition can be taken.
There will never again be a competitive video game with such a high skill ceiling. I love Starcraft 2, and I think it has the potential to be more fun and interesting than Brood War after the expansions, but Brood War is by far the more mechanically demanding game. The average actions per minute needed for Starcraft 2 seems to be around 120 at minimum. Starcraft: Brood War required twice that.
What makes a game worthy of competition? What makes someone who is good at a game worthy of making a serious amount of money playing it well? To me, it comes down to three things.
1. The game has to have an extremely high skill ceiling.
2. The game has to allow enough strategic variation for a deep metagame to develop.
3. The game has to be enjoyable to watch, so companies that put on competitions can make money selling tickets, or getting people to pay to watch on television or online.
There aren't many games that fulfill these criteria. There are plenty that fulfill 1 and 2 easily, but fall short with 3. In order to be marketable, it has to be enjoyable for people who don't play it, who basically don't know anything about it. Sports are much easier to market. Basketball is a spectator sport because the skill it takes to play is obvious to anyone who watches it; professional players run extremely fast, jump extremely high, and make incredible shots. You really don't have to be a basketball player to enjoy watching a game. Golf is a spectator sport because it doesn't take a genius to see that hitting a small ball with a club over such long distances and avoiding hazards to get it into a tiny hole requires a tremendous amount of precision. The skill required to play video games competitively is usually only obvious to other players, and in order for a game to be taken seriously and for players to be able to make a living off of competition, it has to appeal to people who don't really know anything about it. I think the skill required to play Starcraft 2 will be obvious to anyone who has even tried to play a single ladder game. But what about those who have never touched a real-time strategy game before? It's basically South Korea's national sport at this point, but whether or not it will catch on like that in the United States remains to be seen.
Seeing people make a living playing a video game that I started playing as a kid and instantly fell in love with is just awesome to me. I remember when I was young and all I had was an NES. I would often think to myself while playing, "man, if there was such a thing as playing video games professionally, that would just be the absolute best." These people are making a living doing exactly what they want to do, just like any professional athlete or musician. Ya, it's nerdy. So what? Anyone who makes fun of people making a living playing a video game is fucking jelly.
For anyone who might read this and want to see what high level Starcraft 2 looks like, here's the conclusion to an MLG series between a high-level Korean player, Bomber, and America's Zerg hero and my favorite player, Idra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaAHU4EFWGQ
There will never again be a competitive video game with such a high skill ceiling. I love Starcraft 2, and I think it has the potential to be more fun and interesting than Brood War after the expansions, but Brood War is by far the more mechanically demanding game. The average actions per minute needed for Starcraft 2 seems to be around 120 at minimum. Starcraft: Brood War required twice that.
What makes a game worthy of competition? What makes someone who is good at a game worthy of making a serious amount of money playing it well? To me, it comes down to three things.
1. The game has to have an extremely high skill ceiling.
2. The game has to allow enough strategic variation for a deep metagame to develop.
3. The game has to be enjoyable to watch, so companies that put on competitions can make money selling tickets, or getting people to pay to watch on television or online.
There aren't many games that fulfill these criteria. There are plenty that fulfill 1 and 2 easily, but fall short with 3. In order to be marketable, it has to be enjoyable for people who don't play it, who basically don't know anything about it. Sports are much easier to market. Basketball is a spectator sport because the skill it takes to play is obvious to anyone who watches it; professional players run extremely fast, jump extremely high, and make incredible shots. You really don't have to be a basketball player to enjoy watching a game. Golf is a spectator sport because it doesn't take a genius to see that hitting a small ball with a club over such long distances and avoiding hazards to get it into a tiny hole requires a tremendous amount of precision. The skill required to play video games competitively is usually only obvious to other players, and in order for a game to be taken seriously and for players to be able to make a living off of competition, it has to appeal to people who don't really know anything about it. I think the skill required to play Starcraft 2 will be obvious to anyone who has even tried to play a single ladder game. But what about those who have never touched a real-time strategy game before? It's basically South Korea's national sport at this point, but whether or not it will catch on like that in the United States remains to be seen.
Seeing people make a living playing a video game that I started playing as a kid and instantly fell in love with is just awesome to me. I remember when I was young and all I had was an NES. I would often think to myself while playing, "man, if there was such a thing as playing video games professionally, that would just be the absolute best." These people are making a living doing exactly what they want to do, just like any professional athlete or musician. Ya, it's nerdy. So what? Anyone who makes fun of people making a living playing a video game is fucking jelly.
For anyone who might read this and want to see what high level Starcraft 2 looks like, here's the conclusion to an MLG series between a high-level Korean player, Bomber, and America's Zerg hero and my favorite player, Idra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaAHU4EFWGQ
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Practice
"Natural talent" is a term thrown around in an attempt to explain why some people excel in their chosen field and others suck. I want to discuss why the "natural talent" explanation for true proficiency in anything is crap, and that if you use a lack of talent as an excuse for being bad at something, you are lying to yourself.
First off, yes, some people just happen to be better at something when starting out than others. They got lucky, and it came easier to them.
Second, before I can go any further I need to discuss what it means to be truly good at something. When I say "good," I don't mean someone picked up a trumpet, learned 3 scales and a couple of easy jazz licks, and played in some mediocre ska band at a couple of bars in front of 30 people, half of whom they knew personally. "Good" is someone who was interested in playing trumpet so they took weekly lessons from a reputable teacher, practiced the exercises given to them every day, listened to professional players regularly to have an idea of what a good tone quality is, and developed a command of the instrument over several years. "Good" is not a three-stripe white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that knows some gimmicky inverted guard sweep that he crushes other white belts with because they don't know it, and fails 100% of the time against higher belts because it's a garbage move that he spent all his time on instead of developing the basic mechanics of grappling. "Good" is someone who is a brown or black belt who has been training for several years on a regular basis, and could roll with a blue belt like myself, tell them exactly what he is going to do, and then do it with no possibility of them stopping it because he's just straight up better than them.
No human being on the face of the earth became truly good at something because of natural talent. Everyone hits a talent wall at some point, and once they get past the wall (assuming they have the desire and drive to do so), it is 100% hard work after that. Tiger Woods was talented at golf. He picked it up very quickly at a very young age. Did he become one of the best to ever step up to a tee because of it? Hell no. He became great at it because he learned from experts and practiced his ass off. Marcelo Garcia, one of the best jiu jitsu players of all time, lost his first competition. He eventually developed into a world-class grappler through persistence, constant seeking of knowledge, and ridiculous amounts of time spent on the mat. Talent had absolutely NOTHING to do with it.
There are 3 requirements that need to be met to be on your way to truly being good at something.
1. You need to know what exactly to practice
2. You need to know how to practice it properly, safely, and efficiently
3. You need to practice for the appropriate amount of time on a regular basis
If you meet those requirements, you will eventually become proficient at whatever you are doing. The only way to be sure that you are fulfilling these requirements is to receive instruction from an expert in the field. Other people may have been talented and picked things up more quickly than you at first, but if you persist you WILL become good at it. I can't even begin to remember how many trumpet players my age that I've come across that were better than me at some point, but now either suck or they just quit altogether. Is it because I suddenly developed a natural talent for it, and they lost theirs? No, it's because they got lazy and I didn't. I've been taking weekly lessons and practicing regularly for 12 years. I can comfortably say I'm an above-average player. I'm not completely satisfied, and I will continue to practice and improve, but I am satisfied with the results of 12 years of dedication to the instrument so far. I'm only a blue belt in jiu jitsu, but already the same trend is obvious. Countless numbers of guys that started around the same time as me never got a blue belt, even though they started out better than me because it came a little easier to them. Then they got lazy, and I didn't. I guarantee it will happen from blue to purple. The majority of blue belts will quit, and I will keep training and eventually get a purple belt. I can 100% guarantee that, barring a sever injury that prevents me from training, I will eventually get a black belt, not because I'm amazing at jiu jitsu or naturally athletic, but because I'm not going to get lazy. It will surely take me longer than it has taken others, but I will eventually get there. If you can't honestly tell yourself that you will eventually excel in whatever field you are pursuing, you need to either find a new field that you're more passionate about or change your mindset.
Reality is a bitch. Accepting the fact that someone is better than you at something simply because they worked harder and longer can be a much tougher pill to swallow than hand-waving it away by saying they're more naturally talented than you. But you have a choice to make: you can accept the truth and use it to motivate you, or you can convince yourself that you're amazing at something you suck at or that everyone else is better than you because of talent. I lose to people that are better than me at jiu jitsu because they have worked harder and put in more time than I have. But I am confident that I can eventually catch up to them. Reality will frustrate you, and delusion will comfort you. But living in reality will actually get you somewhere and prevent you from wasting your life.
You can CHOOSE to become great at whatever you want. And if you stop improving, it's because somewhere along the way, you chose to suck. Improving at something requires humility; you need to acknowledge and accept your shortcomings and directly work to improve them. Don't be confident in your talent. Be confident in your work ethic.
First off, yes, some people just happen to be better at something when starting out than others. They got lucky, and it came easier to them.
Second, before I can go any further I need to discuss what it means to be truly good at something. When I say "good," I don't mean someone picked up a trumpet, learned 3 scales and a couple of easy jazz licks, and played in some mediocre ska band at a couple of bars in front of 30 people, half of whom they knew personally. "Good" is someone who was interested in playing trumpet so they took weekly lessons from a reputable teacher, practiced the exercises given to them every day, listened to professional players regularly to have an idea of what a good tone quality is, and developed a command of the instrument over several years. "Good" is not a three-stripe white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that knows some gimmicky inverted guard sweep that he crushes other white belts with because they don't know it, and fails 100% of the time against higher belts because it's a garbage move that he spent all his time on instead of developing the basic mechanics of grappling. "Good" is someone who is a brown or black belt who has been training for several years on a regular basis, and could roll with a blue belt like myself, tell them exactly what he is going to do, and then do it with no possibility of them stopping it because he's just straight up better than them.
No human being on the face of the earth became truly good at something because of natural talent. Everyone hits a talent wall at some point, and once they get past the wall (assuming they have the desire and drive to do so), it is 100% hard work after that. Tiger Woods was talented at golf. He picked it up very quickly at a very young age. Did he become one of the best to ever step up to a tee because of it? Hell no. He became great at it because he learned from experts and practiced his ass off. Marcelo Garcia, one of the best jiu jitsu players of all time, lost his first competition. He eventually developed into a world-class grappler through persistence, constant seeking of knowledge, and ridiculous amounts of time spent on the mat. Talent had absolutely NOTHING to do with it.
There are 3 requirements that need to be met to be on your way to truly being good at something.
1. You need to know what exactly to practice
2. You need to know how to practice it properly, safely, and efficiently
3. You need to practice for the appropriate amount of time on a regular basis
If you meet those requirements, you will eventually become proficient at whatever you are doing. The only way to be sure that you are fulfilling these requirements is to receive instruction from an expert in the field. Other people may have been talented and picked things up more quickly than you at first, but if you persist you WILL become good at it. I can't even begin to remember how many trumpet players my age that I've come across that were better than me at some point, but now either suck or they just quit altogether. Is it because I suddenly developed a natural talent for it, and they lost theirs? No, it's because they got lazy and I didn't. I've been taking weekly lessons and practicing regularly for 12 years. I can comfortably say I'm an above-average player. I'm not completely satisfied, and I will continue to practice and improve, but I am satisfied with the results of 12 years of dedication to the instrument so far. I'm only a blue belt in jiu jitsu, but already the same trend is obvious. Countless numbers of guys that started around the same time as me never got a blue belt, even though they started out better than me because it came a little easier to them. Then they got lazy, and I didn't. I guarantee it will happen from blue to purple. The majority of blue belts will quit, and I will keep training and eventually get a purple belt. I can 100% guarantee that, barring a sever injury that prevents me from training, I will eventually get a black belt, not because I'm amazing at jiu jitsu or naturally athletic, but because I'm not going to get lazy. It will surely take me longer than it has taken others, but I will eventually get there. If you can't honestly tell yourself that you will eventually excel in whatever field you are pursuing, you need to either find a new field that you're more passionate about or change your mindset.
Reality is a bitch. Accepting the fact that someone is better than you at something simply because they worked harder and longer can be a much tougher pill to swallow than hand-waving it away by saying they're more naturally talented than you. But you have a choice to make: you can accept the truth and use it to motivate you, or you can convince yourself that you're amazing at something you suck at or that everyone else is better than you because of talent. I lose to people that are better than me at jiu jitsu because they have worked harder and put in more time than I have. But I am confident that I can eventually catch up to them. Reality will frustrate you, and delusion will comfort you. But living in reality will actually get you somewhere and prevent you from wasting your life.
You can CHOOSE to become great at whatever you want. And if you stop improving, it's because somewhere along the way, you chose to suck. Improving at something requires humility; you need to acknowledge and accept your shortcomings and directly work to improve them. Don't be confident in your talent. Be confident in your work ethic.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Wasted gaming time
I had a conversation with an old friend yesterday. He explained how, as a kid when the original Pokemon games came out, he would seal his gameboy color in a plastic bag so he could play through the bag one-handed while showering (it's quite easy to play a game like pokemon one-handed). He got through the game faster than anyone in our group of friends. He still does it to this day with his DS.
The average shower is 5-10 minutes. 1-2 showers every day since I was old enough to shower and play games totals up to at least about 730 hours I could have been gaming in the shower.
I have wasted my life.
The average shower is 5-10 minutes. 1-2 showers every day since I was old enough to shower and play games totals up to at least about 730 hours I could have been gaming in the shower.
I have wasted my life.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Bullying
So, a bill has made it to the desk of Arizona's governor that would make trolling illegal and punishable by fine.
This bill steps on the first amendment. Anyone who says otherwise has either never read the constitution, or is a fucking baby that feels entitled to hide behind the law.
This bill was of course brought up because trolling sometimes spilled over into real life, or vice versa. I was bullied when I was younger. It wasn't cool. There are plenty of kids out there who got it way worse than I did (I've known a few of them), but the answer to this problem is not to shelter children and go so far out of the way to punish bullies that it makes no sense and inhibits our personal freedoms.
Parents have a natural instinct to protect their children. I understand that. But fighting their battles for them, and setting the precedent that when a problem arrives, the solution is to complain about it until someone else solves it for you, is stupid. Parents should spend their time and effort empowering their children to stand up against their bullies. I backed down from the first kid that bullied me; it was one of the worst experiences of my life. When I learned to stand up to bullies, I stopped being picked on; it's as simple as that. And I'm not saying I was able to and other kids aren't because I'm better than them in any way. I did it because that's what my father taught me to do when I told him I was being picked on. He never called my school, spoke with the bullies' parents, nothing like that. He told me to stand up for myself, which doesn't mean to tell a teacher or ASK them to stop; he instructed me to TELL them to stop, and let them know that if they didn't, we were going to fight. It worked every time, and I've only been in one altercation that even came close to being an actual "fight." But I felt this way then, and still feel this way now: I would have fought every kid who ever picked on me, and lost terribly, if it meant keeping my dignity. Not because I was some sort of badass, or was born thinking that, but because that's what I learned from my father.
The United States of America has produced a generation of pussies. Kids are growing up conditioned to believe that the answer to bullies is to complain about it. The ideal of pacifism is getting in the way of people solving their fucking problems. Sorry guys, but sometimes, violence solves things.
This bill steps on the first amendment. Anyone who says otherwise has either never read the constitution, or is a fucking baby that feels entitled to hide behind the law.
This bill was of course brought up because trolling sometimes spilled over into real life, or vice versa. I was bullied when I was younger. It wasn't cool. There are plenty of kids out there who got it way worse than I did (I've known a few of them), but the answer to this problem is not to shelter children and go so far out of the way to punish bullies that it makes no sense and inhibits our personal freedoms.
Parents have a natural instinct to protect their children. I understand that. But fighting their battles for them, and setting the precedent that when a problem arrives, the solution is to complain about it until someone else solves it for you, is stupid. Parents should spend their time and effort empowering their children to stand up against their bullies. I backed down from the first kid that bullied me; it was one of the worst experiences of my life. When I learned to stand up to bullies, I stopped being picked on; it's as simple as that. And I'm not saying I was able to and other kids aren't because I'm better than them in any way. I did it because that's what my father taught me to do when I told him I was being picked on. He never called my school, spoke with the bullies' parents, nothing like that. He told me to stand up for myself, which doesn't mean to tell a teacher or ASK them to stop; he instructed me to TELL them to stop, and let them know that if they didn't, we were going to fight. It worked every time, and I've only been in one altercation that even came close to being an actual "fight." But I felt this way then, and still feel this way now: I would have fought every kid who ever picked on me, and lost terribly, if it meant keeping my dignity. Not because I was some sort of badass, or was born thinking that, but because that's what I learned from my father.
The United States of America has produced a generation of pussies. Kids are growing up conditioned to believe that the answer to bullies is to complain about it. The ideal of pacifism is getting in the way of people solving their fucking problems. Sorry guys, but sometimes, violence solves things.
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