Everyone Loses

It's true. Everyone loses. Some more than others but eventually, they all do.

Anyone who's been around video games for any amount of time knows the highs and lows that come with playing. When you have a lot invested into the game in terms of practice time and the feeling of competition, emotions can run high both during the match and after it's over. At least, I know mine do.



I am never in favor of trash talking other players. For the most part, they're playing the game just like you and trying to both enjoy and excel at it. Of course, there are the occasional fun suckers in the mix that act poorly and are sore winners/losers, but that's not an excuse to sink to their level. In these cases, I try to just ignore anything they say and play as best as I can. Usually, that works.

My reason for writing this post is that like everything, losing sometimes comes in streaks. It's also easy for the streaks to gain momentum and you can't seem to catch a break. Right now, I find myself in this very situation. I believe out of the last 10-15 games, I've won three. It could be that I wasn't prepared for the change to Silver division or it could be that there has been a strategy switch amongst my opponents that my normal play doesn't manage to repel.

It could be any number of things, but after each loss, I find myself trying really hard not to crush the mouse into little bits of rage-shattered plastic. There are different things you can do when this starts happening to you. In my case, I tried simply walking away and letting it sit for awhile. You know, come back to it with fresh eyes. That hasn't worked. I've tried simply trying to push through the streak; it has to end sometime, right? All I got was more losses. Finally, I think I realized the answer.

I've grown lazy. Looking back over some of my replays, I've noticed that my play has become sloppy. At least, sloppier than usual. I'll sometimes miss my 9 overlord and get it at 10. I'll misclick my hatch rally point and my workers spend a good 15-20 seconds sitting there looking at the mineral line like I just told them there were reapers hiding behind them. The problems just multiply from there.

I'm going to be spending the next few days working on the basics again and trying to get them down cold. Little mistakes add up and I think it's costing me games and sanity. If this ever happens to you, keep cool, take a breath, and see where you're going wrong. All the answers are in the replays. And keep a spare mouse handy. Sometimes they fall into a door knob. Repeatedly.