How to be better in Starcraft 2 according to the “Eightfold Path.”
Starcraft 2 is a real time strategy from Blizzard. It is very good. And if you don’t know it, please go on “Youtube” and watch Husky of Day9 since I am cramming this blog before my raid.
Now if you do not know about the “Eightfold Path”, please go to Border of BnB to grab a book about basic Buddhism and read it cause I would not explain it in here.
I will give you 5 seconds to go grab and read those books… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Ok, if u did not read them then don’t blame me if u don’t now what I am talking about, it’s your fault. And you should all be shut up and just listen to me. However if u still don’t like my attitude and don’t want to shut up, GET THE F*$&% OUT. YEAH, I DON’T GIVE A S*&#$ ABOUT WHAT U WANT, GET OUT…..
Now let’s have some peace in mind…
If you are still a very bad Starcraft 2 player regardless you have played thousands of games, you might need to go back and look at your games to figure out what you have done wrong, instead of just keep going on another game. That’s bad.
Ppl like u who have master the builds, acquire a great skill of micro, but still you loose to other gamers who may be lower rank than yours, should really consider the reason chances have passed you by. Yes, I said chances, because in a game, even a RTS, everything is still designed by chance. So if u r a very bad luck player who can never have enough luck to win the game, I cant help u. But if u want to increase your luck and win a game, this blog can help u.
I have always know what we need to become a great Starcraft 2 player. But I did not know it was all engulfed inside the “Eightfold Path” of the Buddha. And so now, I will compare what the Buddha said in a very expanded way, a Starcraft 2 way.
Now lets talk about the very first thing in the Eightfold Path. The Right View. According to Buddha, it’s the beginning and the end of the path. As he said, right view is not designed by your intellectual just like wisdom is not decided by your intelligence. It’s a tool, a guide line for you to follow other paths to a greater good. Yes I wish I could have time to explain more, to compare the idea of Right View to Scouting in Starcraft 2 words by words and show you how close they are, but I don’t. So I will just briefly talk about it, just like others.
Yes, you have to scout. There is no “One build will rule them all” in Starcraft 2 even if u possess the Godlike micro ability of Moon, Ace, Sjow or Fruitdealer. A lot of people think scouting is a waste of time since I can always put pressure on my enemy and get victory. No you cant. At least in high level games. You have to scout a lot in order to know what your opponent is planning, therefore you can counter that build and get victory. Just like the right view, Scouting will not give you victory, but it will increase your chance of getting victory. Like Sun Tzu said, if you know the enemy and you know you, you will win with least loss.
Now since you have a good View in life, or a good Scouting in game, u might want to have a Right Intention. If right intention is described by your commitment to ethical and mental self improvement in life, it is best described as the build and the way you want to use the build u r going to follow.
Sure you will know you enemy is going for something powerful, but it would be useless of the knowledge if you can not have the good intention to counter that build. This could be build up by experience. If you know your enemy is going for zergling banneling u might want to counter it by sentry stalker and colossus. Getting to the wrong intention will always, I say always, waste all your scouting and give you an assurance failure.
And now since we know what our enemy is going for, and we have the plan to counter it, we might need a right speech to get us further in the game. This may be the only path that might be opposite to what the Buddha said. The Buddha defined that words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war and create peace. That’s mean u have to use the right speech to avoid all the bad things come to you or other people. What I really want to say in a game is that you might want to say the right speech to your enemy so that they know they should always follow the path they are going for.
May be I am being so philosophical, or sarcastic, but the way to contain your chance in high to win the game is not to let your opponent know that his build is being countered. That’s mean u have to give a false safe feeling, a wrong speech. Yes, it is a right speech that u should give, but it’s not true. It’s contrast. The right thing u give someone is the wrong thing they need.
One of a very important thing I think that even the high level player still lack, is the right action. Yes u scouted, and went with the right build to counter what your opponent had, but that did not mean he would not change. Sometimes in a long time, you both have to show your “ace in the hole”. It might be good, it might be just as good. And when it’s just as good, you have to have the right action. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Yes. You have to decide yourself which action u would take if your ace is not as good as it should be. Would u still follow that path, or would u switch it to something u think might work.
Now during the game you might want to secure more chances to win, and for the game like Starcraft, money will take a strong lead. That’s why you need the Right Livelihood. As the Buddha said, without effort nothing can be achieved. I want to take that to the extend of how to grab your extension. Yes a sneaky expo might get u save and give illusion to your opponent, but it is very risky, especially if your enemy is quite skillful. You want to grab an expo that you can protect and surround it with great protection. A sneaky far way expo might be destroyed easily as your opponent move out and give you such a great deal of unnecessary loss.
Just like in every aspect of life, you will encounter a great deal of resistant and pressure from your opponent. Well, in that case, Right Effort will be such a great help. Misguided effort can misguide you to the very wrong path. If you watched Star Wars, you would know that because of Anakin Skywalker misguide effort to save his wife, he lost into the Dark Side and became Dark Vader. In a game of Starcraft 2, if you can not put enough effort in defending your expo, waiting for the right timing, keep a clear mind of what you want to build to counter your enemy moves, defending yourself from early expo, preventing yourself from falling into your enemy hit and run tactic and checking your position in every step you move, you will not have a chance to win a game.
May be I should have merge the last two with the 6th one because together they create a very great idea of becoming a good player. Right Mindfulness is the ability to see thing with clear consciousness while Right Concentration is the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness. Yes with a right effort to keep your mind clear so that it can see through all deception and give you the concentration on wholesome thoughts and actions, you will have peace and loose all your suffering. In game, that means if you can endure through the pressure and have the great mind to see when it will be your chance to push, or to expand, or even to back door attack, you will own the game.
I quite bit regret that I could not spend more time to explain all of those above, but I think with your great mind as a gamer, you would see all of this and be better. And I hope you also will be as amazed as me knowing that what the Buddha teaches not only can make you a better man, but also a very good Starcraft 2 player.
