My advice is, care more about how to play better, not how to get a better rating. There have already been dozens of threads with people concerned with their ratings, only very few where people are concerned with how they play.

As far as I'm concerned, "getting a better rating" is about "not losing". I suppose the matchmaking flaws making obtaining a high rating more complicated than "Just Win every game" though. If rating was truly end all be all, I could have 2370 rating right now (just stall the 3 games I already lost and that is what 2111 becomes, 3 losses is less than 5, so it's literally that easy). Removing errors from my play is definitely my actual goal, especially at picks.

Also unlike some others, I am not afraid of mathematical approaches to winning.

+1 sze

sze said it all

I disagree. Not everything and everyone can be at the same level even if they "try hard enough".

Play chess all your life and everytime of the day, you're not guaranteed to become #1 or even #1000 for what matters. Lots of it has to do with things we can't change such as genetics.

I believe three big factors come in when you are willing to become a pro in any category:

1) Training and effort
2) Ability to learn and adapt
3) Mental preparation and consistency

Play all you want, but with a bad ability to learn complex moves and to adapt to situations, and it'd be useless to progress to a point you can win high level games.

Be emotionally unstable and you can be very smart, and try very hard but you will never reach the top either.

Be smart and emotionally preparated but never train or put effort and you won't be #1 either.


You can ofc learn some of these and become good at the game, but if you don't master each, you can't consistently beat the best and eventually become one.

My problem isn't lack of confidence. Games where I feel I am the underdog and need to try hard to win, I do fine in.

It's the games I expect to win and halfass. Those bite me in the ass way too often.

EDIT: Not sure why he changed his post, he suggested putting a sticker on your computer screen where opponents names show so you play vs. all people the same and not feel intimidated by good opponents.

Edited 8/5/2016 01:39:15

+1 great posts here on how to improve.

Based on ladder and forum activity, it's clear many of us have a strong desire to achieve a high ladder rank. The question of "how" is addressed frequently.

*Why* do some of us have such a strong drive to achieve high ranks?

Note: "Because I must win, win, win!" doesn't fully satisfy the question; it only signals a person has the condition:)

Paying attention to this question is somewhat of a red pill vs blue pill proposition.

Edited 8/7/2016 00:12:30

You must ween ween ween! You're gonna ween so much, that you're going to get tired of weening.

White people don't know whats it's like to be at the bottom of the ladder!

https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=11709495

TL;dr from the chat: "Take away all my losses and I'll be the highest ranked player in the history of WarLight."

^ This chat is extremely relevant, thanks.

Such chats are not uncommon. In general they often reveal:
-extreme importance attached to high ladder rating/ranking
-anger, sensitivity, combativeness over a loss
-attempts to belittle the opponent (e.g. "you noob")
-extreme defensiveness when belittled

Edited 8/8/2016 18:07:21

Again the question: why do we see a strong drive in some to achieve high ranks and engage in competitive social behavior?

It seems that this behavior is innate, genetic.

Omniscient, I have only 2 things I can advice to you:

1) Again, I want to stress the importance of looking only at the moves, that mindset will allow you to search for your mistakes and improve. Going a little bit through your recent ladder games I can see quite a few things you could improve on even without detailed analysis.
2) Play only against good players in practise. No auto-games, no weak/mediocre players. When I was playing warlight, at some point I started to play literally only with best available players. That will automatically force you to be precise even in casual games and your autopilot mode will become much "cleaner", so games where you make outrageous blunders will disappear eventually. Just hanging out with the right crowd can work wonders.

sze: you've achieved status as one of the all-time Warlight greats.

What motivated you to spend near countless hours competing, improving, climbing the ladders?

(BTW, I appreciate the fact that you're giving back to the community via the forums.)

Edited 8/8/2016 05:09:00

testosterone.

not sure if troll or not. O_o

why do mountain climbers climb mountains?

It tickled my brain

In casual mountain climbing, there is no series of competitions where one person wins and the other loses. There is no resulting rank hierarchy where it is generally agreed the people at the top are highly likely to win against people at the bottom.

There are surely many motivators for ladder that vary from person to person. However, it seems that competitive social instincts--probably involving testosterone--are involved.

the testosterone remark is a bit rude towards the ladies playing the ladders.

to answer the question directly:

it's just competitive nature wanting to see how good you can get at something you enjoy doing.

i'm sure a few folks there just play it to get a few more challenging games. doubt they'll ever reach top 10.

or in the case of pulsey he just plays for the lulz of trolling folks trying to get a high rank.

Edited 8/8/2016 23:30:31