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Mar 13, 2008 at 08:23 AM CDT

View Comments: 15

Loki's Look: Losing - The most important part of winning

Posted by: Goodeh



Written by Liam Loki Belcher; Staff Writer BirminghamSalvo.com

I want to try something different here. Close your eyes and think of all the losses you've ever had in gaming. In fact, go further than that. Think of everything in your life that you've lost at. It could be anything from a swimming competition, to losing a girlfriend all the way through to losing a LAN competition. How did you feel? Did you feel like you'd failed big time?

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CAPTION

Being a Counter-Strike Legend doesn't make losing any less painful...

Even the best Counter-Strike players can lose.There was a time that losing for me was unnacceptable. If I lost at anything, no matter how small it was, I would sulk and it would really take quite some time to get over it. Many people have different ways of coping with losing but there's one truth to losing that you can't deny; it hurts like a kick to the face. For instance, not so long ago my team was slipping into a very bad rut. We were losing games quite often and nothing was really being done about it in the sense that no training schedules were taking place. We had the skill and the determination but without the structure of a schedule or any sort of training regime we were going nowhere fast. The team decided that it was now or never. Something HAD to be done and fast. A basic training schudule was posted and even though it isn't really strictly kept to these days it started to show in how effective it truely was. We were starting to win games with the strats we were practicing hard to pin down. One of my best friends and also a team mate in Simple Concept Gaming (the team I play for) always stood by the philosophy that winning is nice but losing is so much more important. I knew what he was trying to get at but ultimately I thought he was insane. Who would actually LIKE to lose? I mean, the only thing to come out of losing is misery right?

That's where I made a fatal error in judgement. When you win, you rarely sit down after the game of CS or CoD etc and think "ok fellas, here's what we did wrong". Quite the opposite. After a win, most people have the tendency to simply relax and give one another a pat on the back for a job well done. I've mentioned in a previous article that you have to look back at your wins and say "we didn't do 100% perfect. If we did then we would have won 16 - 0, not 16 - 1!" Striving for perfection is always a good thing in my book but realistically it's not possible. There's always going to be a gap somewhere in your plan. Always something in your machinary that you fine tune. You only have to look at coL's CEVO-P season that just took place. It started off well but then after a while something seemed to go wrong. Whatever it was, coL knew they needed to fix it and even thought in hindsight it was too little too late, they gave it a go...and you have to remember that they're world champions. If the World Champions can get it wrong, you better believe you can too.

CAPTION

Sorry Paul! The answer was C.

So we've established the maths in this article. To refresh - Winning + pats on back = win. Losing + depression = win? This is where a lot of teams (including ours until recently) go wrong. When you lose for whatever reason ask yourself three questions. 1 - What went wrong? 2 - What can be improved? 3 - Were we simply just not good enough (i.e. out skilled in every aspect)? If you can get past the first question without your mind going numb then you're already on the track to winning. At a persons weakest point, you can only see how much better things have to get. You have to realise that if losing cripples the team then it's not the team that's the problem, it's the atmosphere the team is allowing to stew in. Getting your head out of the gutter by going to see a film at the cinema or simply hanging out with some friends can take your mind of things. But always remember that after you have a little you time, you HAVE to get stuck right into the mess. Janitors don't clean the toilets because they like to, they do it because there is a purpose. If the toilet remains messy then it will only lead to the stink growing and growing, something that noone wants to happen. Find out where your weaknesses are. Gaming is one big chess board. You've got to think of better ways to outsmart your opponent next time and at the same time not letting the psychological side of things take its toll on you. In the film Revolver there is a line that should apply to everyone that wants to succeed at gaming of any level - "The only way to get smarter is by playing a smarter opponent" You're losing to high skilled? Then you're mid skilled. It's that simple. But don't feel that after 20 losses to a high skilled team that you're getting worse. Take little bits of knowledge from each game. You're losing at penalties on FIFA, make sure you practice that until your thumb falls off. Can't quite counter a mid punch on DoA4? Get into the practice mode and learn to counter until you're confidenct enough to do it in real life.

---

Ultimately your greatest weakness can become your biggest strength if you work at it and move with the momentum. Every team has to start somewhere and every professional team or individual player has lost a million times over. It's what you take from the loss that makes the winning later on so important.

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#1

March 13, 2008 at 11:07 AM CDT

Elimination
shieldshieldshieldshield

Posts: 68
Location: Washington

Great read. Nice job Loki, keep going

CS Source :)
^wotr^ eliMination

#2

March 13, 2008 at 01:44 PM CDT

AlbeL
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Posts: 5704
Location: Outside Belfast

Staff Member Staff Member

Why counter when kasumi teleports

Great read as usual Liam.

Loituma Champion

#3

March 13, 2008 at 02:22 PM CDT

Ricochet
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Posts: 789
Location: In front of an xbox360 and HDTV ^_^

Staff Member Staff Member

Referenced post #2 by AlbeL
Why counter when kasumi teleports

Great read as usual Liam.
#2 hrm!

Good read Liam!

Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford

#4

March 14, 2008 at 02:30 AM CDT

RV0LVr
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Posts: 910
Location:

Referenced post #2 by AlbeL
Why counter when kasumi teleports

Great read as usual Liam.
#2
very true....lol

Great read as always!

typos are just a part of life....

#5

March 14, 2008 at 06:21 AM CDT

SCG-Loki
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Posts: 5200
Location: Washington

Staff Member Staff Member

Awesome banner of Ronaldo crying. You're winning English points my Irish friend

#6

March 14, 2008 at 09:39 AM CDT

Ricochet
shieldshieldshieldshield

Posts: 789
Location: In front of an xbox360 and HDTV ^_^

Staff Member Staff Member

And you can't teleport out of a stun!

Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford

#7

March 14, 2008 at 09:43 AM CDT

Paddaman
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Posts: 178
Location: Birmingham

Pro Gamer Pro Gamer

Referenced post #6 by Ricochet
And you can't teleport out of a stun!
#6

nor lows.

gg.

"True Pros keep playing until they get it right."

#8

March 14, 2008 at 09:46 AM CDT

Ricochet
shieldshieldshieldshield

Posts: 789
Location: In front of an xbox360 and HDTV ^_^

Staff Member Staff Member


Whether you think you can or whether you think you cant, you are right - Henry Ford

#9

March 14, 2008 at 11:58 AM CDT

Ne0phyt3
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Posts: 1736
Location: Rotterdam

I was bored so I came here

Although I get the feeling that whis article couldve included more, it's still a good read
(it would probably get too long anyway^^)

I'll run away from the british invasion now, jk


And as the finishing touch, God created the Dutch.

#10

March 14, 2008 at 02:18 PM CDT

Liefje
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Posts: 710
Location: Stockholm

Pro Gamer Pro Gamer

arent penalties in cs basically just luck and predicting where your opponent goes? (ie: no skill but more of a gamble?)

Berlin Allianz Dead or Alive 4 player

#11

March 15, 2008 at 06:31 AM CDT

SCG-Loki
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Posts: 5200
Location: Washington

Staff Member Staff Member

Penalties in CS?

#12

March 16, 2008 at 02:57 PM CDT

phunk
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Posts: 261
Location: Baltimore

5 minutes for wallhacking

^loki

A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire

#13

March 16, 2008 at 03:49 PM CDT

SCG-Loki
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Posts: 5200
Location: Washington

Staff Member Staff Member

I've been had!

#14

April 1, 2008 at 07:36 PM CDT

Goldee
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Posts: 154
Location:

Interesting article, but the way I've always seen losing is not to accept it, but get angry over it. For example, if I lost a competition I wouldn't accept that I'd lost it, but that my opponents were lucky and I'd return the next year remembering that last year was just luck.

#15

April 1, 2008 at 09:46 PM CDT

^fRaG^
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Posts: 447
Location: Barrow

Loki speaks words of true wisdom!!!

-- ( fRoD ) --- "jk... aint no way in hell im retiring, owning is too much fun [;)]"

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