Last night I made a push to get into Champion League 2 for the first time and got within 95 points of making it there, until I pushed too hard. Now today, I am struggling to get a win at all and have dropped all the way back 378 points away again...
That is pretty frustrating. But, that's the game!
I know several people who don't like to play anymore because it is "too stressful", but for me this is a good way to work on something at the same time as playing. Some people watch TV or some shows while playing too, so I guess it is multitasking entertainment. Perhaps our lives have always been driven by entertainment, but I think that these days, there is a bit of a difference in what that entertainment is.
For example, I imagine that back in the day, a person would knit a jumper for function, but they would also spend extra effort in adding a pattern, increasing the difficulty and having "fun" whilst making something useful. Entertainment doesn't have to be useless to be be entertaining and it can produce something that can be value adding also.
But, I reckon that these days, there is far less "practical value" in what we consider entertainment as it is mostly passive consumer activity, not generative. For instance, someone might say they "don't have the time to learn" a value-adding skill or process, yet the same person can consume hours of entertainment on YouTube or similar. Yes, they can be entertained and justify that they are learning something, but this doesn't mean what is learned is useful.
Does everything have to be value-adding? Well, I don't know but I think that the bar for what is considered valuable has come well down, where we now seem to value our "free time" so much that we spend most of it doing nothing of value. It is a funny conflict that we value the freedom we have, yet waste it because it is "free". It is very much like all of those people who win the lottery and flitter it away, isn't it?
I wonder if I could go back to the past and reclaim all the hours that I have wasted not generating something other than a good feeling, how many hours would I rack up? If I could allocate all of those hours to skills I wish I had today, I wonder how many things I could do pretty damn well. I assume a crapload.
While this is all counterfactual as I can't go back, I wonder if I did have those skills now, would I feel better about my life in general or worse, lamenting that I didn't spend enough time doing nothing. And, while it is easy perhaps to think about the start and the end based on today, what different paths would I have taken in my life as I was building those skills and adding some kind of value along the way?
Again, I suspect that things would be quite different in my life and while I don't know if it would be for better or worse, there would likely be far more opportunity. Aren't many complaining about not having enough opportunity in their lives? As they say, sometimes we have to make our own opportunities in this life rather than assuming or expecting that they will be provided for us. But, if we are spending a lot of our time making ourselves feel good in the moment but not necessarily adding any skill or subject of value to our lives, what are our chances of improving our own opportunity?
I kind of feel like the "societal monster" that has the most buffs on our ability life improvement, is our reliance on passive and non-generative entertainment to provide our feelings of contentment, rather than our naturally human creative talents to produce something of value. I know that I have fallen into this trap more than once in my life and will likely get sucked into it more than once again. The consumer animal is highly attractive and the methods developed to pull and keep us engaged, insidious.
Sometimes I wonder how much of what I am doing throughout my days is actually valuable or, is it that I have been fooled into believing it has value, much like the likes on Facebook, the hearts on Instagram, or stars on Twitter. Yes, I am technically earning something, but is it adding to the quality of my life. I feel it is, but that is the problem with being able to apply our own meaning to our world - the feelings can indicate success, even if it is not.
Well, while I have been writing this I have been playing a few games, completed the daily quest and managed to get about 80 points closer to Champion League 2. Was it worth it? If I can make it into C2, I think I would save some time starting in D2, so that would be something - but in the Meta view, it might all be meaningless.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I've all but given up on Champion; and I expect I have a more versatile playing deck than you. Too much multi-tasking, or maybe I just don't have the head for it.
Seriously contemplating retiring them all onto land when I can, and living out my days playing the resource generation game; leave the battling to the sharp, hungry newcomers.
I think you are not alone in that. I also think that perhaps they will have to change the top end a little, as currently there is little incentive to move into C1 as there is no pressure from below, so they get to the top of C2 and stop. This means it is nearly impossible for someone like me to get to C2, because there is no one to play against at the top that is around my level - so I end up playing and losing to people 400 points below :D
Land will be huge for you... whatever it is going to be. :)
I was looking for this post, but somehow missed it. I think this is still before your last push. I love to hear your comments on this experience, after this post was published.
As you know, these days, I judge my position very well. To me it is therapudic. I like to know my place in the universe. When I arrive there, I find it peaceful, and don't try and fight to go any higher. I know my skill level, I know the skill level of people I am playing against (mostly), so I try to find the equiribrium to the best of my ability. I do experiment with new cards here and there, so my whole season is not optimized for efficiency. But as you probably, know that I have done that too. Playing very carefully, I can climb lowest diamond to lowest champnions in 100 games. However, that is also quite stressful. I rather play 200-250 games and end up in C-3. That's my life now.
Perhaps I should write it now and call it "playing like a bot" :D
It wasn't stressful, but that doesn't mean I wasn't frustrated at times. It actually might be a pretty decent post and I can throw in the RNG issues.
I think you have a pretty good balance with it and don't overplay your hand. 100 games is pretty amazing to go from D to C I think!
Yes, please. I think it will be a valuable post. "Playing like a bot" is also a great title.
Just google "RNG in card games", if you like to get a share of other's frustration :) I am having this frustration for the last 22 years, so it is almost like marriage :) (meaning it is beautiful!!!LOL)
100 games is ideal, meaning that is perfection. I rarely do that. I most typically play 200-250 games, but last season I think I played 273, this season I think I played 313; so both times higher than I want to. This is due to the new CL cards and styles I am experimenting. But 200-250 should be home.
lolztoken.com
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@azircon, You need more $LOLZ to use this command. The minimum requirement is 16.0 LOLZ.
You can get more $LOLZ on HE.
Since the EOS is coming, perhaps I can write tonight instead of playing :)
You get less time for murder.
I would be happy with half as much than I play, but I enjoy playing at the moment too, so I can take a few minutes here and there throughout the day - I am sitting at the desk for lunch anyway - may as well put the time to good use.
btw, I do listen to you saying to be patient - I'm just not. :D
@tarazkp splinterlands becoming hard to play day by day competition is increasing with the papularty of @splinterlands thats why I think it's game for big players like you
I think it is a game for all levels to be honest - and I reckon with the coming changes to gameplay, there will be more incentive for the smaller players to play more.
I don't know what would change in my life if I could go back to the past. I am sure I would try to do better again. However, opportunity matters. I believe that I could do the best with my limited opportunities.
We say one door opens another door. If we use our opportunity in the right place and at the right time, we can add value to our life in general.
I wonder how many of those open doors we have missed that would have completely changed our lives.
Going back, I would hope I would identify more opportunities and, use the ones I took better too.
wow that's awesome I didn't know you were in champions ranking! Been stuck back here in Diamond for a while now myself.
What are your thoughts on renting max cards 48 hours before end of the season to level up in season rankings as fast as possible? Cheating the system that needs to be fixed or it's all love and war and a ok?
I think it is fine to rent, but in the last couple days, it is going to be costly!!
I quite like playing and learning at the moment, so I rent what I need all season and try to test some new cards from time to time.
As long as I don't end up in gold... I m happy!
I think the key word here is fooled. Many of us are fooled in to the marketing and propaganda mind control like programming. The is quite the buffet of programs to chose from. Value is perhaps another key word. How do we define value? Is there an ultimate value, or is it personal preferences? Thanks.
"What is value" is interesting to consider, but I think that many of us don't consider it well, as we make decisions on how we feel, which can be manipulated.
The main thing is not to burn out completely without rest. Find the balance that will carry us forward!
Yes - and I think this is part of the question. Do we survive better (burnout less) being creative, or consumptive? I get the sense that the generative people tend to do better, when they are doing what they actually enjoy. The workhorses doing what they dislike however, burnout fast.
Yes, I'm noticing that more and more too.
You are better and better. Improving is nice, I start to upgrade my summoners to max, to see if I get more than D3. Did you see how to check up the rentals on peakmonsters with 3-4 clicks for the right price? Or you know already. Great time saving option. I tell you.
Yeah, I use Peakmonsters a fair bit these days. It is pretty decent, though I would like a few more filter options.
The losing streaks really burn if you're trying to push up XD
I keep forgetting to play x_x
As someone who makes the kind of stuff other people "waste" time on, it's of high value to me (as far as something I like doing) and kind of value generating (at least as far as hive is concerned, I haven't tried getting an industry job because the last time I seriously looked at it, the hours were untenable for our family at the time and these days they're untenable for me) again for me, kinda hurts that I might just be wasting people's time if they decide they enjoy it enough to watch it (assuming of course I ever get to that stage which looks exponentially less likely with each passing day so I guess in the end nothing to worry about) instead of doing something more "value adding" (I can't begin to describe how much I hate that phrase since it became a buzzword some years ago XD).
Good luck pushing into C2 :D
I had 13 or 14 losses in a row the other day :D
I wonder how many people are improving their own skill through your update posts.
As said, there is no problem with entertainment, but I wonder where the balance point is between passive and active, consumer or generative etc. You are generating, others are consuming - but are they (general they) also creating something else in their world?
I do know people who only consume and while they are happy while doing, they don't seem overly happy in life in general.
I didn't make it to c2... next season.
I would hazard a guess and say not many because most people wouldn't have a clue what the hell I'm on about XD
I'm generating with an eventual end goal of other people consuming (though having said that, it's kind of an accidental end goal anyway, this stuff is happening because I'm having fun making it happen and anyone else that happens to like it enough to consume is a bonus). I have been wondering (see you do make people think ;D) if I "should" be doing things like that if people wasting their time endlessly consuming is a bad thing as it is one more pointless piece of entertainment to be consumed.
I'm not going to stop even if I should, world would be a very boring place without stories in it XP
Next season for sure :D
Nice picture mate, but it looks a little scary
First of all thank you for your post, I am new to hive and thanks to this post I found the self improvement community which sounds awesome, I subscribed just now.
This issue with entertainment vs creating value was a big source of stress for me last year, I used to focus too far in the future and sacrifice my present joy to ensure my future joy. In other words I felt guilty every time I took a break, had fun, went out, or did anything that didn't add value for my future self. So for a long time I didn't realize this was a gamble. And I was putting all my eggs(joy) in 1 basket, the future basket. So that if my plans didn't work out I would have limited my happiness today without achieving happiness in the future.
After a lot of reflection, therapy, books and... more reflection, I got to an agreement between my present and my future selves. As a result, I started to look for balance, I looked for activities that could help me achieve something meaningful or useful, but at the same time I enjoyed, and I kinda promised myself I would felt guilty if I wasted some time or just took a break. And after some months I found Splinterlands and the whole idea of play to earn, it fits me very well.
By the way, I've been renting CP since I don't have a lot of money to invests and I hate the fact that the last day is the only one that matters, the prices get ridiculous. I think the higher leagues should be registered during 2 or 3 days before end of season, not only on the last day. That would relieve some pressure from rental prices and competivity.