What makes a good league of legends player?

So I was talking to a friend about League of Legends today and she asked me to come up with a list of the best players in the very loose and informal “clan” that we have (its basically just a rag-tag group of people, honestly). Now, this brought out a general discussion of what exactly makes a good player well... a good player. And honestly I realized a few interesting things.

First of all, skill alone really isn't enough if you ask me. For instance, there is one player in particular who I really despise because he's so freaking arrogant about his skill. He's honestly good, I checked his profile and he is right on 1600, which is about the point where there is a really clear difference between “good” and “average” players. Yet he has always been “I'm so good, you're not. I'm carrying team. Look at me! I'm carrying the team!” In comparison a few days ago I played with a guy who is ranked 100 points higher and was much more... humble. He did pretty much carry all our games, but he was nice about it. He wasn't like “I am an awesome carry!” he was, “hmm... I think this hero should be rated higher than most people do.” It makes a difference. In fact, it makes a huge difference. I don't care how good you are, if you're going to be a jerk to me, I'm not going to play with you. Its silly, why be rude? I admit, I'm serious about this game, and I want to win, but I don't get condescending or rude when people are worse than me, I only do that when they aren't trying or are being silly on purpose.

In fact, that's another thing that kinda bothers me. I know players who are bad. That's okay. Be bad. I don't care. However, don't revel in it! Don't use your lack of skill as an excuse to go ultimate bravery. A few nights ago I played with people who knew they were no good, but instead of spending their time to improve their game (as I did when I began playing DotA years ago), they used it as an excuse to play purposely bad builds and do silly stuff so that they cannot do good at all.

There is a time to have silly games. I love teemoball,a game that is basically just... pure stupidity. However, when I played teemo ball I attempted to play seriously and take what was meant to be a silly game seriously. It was still a silly game. But it was a silly game that had serious strategy behind it. There is a difference between giving up because you're no good and accepting your skill level and attempting to improve. I remember my first League of Legends game, I was clueless. I didn't know what to buy, I didn't understand items. Now, I'm getting there. I'm slowly understanding this game, and its a complex one so that is okay! Of course, it I does depress me when I realize Wickd, a pro EU player is about 16 and he's on what might be the 2nd best EU team. I'm 19 and I'm nobody.

Additionally, there is another player I know who is quite good. He manages to do rather well as a carry player with heroes like corki and nocturne. I remember when Sona was OP he had an AP sona build that was rather good at dishing out damage. However, I don't think I've seen him do anything but play carries, ever. In comparison, I have another friend who while he prefers to play supports and is a VERY good Janna player, he can and will switch to Ashe when the time is right. His Ashe is perhaps slightly worse than mine (I'm not sure, honestly, I trust him to carry me enough to let him play Ashe), but it is not a “Good” Ashe, its a “fair” Ashe. Furthermore, he doesn't really play any other carries (that's fine because Ashe is good 50% of the time, haha). Additionally he can play different tanks. Versatility is a really needed thing in this game, and attempting to make every hero you play a carry isn't a good idea. Phantom Dancer Chogath and Udyr is funny, AP Sona is cool, but Tank Chogath and Tanky DPS Udyr and Support Sona are the better builds, leave carrying to Corki, Ashe, Nocturne and those heroes. Learn to play Chogath as he was intended: a beefy caster that tanks really, really well.

Finally, there is an element of the game that a lot of people don't understand, and that's strategy and map awareness. Its supremely frustrating for me to not know where the enemy is. SUPREMRELY frustrating. I feel helpless, especially when they start stealing map objectives and I don't know because I can't see what they are doing because we don't have map control. A lot of players I know do very well with a select group or type of heroes. However, they don't understand strategy much. What does that mean? Well, team comp is about 50% of the game, at least. Having a team that has tanky, sustained damage, burst damage, and CC in good amounts is important. You can't just throw together a bunch of heroes, even if they technically all fufill roles. I've played plenty of games where we lost and my teammate was like “yep, we had horrible team comp.” Right now my team is working on running a “default” team comp that we can run back to no matter what. But to be honest, forming a team comp is really hard, its something that I struggle with, almost more so than playing the game. I feel that if we can manage a good team comp, then my team will win most of the time, and its because we have a good comp.

So yeah, what does it take to win League of Legends? To be a good LoL player? Skill is important, learn the basics like last hitting (it amazes me how few people know how to last hit well! It also amazes me how good the pros are. Learn to last hit like Chauster and you'll be a pro carry in no time), learn map awareness, how important wards are, the importance of Baron and Dragon. Learn to be versatile, playing more than 5 different types of carries or tanks. Learn the strategies of this game. A poor strategist can win with the help of a good one, but you'll be more successful if you're a good strategist too. If you're good, don't rub it in too much. An arrogant jerk who's really good isn't going to make many friends, a humble pro will. Also, and most importantly, don't take your lack of skill as a reason to play bad on purpose! This is a fun game, but its more fun to win and to win you have to be good. Saying I won because I had fun is... its cheapening the system. Yes, you should do that. But being a tryhard isn't so much about winning as it is about taking the game seriously and understanding that you need to improve. I've improved so much in this game, to the point where I know I was a noob all those years ago. I'm really interested in getting better, but to do that I have to suffer humiliating defeats. Its a learning process, and its hard.

Thought of the Day

So Saturday night I was talking to one of my friends who is also a Religious (technically Catholic) studies major. She's transferring to another school and I asked why. Basically its because the program here for Catholic Studies isn't … very mainline? I'm not sure what exactly she was getting at. But the thing is, “she likes being Catholic.” And, like, she said it in an annoyed “please be quiet Isaac,” way, but I was like... wait... you mean there are people that really really like their denomination? Probably a good shock for me.

See, my grandfather on my mom's side left the Catholic Church. My parents joined a non-denominational organization, I've been surrounded by people with slightly different theological views and my question has always been “what does the Bible say?” I mean like, I'm not sure to learn doctrine, I'm hear to figure out what I believe. One of the things this person mentioned was the word “career” and, actually, that's not a bad point, I realized in hindsight. But the thing is... I'm not concerned about my career? Maybe this is a bad thing, but I know people that ran off to South Asia with little education and just faith that they were there because God told them to go. Doctrines, Creeds, Denominations, they are really meaningless to me. I respect the Catholic Church for what it has done, I also do not think I will ever be able to join the Catholic Church. I might go in for mass every so-often, because... I mean, why not? But that's it.

Anyways, its just funny how people are loyal to a particular creed or denomination. I have nothing against that, but I've been taught to find my own faith, grounded in the Bible, of course, but my own faith. And furthermore, I don't like being in a position where someone says “Didn't the Pope/Religious Leader say...” and me having to defend that belief when I might not agree with it. Judge me based on my own actions and my own beliefs, not on the actions or beliefs of others. Sure, if its my pastor, or a spiritual father of mine, question me, however, that is a different dynamic. Why? Because those people, I know them, personally. Like, I know my Pastor back home as well as I possibly could. I know my grandparents, I know my parents, I know my current mentor, and if you question me on their beliefs or actions, that's different. Even if I was Catholic, and by some miracle, I managed to meet the Pope, I don't think I'd ever “know” the Pope. I'd never have that dynamic relationship that is so amazing and personal.

Last night I called the guy who I currently would probably end up calling my pastor or spiritual mentor, even though he's thousands of miles away and we don't talk that often. He told me that I should be “honing” my faith, not just learning new information. And that's something I want to be doing. Right now, I'm finding that I need to ask a lot of questions about my beliefs and different issues that I never had in Bangladesh just because of how things worked. Its been good and its been encouraging. To link that back to what I've been saying,that's what I want to keep as my goal these next three years. I want to remember that I need to hone my faith, not just get new information, but understand how that information will help me be the best servant of Christ I can possibly be.

So that's what I'm working towards right now, making sure that I'm learning what I'm supposed to be doing. I think this summer should hopefully be a good time for me to reflect on what I've done this semester and last and see where I went wrong and where I went right. There is that fine line of being in the world but not being off the world, and I need to walk it... its harder than I thought it would be, so we'll see how things go.

Sucker Punch

So its been a while now but I really think I need to write this little rant.

A while ago I watched Sucker Punch. Its a great movie, everyone should see it. At least, anyone who understands or wants to understand Geek Culture needs to see this movie. The thing is, its been a commercial and critical failure. Now, when I saw it, I went for the special effects, and I got those. Sucker Punch is the most brilliantly imagined visual experience ever. Or at least, its the best I've seen, I haven't seen Avatar, so that movie might be really good. I dunno.

Critics don't like because it doesn't seem to be a very good movie, by their standards. First of all, most people don't like the plot. Second of all, they don't like the depiction of women in the film (they're all wearing revealing outfits the entire time; despite their being rather obvious plot/genre reasons for this) and in general most people have written it off as a horrible film designed to enthrall 13 year-old loser geeks.

First of all, I have to say the general view that a lot of people have about the geek audience is highly offensive. I'm a geek, I love being a geek and I love geek culture. We're not a bunch of fat, neck-bearded 30 year old virgins. Nor are we all a bunch of 13 year-old kids who have no life and play too many video games. These groups exist, I am not denying that. I'm part of neither demographic and even amongst the college kids I hang out with, the “geeks” are a bunch of really cool dudes. We're not hopeless dorks who will never be good at anything but either math or RPGs, or whatever. Sucker Punch IS a move that, on the surface appeals to this audience and its a good example of what that audience wants on the surface: lots of awesome visual effects and scantily clad women (say what you will about this, but I'm really offended that people bring that up in this film, yet the dozens of raunchy sex films that come out seem to never get this kind of critism. Furthermore, I didn't see nearly as much sex as one could easily expect from this kind of film. Serious dramas often have more explicit sexual overtones than Sucker Punch, which had very, very, mild ones, in my opinion).

Second of all, I find that most people, critics and the general audience alike, missed out on what exactly was going on here. Synder is a smart director and he is actually pretty aware. He uses the movie's characters to speak directly to the audience about this film (meta talks, breaking the 4th wall, whatever) in a very subtle fashion. Its really an interesting thing, looking back at it. I admit I missed most of this, and I really should watch this movie again 2-3 times, but I don't have the time and money right now.

Its just that I feel this is a really smart, really well-crafted movie, and yet no one liked it except a few geeks. I watched for the visuals alone because I'm a geek and I would watch it for the visuals alone again. I would watch 12 variations on this movie just for those visuals. But the actual movie itself is actually pretty good, not just some sort of geek's wet dream, which is what people have made it out to be.

Changing my Major

So today I changed my major. That horrible curse of college has effected me too! Don't worry, it won't be changing again, I don't think, though my minor might, possibly, at least. I dunno. It depends. Anyways I went from English Writing and Rhetoric to Religious and Theological Studies.

Of course, the question is why? I just traded an awesome, useful degree for a “useless” one that won't get me a job. I'm obviously an idiot now, right? Well... only sort of.

See, part of the problem is the culture I grew up in. I'm not talking about Bangladesh, I'm talking about my parent's organization. Some of my parent's coworkers moved to India when they were my age, nothing but a high school education and the knowledge that they needed to be in India to better serve God. Now, the thing is, all of these people eventually had kids who have, as of yet, pretty much universally (disregarding a few) all spent a long time waiting till they can get old enough to join the same organization themselves and follow in their parent's footsteps. 3 of my friends now are working for my parent’s organization, just like their parents did. 2 of them appear to be in it for the long term, one is still deciding. Everyone assumed I would do the same.

Now, here is the thing. While my parents have never pressured me, I think the culture of their organization (combined with Bangladesh, possibly) has. I had this very long discussion with my parents last year about how I didn't want to end up being “[My father's] son” I wanted to be me, Isaac, a person unique and different from my parents.

So I ran off to college, avoiding Christian Universities (Catholic doesn't exactly count; plus Austin is notoriously liberal and the school shows that). I majored in English Writing and Rhetoric and took a class I loved. I then realized I could minor in something, so I went ahead and did that, I picked a minor in Religious Studies cuz I figured I might as well do some theology, its fun, after all.

2 Things happened between then and now. First of all, I came to the conclusion that I would be joining my parent's organization, if not for the long term, than at least for the short term. Three years ago I was anointed as a nation builder and I've been trying to work out what that means since. I've also realized that I don't enjoy writing, I enjoy thinking, and writing is a medium for thinking, for me, because I spend so much time on the computer. It seems to me every time I'm talking to my mother I'm talking about Philosophical things, not English Writing. In fact, I'm kinda dissatisfied with my English Writing class this semester. Its... okay. Its hard, and I realize that has kind of soured my taste. But the thing is, this is still a class thats fundamentally interesting to me. I don't think Revising and Editing is going to be like that, etc. I looked through the list of classes an English Writing Major has to take and I felt, more and more, how I just don't like the idea of studying these things.

Sure, the question now is “what are you going to do with that degree?” And that's a question I cannot yet answer. My response is that I'll figure that out later. My second response is that I didn't know what I was going to do with my English Writing Degree anyways. My current plan is something like this: Complete College in 4 years. Between then and now I need to spend a summer Interning at a NGO in India or Bangladesh (I'd intern with my parent's organization if I could, but I think that would be … complicated). Study Abroad in Europe (Germany/UK are #1 choices) and... I dunno. Then go to Europe and Study Theology stuff.

Corpus Christi

I got this message in an email from a member of my family yesterday:

“Going beyond disrespect
Abraham asked the Lord to spare 50 righteous people. God responded to Abraham's plea "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all .....Genesis 18:16-33

The movie " Corpus Christi " is due to be released this June to August. A disgusting film set to appear in America later this year depicts Jesus and his disciples as homosexuals! As a play, this has already been in theatres for a while. It's called " Corpus Christi " which means "The Body of Christ". It's revolting mockery of our Lord. But we can make a difference.

That's why I am sending this e-mail to you. If you do send this around, we just might be able to prevent this film from showing in America . Let's stand for what we believe in and stop the mockery of Jesus Christ our Savior. Where do we stand as Christians? At the risk of a bit of inconvenience, I'm forwarding this to all I think would appreciate it, too. Please help us prevent such offenses against our Lord. There is no petition to sign, no time limit, or minimum number of people to send this to.. It will take you less than 2 minutes!

If you are not interested and do not have the 2 minutes it will take to do this, please don't complain when God does not have time for you because He is far busier than we are. Hey it's worth a shot! Apparently, some regions in Europe have already banned the film. All we need is a lot of prayer and a lot of e-mails.

JUST GET THE WORD OUT

....will God be able to find at least 50 righteous people who are willing to express their concern and voice their opinion against this act of blasphemy”

For now, I'm going to ignore the chain-message nature of this email (bleh, people really have to do that?) and just instead comment on a few things. First of all the email calls the play and soon-to-be movie “Corpus Christi” “[A] revolting mockery of our Lord.” Which is kinda hilarious.

See here's the thing: Maybe it is, after a fashion, mocking God. Homosexuality pretty much the opposite of Christianity (much in the way murder is. Yes, I just did that, no, I don't hate homosexuals. I don't hate murderers, either, btw, but that's not the point here... moving on). I find the idea of a homosexual Jesus more hilarious than anything else. Jesus was a Jew. Jews hated homosexuality, and even those who support homosexuality now agree that the verses in the Bible that condemn homosexuality are derived from Jewish hatred of homosexuality. Furthermore, if a person so strongly desires to “mock” God as to create a play that is so far away from reality that it really can't be considered anything but some sort of (perverted) fantasy, then so be it. I would argue that, after a fashion, the idea that Jesus married a woman and had a family to be ten times more realistic than the idea that Jesus was the head of a gang of Jewish homosexuals and was betrayed because he spurned Judas' love (yes, that's the plot, no, I didn't say it was a good plot). I find it hard to see this sort of story as an assault on Christianity because I find it hard to take it seriously.

Of course, I'm a believer and I'm pretty firm in my beliefs. I've read the Bible enough that I know some good verses to pull out when I need them. I have a good, strong, theology based on the Bible. Specifically the OT Law, the Teachings of Christ, and the Teachings of Paul (obviously there are other bits, but those are the most important). I'm sure there are lots of unbelievers who don't know how “homophobic” ancient Judaism (I can't comment on modern Judaism, I don't know any modern Jews) actually was. So I suppose this film could do some damage.

However, the tone of this email is still inappropriate. When I see a movie like this, my response is “oh, some unredeemed sinners made a movie that is a pack of lies,” I'm not shocked or angered by the horrible unredeemed state of the world, its been this bad since Adam and Eve ate the fruit. It didn't get any better or worse, it's been the same. Sinners sin, and, in this case, I can't see that sin doing much damage to the world. Furthermore, we should be pretty active explaining the Biblical response to homosexuality anyways, so I mean... what's the big deal here?

What this email is asking people to do is to fight Satan at his own game, I feel like. That's a mistake, obviously. Satan is the King of Lies, we don't need to fight lies with lies, we don't need to suppress the enemy, because there's not to hide. He's an evil, no-good, bad-guy, and he's out to get us. If someone asked me what I thought of this movie, I'd tell them. Its a stupid movie, not because it has a bad acting or anything, but because the plot is laughable. Jesus was a respected Jewish Rabbi. Jews, as a rule, are against homosexuality. In the time of Jesus, no Rabbi would have gotten as much popularity as Jesus did while living a life so obviously contrary to the rules of Judaism. Even Paul, a Christian that came later, after Christ, condemned Homosexuality. Why would he do that when Jesus himself was a homosexual? Preach the Truth. Don't suppress lies. Lies are lies. They are false. Eventually, lies are revealed as lies and liars then condemned for well, lying. No one should be condemned for preaching the truth. “For you will no the truth and the truth will set you free,” Jesus said.

Another thing, condemnation. Paul wrote that there is no condemnation in Christ. Why are we condemning this movie? What does this movie do that is so special it must be condemned and banned and never spoken of except in disgust? It has done nothing other than support the idea that we live in a fallen world and sinners will sin. That's nothing special or unique. That's just the nature of the world.

So anyways, don't go see the movie. Or go see the movie. What you do is up to you and, as far as I can tell, this movie isn't somehow weakening our world or making it a worse place (in the way a murderer or thief does), I don't care and I think anyone who cares enough to actively attempt to ban this movie is silly. Protest the movie. Say, “I don't think this movie is a good idea; Jesus wasn't a homosexual, and we shouldn't be spreading lies.” Challenge the idea. Why do homosexuals want a homosexual Jesus when clearly there is no logical way for him to be homosexual. Use this movie as an opportunity to open a dialogue about homosexuality and the Bible. But banning it just gives homosexuals and their allies yet a another (well deserved) reason for labeling the Church “homophobic.”
Also: Song of the day: