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The Advantages of Playing Online
by Richard Jordan In my relatively short sojourn with ST:CCG I have found that online play is extremely advantageous, especially for the beginner and intermediate player. I speak from experience. I went from a self-taught beginner to a reasonable player to a tournament winner. Online play has been a big factor in my recent headway. There are two primary benefits to online play when it comes to self-improvement: First, online players are often some of the most advanced from all over the globe. By pitting your stuff against them, you are giving your deck strategies a rigorous test. You will see what a good player can do to mess with your deck, then try to fix those weaknesses. This is what made my deck advanced while I consider myself only an intermediate player. The second huge advantage is exposure to new, innovative, advanced strategies. If you always play the same few people, your knowledge of strategies can be rather stagnant. A good way to find out about other deck designs can be to play online. As previously stated, you will often come up against impressive players. As a beginner, there is a big chance your deck will often be utterly demolished by these players. I have lost many a game 100 to 0, their win. However, these losses will not be in vain. If you follow along with what they are doing, you will see advanced strategies, dilemma combos, innovative card uses, etc. Not only are you finding out about them, but you are seeing how they work. The player is quite literally demonstrating their better decks and strategies step by step. You can adapt some of these for your own use and improve your own play. There is another way to utilize this knowledge. Even if you don't want to use the strategies you see online, knowing about them can be extremely helpful. Many strategies depend on the opponent being oblivious at the beginning of the game. By the time you realize what is happening, it is too late to do anything about it. However, by facing these decks online, you will be more prepared to face them again. To quote Scotty "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Besides learning to play more advanced decks, there are other, simpler advantages. For me, it is the only opportunity for play outside of tournaments, and I can only attend those occasionally. There is a good community of players who frequent the online chat rooms, and I believe you will find them friendly and supportive. It is also difficult to begin a spontaneous game anywhere else. If you feel like a game, you can head to specific chat room, and the chances of finding a game are fairly good. Overall, it provides a unique opportunity for isolated players and is quite convenient to begin with. I should also point out potential difficulties with online play. First you need to have access to the internet for long enough periods of time, a computer with enough space in front of it, etc. The games themselves also have many inherent problems. Not being familiar with opponents cards and not being able to see them, complications with timing, miscommunications, computer shutdowns, hours of tying up phone lines, and just plain slowness to mention a few. And then you always have to wonder about the possibility of cheating. In truth, you cannot be completely sure of the honesty of your opponent. However, most players have established reputations and I do not believe it is a common circumstance. After all, wouldn't you expect anyone who appreciates Star Trek enough to play the game would believe in its values? I would like to think so. For those of you who have not been involved in online play before, let me suggest the most trafficked site used for online play - Kedanya Station.
I hope you can all learn to enjoy and appreciate online play. Hope to see you at Kedanya! Richard "Oxmyx" Jordan |
