That same realization made me feel very naive, especially since I'd grown up in the competitive Quake LAN scene. My house mate and I would play AoE2 vs the AI

That same realization made me feel very naive, especially since I'd grown up in the competitive Quake LAN scene. My house mate and I would play AoE2 vs the AI as a change of pace. We'd done this enough to get a basic understanding of the game and I would have considered us "pretty good" at the game. I recall the moment when I stumbled onto MrFixitOnline and learned about the concept of Villager Seconds and just how important it was to get that 2nd boar in the very early game. I have a vivid memory of yelling across the hallway to my buddy, "I just found out that we're terrible at this game and no nothing at all".