Appeal of competitive gaming.

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Some of us have considered the competitive sides of gaming as a whole. However, for those who did get into it, what was you reason for doing so? Did you stay in it or quit after awhile?

Hmm, I've been into it with fighting games for the most part. Particularly the Guilty Gear series and Blazblue, and to a lesser extent, Smash (though I might dive back into that now, with the new game coming out in less than six hours).

Now, I will say, I did get far. Particularly with Guilty Gear. My skill level is *very* high with these. But the problem I run into is that it's not just about skill really... that's the bit that people always think about when it comes to competition, but it's not the part that's the most important. It's also about your attitude.

Now, I myself always try to be as polite and generally friendly as possible... it's how I was raised, after all. And if I'm facing an opponent like, at a convention or something, or if perhaps it's someone I met online through here or Steam or whatever (and thus am in direct contact with and talking to) I'll typically let that person choose the rules or whatever. In Smash for instance... wanna fight by typical competitive rules? Sure. Wanna play with items on in a crazy stage? Hey, fine by me. It's all fun to me. Are you maybe a new player, you want me to hold back so you have a chance to learn the game? No problem. Or just want me to go all-out nuts? Okay! Heck, if someone wants me to pick a specific character that they'd like to practice against, I'll even do that. This all honestly seems like basic courtesy to me. BOTH sides are supposed to be having a good time, yeah?

But the fighting game community tends not to be like that. They tend to be rude, snide, and generally unpleasant. And I've lost count of how many times I've heard the word "scrub" thrown at people. They're SO bad that it's a bloody miracle that these games ever draw in new players. I mean, seriously, they're outright hostile towards newbies. I've always found it baffling.

It's not even just that though. They get sort of stuck in a rut, and if you go against their preset ways, you MUST be a horrible player.... even if you're doing the winning. And hell, if you ARE winning against the "best" ways of playing, THAT is the thing that'll set off the rage the fastest.

Good example: I was at a convention once, just in the game room. A bunch of players were hanging around there after a tournament had recently finished... this was a pretty big con, and had ALOT of fans of fighting games there. So I went in there to have a few matches. Sat down, started playing against this guy. It starts off sorta okay, but as soon as he sees my screwball playstyle, he starts making snide comments. Wheras most people in the community learn their tactics/combos from watching others, I've always refused, and just do my own bloody thing, and that tends to get odd reactions from anyone I fight. Including that guy. Again though, my skill level is very high, screwy style or not. He started losing pretty much immediately. And he just kept getting more and more angry. While I'm still not taking it THAT seriously. This whole time I'm just sorta hoping that he'll get frustrated and leave, and someone else can take his place. Because, really, it's not fun with this guy being so... agitated, simply because he's having trouble against someone that doesnt play the "right" way. Eventually though, he pulls off a win. And lets out a loud comment like "Yeah... THAT is how it's done, you scrub!". I get irked... but stay silent... and pick my best character, and defeat him rather soundly. I then go to switch to a different one... feeling that I've made my point... and he outright shouts "NO! YOU PICK THAT ONE AGAIN!". My patience snaps at this point. Oh, I dont shout or swear or anything... I'm still silent. But I did as he asked, picked that character... and promptly went all-out berserk (in the game). It wasnt a fight... it was a freaking massacre. I made it look effortless. Which is typically what happens if I go berserk like that. After that bloody mess ends, I decide enough is enough... I made my bloody point, and really, he's taken ALL of the fun out of it, and there's other people that want to play too. So I stand up, say "Well, that's enough, I think", aaaaaaaand.... this guy flips the hell out. Shrieks an f-bomb at the top of his lungs, LAUNCHES the controller (which wasnt his) at the wall, and stomps out. Keep in mind this is in a very crowded gameroom. Fortunately the next rather baffled guy who wanted to play was alot more pleasant, but... yeah. It was a "memorable" experience.


And sadly, not an isolated one. Like alot of people on this forum, I have very bad social anxiety. Which means that I have trouble dealing with crap like that. Oh, I can seem calm and quiet DURING it, but I'll usually have some sort of anxiety attack not long after. And really, it's just... well, after you see this sort of thing enough time, it starts to make you wary of new players. You just sorta expect YET ANOTHER total jerk in a long line of total jerks. Now that's not to say I've not met some NICE players, because of course I have... it's just that the number of snotballs is higher. If you're playing online instead of in-person that number rises even higher.

And anyone that's into TEAM games of any genre can probably back that up, as it's even worse in those. At least in a fighting game, it's one-on-one... you dont have to RELY on anyone but yourself. But in a team game, you may have to rely on someone who decides they loathe you for no reason. Or who may just be a troll. And I tell ya... that's even more frustrating than any fighting game could ever be. I tried some team-based games a few times. Let's just say, it was NOT a pleasant experience.



The other reason I got out of it somewhat though was the fights themselves. As I said, alot of players in fighting games dont come up with their own combos/playstyle... they watch what others do and mimic them. Which means that you tend to fight alot of the same people doing the same bloody thing over and over and over again (and this also makes them that much easier to beat). It got kinda dull. But also, I reached a point where I could usually not get a player to fight me more than once. Or, if they had WATCHED a fight I did, they would refuse to fight me at all, thinking they couldnt possibly win (and I always wanted to say "dagnabit, you dont know what'll happen till you try!" but usually I just kept silent). So it became harder and harder to really find opponents. Not to mention that Street Fighter sorta started taking over the genre (I dont play that at all), and the games I've always been into became harder and harder to find opponents for. Aside from Smash, of course.

And speaking of Smash, well... yeah, I now plan to dive back in, at least a bit. The nice thing about Smash is that if I feel like playing it, but DONT feel like dealing with actual players, it has LOTS of excellent singleplayer stuff to do (or heck, I can even set up my own challenging VS-AI fights). WHich is one problem most fighting games have, their singleplayer usually suuuuuuucks. So that's nice.