Are you bad at video games?

Cryomatrix

I just realized something, i've been a gamer my whole life, but I'm actually not a good gamer. I don't think i'm particularly talented at it. I've put in like 2k hours into PoE hardcore mode and the highest i've gotten is lvl 93 twice (albeit i make my own builds usually and don't follow guides). I did reach like top 10 i think in a void league in PoE with my class but of course the funny thing is i died when my keyboard glitched or i hit the wrong button and stood still for too long.  

I've played about 2,750 1v1 games on the ladder of sc2 since i'm came back and I'm diamond 3 which is about top 35% percentile or so. I also had early coaching and still fucked it up. 

I've never been top anything in any game, part of it is that i was a gamer through college, professional school, 80 hour work weeks, etc. 

You know how everyone is a good driver? Does everyone believe they are a good gamer? I don't think i'm actually good at games. 


Sincerely, 

Cryomatrix
p.s. I'm a terrible driver btw, i'm like the only male in the western hemisphere that will admit that. 

Asheram

I mainly play Mount & Blade Warband multiplayer. Not good at it but I have fun without needing to feed the epeen.

WhiteLantern

There is a reason I don't play competetively.

Slapshot1188

Yes

cheyane

I am below average for sure since I play many games in story mode as even normal is too hard for me. I think I qualify as the absolute worst player here.

Hyperpsycrow

Why be good or bad..I use games to mellow out and escape from the real world.

There is no goal to be the best or suck the most..Just play  the game.

Alternative if you WANT or NEED to be the best player, then you must set ur self some goals like today i want to be lvl 95 in poe on a scheduled time like an achievement and also if you stand under a waterfall and meditate, then you will become stronger over time

Quizzical

You have to remember that only a small handful of players will play a given game competitively.  So the "average" person on whatever ladder is probably in the top 10% of the people who play the game.  If you count everyone who even briefly played the game, then likely even top 1%.  For many games (including just about anything that is "free to play"), a large majority of the people who play the game will only briefly play it and quit within a few hours.

Iselin

No idea because I don't play any of them competitively.

I've had people in random groups compliment me in ESO. Bless their noob little hearts

Wizardry

Gaming for me is like real life,i have to be interested in an idea or i won't care and look bad.
Ideas even in games have to make sense to me or i am just not into it.I just feel like some idiot is making decisions so why would i want to play a game i know will have tons more dumb decisions incoming.
Now there are a FEW ...very few games that are truly top end skillful and one such game has been since 1998 UnrealTournament.My steady aim is not good but i was a pretty good player because there was more than just aim but typically shooters come down to aim and not many other thinking skills.

So i can again point to "making sense",if i was going to engage someone in a weapons fight,would i just walk right out in the open and say HERE I AM?Of course not,that would be stupid,so i need the game to offer me several choices to make,what direction ,what weapon,how do i deceive my opponent etc etc.

If something comes down to pure memory recall yeah then i am again bad.This again points to common sense,i shouldn't have to memorize what key to press because in real life my reactions would be nearly automatic and i wouldn't simply forget.
So i guess the short version is that the term BAD takes on several meanings,i am certain MOST all of us are simply better in some areas than the other person and worse in other areas.

Wizardry

Asheram said:

I mainly play Mount & Blade Warband multiplayer. Not good at it but I have fun without needing to feed the epeen.

That is the proper reason to play a game because of the enjoyment it brings you.
If you are playing into crap like what Blizzard does with rankings,then you are simply chasing the BAIT,the carrot they are feeding you.

WhiteLantern

WhiteLantern said:

There is a reason I don't play competetively.

For clarity: I didn't mean professionally. I meant against other humans. Like my grandkids.

Asheram

WhiteLantern said:

WhiteLantern said:

There is a reason I don't play competetively.

For clarity: I didn't mean professionally. I meant against other humans. Like my grandkids.

Well you have to win in those situations, keep those whippersnappers in line. If you can still beat them at video games they cant put you in a old folks home.

Xatsh

Depends on the video game.

I am not the best person at fast action games like FPS and the like.  Not that good at fighting games or MOBAs either but probably mainly because I never got into those genres much at all. Did like Borderlands and Destiny but honestly mainly for the RPG elements in them.

MMOs and Strategy games I consider myself very proficient at.

Theocritus

I am bad at PVP games...I jsut don't have that kind of mindset...in general I am compassionate with people, not looking to kill them.... The good thing about stinking at PVP is you don't feel the need to pay to win in cash shops or other traps that you find in competitive games....I know I stink at it and accept it and move on.

Kyleran

Always thought myself to be average at PVE, horrible at PVP except in a healing role where I held my own.

Put another way, I'm probably better than most who learned to use a slide rule in high school because portable calculators were still too expensive and computers filled entire rooms.

Probably still have a few 8 track tapes in a box somewhere in the garage.

delete5230

Very interesting topic..... I had to sit back and reflect for about 10 minuets before responding...... And the honest answer comes up "depends" on the type of game.

My OCD gets in the way with fast paced games, add to the fact that I could panic in making fast decisions.


MMORPGs
Solo, I could do well because I'm not in competitive with others in a group to do my part, I don't feel the stress that others are watching my movements. 

In groups, I often play healer and do great, however not lately.  With easy mode that games are made of, PLAYERS RUN TOO FAST to keep up with healing. I could defend my honor by saying I bounce from mmo to mmo because of boredom, and don't know the content as well as others. 

I also don't use mods, remap keys and string abilities together like most. Also I don't use the actual keyboard keys efficiently (I use the mouse to often).

I'm often amazed at how people "can chat" and play their part so well, but that may be because people have keys mapped together, where I don't.... I should fix that, but never spend the time.... I would if mmorpgs can hold my attention for more than a month, I would. 

Single player RPG's
I do much better. I often start on normal, and soon ramp up to hard or very hard soon in.



Because of risk of seizures, I plan on living my life organically and not being on the computer once I get my drivers license back at the end of April..... Life is too short to be on the computer, I know that now !  

 

Aeander

Oh, absolutely. Maybe I was decent when I was younger, but my reflexes have slowed and my stress has mounted. I've dropped competitive games entirely, and I don't have the patience for bullshit.

And I have no intention of "gitting gud." No, sir. You're the one selling me a game. It's your responsibility to accomodate me, or I will take my business to a developer that respects me, not the other way around. No difficulty settings = no buy. And if your game punishes or patronizes players for choosing low difficulty settings, fuck you, I'm even less inclined to buy it.

I want a game where I can tune the difficulty to be engaging, but not frustrating (easier is better) and I don't want to be insulted for it.

Ungood

delete5230 said:

Very interesting topic..... I had to sit back and reflect for about 10 minuets before responding...... And the honest answer comes up "depends" on the type of game.

My OCD gets in the way with fast paced games, add to the fact that I could panic in making fast decisions.


MMORPGs
Solo, I could do well because I'm not in competitive with others in a group to do my part, I don't feel the stress that others are watching my movements. 

In groups, I often play healer and do great, however not lately.  With easy mode that games are made of, PLAYERS RUN TOO FAST to keep up with healing. I could defend my honor by saying I bounce from mmo to mmo because of boredom, and don't know the content as well as others. 

I also don't use mods, remap keys and string abilities together like most. Also I don't use the actual keyboard keys efficiently (I use the mouse to often).

I'm often amazed at how people "can chat" and play their part so well, but that may be because people have keys mapped together, where I don't.... I should fix that, but never spend the time.... I would if mmorpgs can hold my attention for more than a month, I would. 

Single player RPG's
I do much better. I often start on normal, and soon ramp up to hard or very hard soon in.



Because of risk of seizures, I plan on living my life organically and not being on the computer once I get my drivers license back at the end of April..... Life is too short to be on the computer, I know that now !  

 

Good to see you back, and doing well.

AlBQuirky

Torval said:

WhiteLantern said:

There is a reason I don't play competetively.

Same. Plus, I don't like comparing myself to others.

I'll tag onto this response, too

I get more enjoyment out of helping others, not competing against them

Theocritus

delete5230 said:

Very interesting topic..... I had to sit back and reflect for about 10 minuets before responding...... And the honest answer comes up "depends" on the type of game.

My OCD gets in the way with fast paced games, add to the fact that I could panic in making fast decisions.


MMORPGs
Solo, I could do well because I'm not in competitive with others in a group to do my part, I don't feel the stress that others are watching my movements. 

In groups, I often play healer and do great, however not lately.  With easy mode that games are made of, PLAYERS RUN TOO FAST to keep up with healing. I could defend my honor by saying I bounce from mmo to mmo because of boredom, and don't know the content as well as others. 

I also don't use mods, remap keys and string abilities together like most. Also I don't use the actual keyboard keys efficiently (I use the mouse to often).

I'm often amazed at how people "can chat" and play their part so well, but that may be because people have keys mapped together, where I don't.... I should fix that, but never spend the time.... I would if mmorpgs can hold my attention for more than a month, I would. 

Single player RPG's
I do much better. I often start on normal, and soon ramp up to hard or very hard soon in.



Because of risk of seizures, I plan on living my life organically and not being on the computer once I get my drivers license back at the end of April..... Life is too short to be on the computer, I know that now !  

 

Go out and enjoy RL when you can Delete! I spend alot more time going out and meeting people, and it is much more satisfying than playing video games. There's a time and a place for those too, but RL is more enjoyable, at least for me.

Tokken

I would say that I am not great at video games, that's probably why I play them casually.  I prefer MMO's open worlds and MMORPG's where I can do what I want and not be tied down to linear content.  I would never play dark souls type games cause they are just too hard for me and stressful.  Why am I bad at some games? I just don't have the hand dexterity to play precise, fast paced games.

AAAMEOW

I felt like video game is like playing an instrument.  I'm decent, in the sense I'm in the top 10%.  

But I know I'll never play like the people in the top 1%.  Those people are crazy in my eyes.  

maskedweasel

I think "good" is so subjective these days. I've been good. At my best, I've been attacked as being the worst, usually by opponents in competitive scenarios. 

But the interesting thing about games, is that for many of them, the bar for completion is pretty low, and having fun has no bar at all if you enjoy the game. 

But it's like... knowledge of what to do and when is usually the majority of the difficulty of most non-competitive or arena focused games. I think anyone can get "good enough" at a game with enough willingness and practice though. 

Gorwe

Depends in which games. The more I can bypass manual dexterity, the better I am. Needless to say, I'm quite basic at Starcraft, fps etc, but tbh? I am not even interested in those(apart from campaigns). MMOs are often blatantly easy though ; it's like reading a recipe ; kinda rote and boring(they do have nice gameplay, from time to time).

Funnily enough, I am rather good at Souls, but that's a different skillset imo. The only shared skill with Starcraft etc is twitch reactions, which I am not bad at all. Other things are mostly pattern recognition, tactical adaptation, patience etc. Souls are deeply satisfying, Starcraft et al - not at all.

Oh and I don't care at all about Ladders, Competition etc. It's simply an unconvenience to me ; best bypassed.

Gorwe

Ungood said:

delete5230 said:

Very interesting topic..... I had to sit back and reflect for about 10 minuets before responding...... And the honest answer comes up "depends" on the type of game.

My OCD gets in the way with fast paced games, add to the fact that I could panic in making fast decisions.


MMORPGs
Solo, I could do well because I'm not in competitive with others in a group to do my part, I don't feel the stress that others are watching my movements. 

In groups, I often play healer and do great, however not lately.  With easy mode that games are made of, PLAYERS RUN TOO FAST to keep up with healing. I could defend my honor by saying I bounce from mmo to mmo because of boredom, and don't know the content as well as others. 

I also don't use mods, remap keys and string abilities together like most. Also I don't use the actual keyboard keys efficiently (I use the mouse to often).

I'm often amazed at how people "can chat" and play their part so well, but that may be because people have keys mapped together, where I don't.... I should fix that, but never spend the time.... I would if mmorpgs can hold my attention for more than a month, I would. 

Single player RPG's
I do much better. I often start on normal, and soon ramp up to hard or very hard soon in.



Because of risk of seizures, I plan on living my life organically and not being on the computer once I get my drivers license back at the end of April..... Life is too short to be on the computer, I know that now !  

 

Good to see you back, and doing well.

Just my sentiments. Good to see you back, delete.

Sovrath

AAAMEOW said:

I felt like video game is like playing an instrument.  I'm decent, in the sense I'm in the top 10%.  

But I know I'll never play like the people in the top 1%.  Those people are crazy in my eyes.  

That's kind of how I approach it. If there is some sort of physical component I'll actually practice it, break it down like i'm playing an instrument.

To the question, I'm "medium" at games. I have been great in some games but for the most part I don't want to put the time in to be competitive for a video game unless the controls come very naturally to me. 

And that doesn't happen a lot if there is stuff upon stuff upon stuff.