Random thoughts from a 30 year old woman who plays Beat Saber

[Sain The Destroyer]

I have always thought playing games could be beneficial in growing a person.

Thought-provoking stories challenge the player to consider possibilities they otherwise would never be exposed to. Puzzle games encourage the brain to come up with solutions to obstacles that don’t exist in the real world, thus growing the player’s capacity to problem-solve. High-difficulty games develop a person’s determination and tenacity. If looking to improve reaction time and metacognition, competitive games are where it’s at.

I’ve been enjoying Beat Saber a lot lately, and I started considering what this game does for me that others don’t.

For one, it is kinesthetic. Moreso than any other game I’ve played. Wii Sports and the Kinect tried to be kinesthetic, and in some aspects, they succeeded. However, I’ve never experienced anything as whole-body and physically demanding as Beat Saber. It is a full-blown cardio workout. Perhaps it’s not as efficient as jumping rope or going for a run, but it will absolutely get your blood pumping. Perhaps DDR was like this (I didn’t really play, so I’m ignorant there). But even if DDR was as bodily-involved as BS, I know for sure it falls short compared to Beat Saber in plenty of other areas.

Before I move on, I need to spell something out: I am not kinesthetically gifted. In fact, I am embarrassingly kinesthetically impaired. I’m clumsy and uncoordinated. So the fact that a game exists that makes me feel physically strong and proficient is a feat all by itself.

Not to mention the learning curve for Beat Saber is amazing. It’s really one of the most natural learning experiences I’ve ever had in my life. There is something about it that is, at its core, so beautifully simple. Yet when you take a step back and look at its exterior–through the combination of its simple functions and components–it can become as complex as you wish it to be. It’s almost like the board game, Go; there are simple rules and pieces, yet seemingly infinite possible outcomes. And the great news about Beat Saber is that just playing it for a while and considering one’s own performance after a song is enough to make a person better. For reference, I still don’t think I have plateaued, and I am currently playing at an Expert+ level.

Beat Saber is also one of the few games I’ve ever played where I legitimately feel cool doing it. Yes, I know, I don’t actually look cool. I would venture to guess that few people do. But I feel it. How can you not? The player stands alone in a dark room atop a raised platform, slashing through objects with lightsabers exactly in time with intense music while blue and red lights flash beautifully all around. And because it’s VR, the world of Beat Saber is all that exists at that moment. There is no reality in your peripheral. The only things of concern are the sabers, the music, and the cubes.

Let me address the music for just a moment. There’s this indescribable thing in Beat Saber that I am going to try to describe anyway. You know you are experiencing this game well when both…

the music seems as if it is making you move together with it

and

you feel as if you are creating something out of the music.

Sounds melodramatic, right? Seems like too much stew out of one oyster? But it’s very true for me. There is a euphoric feeling you get from interacting with each song. It’s extremely satisfying and difficult to explain, but it is there. When you see a long string of notes coming at you, and you shut your brain off and let your body follow the patterns the way you’ve practiced while allowing the music to guide your pacing, and then, finally, you come out on the other side alive… There isn’t another feeling like it.

So yes. I get a lot out of this video game: exercise, personal progress, confidence, and a sense of harmony. Thank you for helping me grow, Beat Saber, and for allowing me to feel awesome as I do it.

[Prince Vegeta]

https://youtu.be/xgEOEzpSS40

[Alternity]

I feel like DDR and Beat Saber are both similar, in the sens that Beat Saber mostly trains your upper part of the body while DDR trains the lower part (I've played both intensively).

Though, in the music part, Beat Saber is not that much satisfying if I compare it to Audica or Rock Band 3's pro instruments, but it is better than DDR in that sens.

[Chaunsey]

as a 34 year old guy, i agree with you.


normally, im the opposite of the audience for a game like this, you can even tell by the majority of the music generated by the community, the usual rythm game audience is a younger crowd, and the kinds of folks who play DDR and love anime.

you wont see a very large blue collar guy in his mid 30's like me playing DDR very often, even the music is totally opposite of what i listen to.

im a VR enthusiast though, and this is a whole new medium and beatsaber isnt like anything that came before, so none of that matters, when i play a good map, even if its some pop song i would never listen to normally, i have a ton of fun, and after playing for 2 or 3 hours straight on expert/ expert + its also a pretty decent workout.

despite being a bunch of weebs, this is a great community as well, this game has managed to bring together a much more varied community than most games, and that's pretty cool.

now if someone would just makes some great maps for some old school metal that'd be great lol.

[Arestris]

I doubt the story ... cos we all know, there are no girls on the internet ... ok, jokes aside:

I agree with you, this game and VR in general is great for this. A great chance for people like me, who don't exercise enough in RL (but don't can motivate them self to go to a gym or so). First program, that I experienced as good workout was BoxVR. This had a lower barrier to enter, cos, there also, you can miss targets, but never fail a workout.

In Beat saber, I try, right now, again to get into it. For me, it doesn't feel to simple, to raise my skill level (and easy and normal songs don't give much for an workout), but then, I simply played to less until now. So I think, I've simply to play much, much more.

But, in general, I totally agree with what you said.

[Frog]

I'm 18 and have been a rhythm game enthusiast since middle school, while also having a dislike for anything anime at the same time. This is the one game that I can actually tolerate and somewhat appreciate that kind of song because just the sheer feeling the game gives me while playing more than makes up for the (in my opinion) sub-par music.

To be honest, Beat Saber is the first game that I can legitimately say that I am very good at. Many games admittedly while I would think I'm good, I'm really not, and there are tons of players out there so much better than me, even after I put thousands of hours into a game. For example, I have 1800 hours in CS:GO and have been playing it for 3 years, yet I still have not left the bottom 30% of the ranks in competitive.

This is the one game that I believe with practice, anyone can gain the skills to compete at the top level.