Gaming prowess, gamers, and maturity.

[Ruenis]

Among some folks who get a little too elated over their prowess at video games, there are those who would needlessly boast, or goad others into trying to "amount to their level of skill." It's a silly thing that can be dismissed with a chuckle and a drink over a nice movie or comfortable session in your favorite game(s), but I wanted to talk about the notion of just wanting to be good at something.

It's natural to want to not suck at things - a commonality among disparaged males, lol, but really, among anyone. As weird as it could be, overcoming/creating arbitrary hurdles and records can be really fun. Challenging yourself is fun, but you eventually reach an age where this stuff is simply a passing thing you'd do out of boredom, or if you just had a dropoff of free time, and wanted to experiment with something. Like, you could literally own some old junk that means very little in the grand scheme, yet want to prove to yourself that you can whoop a video game under grueling conditions set for yourself without modern amenities that casualize the experience, just because you want to be some old boomer who's trying to childishly reconnect with their past self all in one moment, or because you wanted to bond with a family member. However more or less odd, it's what you choose, and it has meaning because you give it meaning.

Steam is GREAT for giving games meaning to literally anyone who wants to prioritize almost any specific avenue of focus on a game's specifics. In most cases, it's the usual: Overcoming challenges. It could simply be exploring the game's modding potential, which branches out into all sorts of realms of subject matter. In the modern era, there's a vast multitude of reasons to call oneself a quote/unquote "hardcore" gamer, in spite of how awkward that sounds. One grouping will deem another "casual" when that group is verily engaged in another facet of gaming not heavily focused on by their group, which essentially makes the other group "hardcore" in an entirely different and unique sense. You don't have to die 3087 times in a "hard" video game while persevering greatly at trying to complete it to qualify as a "hardcore gamer."

I'm particularly "up there" in age, and an avid gamer, so I know what it is to play good games, bad games, strange games, tough games, the kinds of games everybody tells you you "need," popular games, fan games, little known project games, and everything in between. The notion of "strictly following rules or you're a p*ssy," or "Ha ha scrub, hope you get out of the tutorial soon," or "If you have even a THOUGHT against [X Game], you're an idiot" are ridiculously hilarious notions that are both foreign to me, and something I can only imagine someone in their 20s and below, or someone who thinks like someone who's in their 20s and below, would bother inflating their ego over before others as if to promote themself as "Number 1" or "The life of the party" or the "Head honcho," etc, and carrying on. It's very funny, and I'm only giving my attention to it in such lengthy detail because I bore witness to it most recently on a specific Steam forum I'm not going to reference.

There's a point where young people are essentially just saying "I could beat up an old man," and a sad reality of life is that in select places in the world, this is actually a reality of circumstance, crime wise. There are people younger than these """gigachads""" (cringe) who have nothing to prove to them, which makes them even more hilarious.

~

Have fun challenging yourselves at video games, folks. Soulslikes aren't "cancer" just because they're grueling, Baldur's Gate 3 isn't trash just because its gameplay can be "stunting," and Skyrim/Starfield isn't slop just because you can't remember the last time you got flayed by that fire mage/space dude. Gaming is for us all. People really took offence to Phil Spencer's stance on gaming, but their angst was more about crying about a lack of catering to worthless ideals, and less about a man's words accommodating people of all walks of life enjoying a hobby meant to entertain people from all corners of the world in any such way they would see fit.

[Ruenis]

Sorry if it sounds odd to be surprised that Starfield was inspired by a game from the 70s. I understand that not everyone here who is more of age than myself would exactly find that as surprising, ha ha.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

not sure about this topic..

from my experience there are distinct levels of players...

some people have really great hand eye coordination memory
and procedural thought processing

there are also people that can learn as they go... and have
great memory and or muscle memory retention... sort of like
sleepers... they dont know how good they are because they
might not have had the opportunity to test their abilities in different ways...


and others struggle... i am a struggler... it takes me 20 times more effort to
get to a place that someone with skill gets to in one shot... i have terrible
hand eye coordination and a memory that i would like to be better than
it really is.... my brain is always tricking me... it says... I'll remember that...
but i dont remember that..... but at the time... i am sure i will remember... nup...

anyways....

i find the people with the most problems are those that
see someone who makes a game look easy yet they cant
work out that its the players natural ability that is making
them seem like they are cheating or something...

know thyself will always give you the best gaming experience....

[Ruenis]

ragefifty50 původně napsal:

not sure about this topic..

from my experience there are distinct levels of players...

some people have really great hand eye coordination memory
and procedural thought processing

there are also people that can learn as they go... and have
great memory and or muscle memory retention... sort of like
sleepers... they dont know how good they are because they
might not have had the opportunity to test their abilities in different ways...


and others struggle... i am a struggler... it takes me 20 times more effort to
get to a place that someone with skill gets to in one shot... i have terrible
hand eye coordination and a memory that i would like to be better than
it really is.... my brain is always tricking me... it says... I'll remember that...
but i dont remember that..... but at the time... i am sure i will remember... nup...

anyways....

i find the people with the most problems are those that
see someone who makes a game look easy yet they cant
work out that its the players natural ability that is making
them seem like they are cheating or something...

know thyself will always give you the best gaming experience....

Truth is, in spite of how many retro (and newer) games I've conquered (either completed only 100%, or completed beyond 100%, which means extra content), I've always been a struggler myself. EDIT: I've always had a habit of going into "auto-pilot" mode, and dying repeatedly in games, yet somehow, that's when I feel best gaming? It's relaxation. I often don't balance the two, and then my gaming skill suffers.

I remember playing the NES version of the first Batman game (simply called "Batman"), and I think it was the boss of Stage 3 whom I had absolutely no idea how to defeat, simply because I had no idea that you could wall-jump in the game to escape a huge projectile attack he does.

I've been excellent at some games in my prime, but I only had my best hand-eye coordination during that period. I peaked during the Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance era. Completed all VR missions with all versions of Raiden and Snake with all best rankings, except "MGS1 Snake." I knew my skill at the most hardcore of third-person and "3D" in general video games, and gaming as a whole, was diminishing around the time I played (and beat) Ninja Gaiden Black on Normal Mode, on the original Xbox, but I wasn't about to throw in the towel.

There are still more so modern games I've hung with in the recent years that I'm proud to have gotten to grips with. Going back to that Ninja Gaiden Black period, I had played and completed the original Gamecube release of Resident Evil 4 (the FIRST, ORIGINAL release of that game), and that's one of those games, like Ninja Gaiden Black, that will totally make you its b*tch, for lack of a softer expression... I bring up Resident Evil 4 to segue into mentioning Dead Space 1 and 2, both of which I nearly completed, DS 1 on PS3, and DS2 on PC before I fell victim to a "Games for Windows" issue of "running out of installation chances," and was forced to play it on PS3. I wasn't always the best aim, hence why I don't personally own very many modern first-person shooters. I'm more of a boomer shooter person.

I've completed a few indies of the modern era, and even gone back to complete a few games from my own childhood era that I never got a chance to play when I was young. It's an odd case of knowing better how to play, but not exactly being as vigorous as to be able to handle it like it's second nature, yet, in many cases, I know my stuff like crazy. Only just recently whooped a bud in a Dissidia 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy online match through hamachi, on the PPSSPP emulator. That game isn't even massively complicated in how to play it, though you must get to grips with its systems to stand a chance, and what's more is, on my end, I was lagging because I was using a texture pack to modernize the game's graphics (it's a PSP game from 2011). Preset characters, so no unfair advantages. Beat his Cloud Strife with my Sephiroth with the Super Nova Limit Break, ha ha.

I've gotten much better at games over time. Differing stressors or discomforting situations in varying moments in my life contribute to being unable to function properly enough to handle some games sometimes, but overall, the struggling has lessened. I sympathize with you, because I know what it's like to lose all those lives, or "continues," or "chances," or opportunities, if more than even one, in a video game, and come out feeling demoralized, especially when going online for help only to encounter toxic individuals. Like I posted in the Op, gaming is for everyone. Not everyone wants to be pampered by easy difficulties, but depending on the type of game; even with games with no difficulty settings, the accommodation is there, and our options are clear, however more or less grueling.

It's just great to play, whether to relax, or to challenge ourselves, and see if we can come out on top having kicked some major butt.

[Ruenis]

I find it strange that older people would feel like gaming is dying when the modern era gives us all access to the kinds of tools that make it incredibly easy to further enjoy what we grew up loving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V78vmL7XHh8

It's not even as if the kinds of games we loved haved completely stopped being made either.

[D. Flame]

Ruenis původně napsal:

-snip-

And?

You seem to be rambling on and on, but not making any point.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

is that true..... from my experience.... we have made lots of advancements in gaming
and also the online experience...

but along with the online in particular... we have more negativity in the arena
and the negativity is like cancer that is not being treated properly if at all...

greed creates something extra
bad management creates something extra
scammers create something extra
nasty people create something extra...
and that extra gets in the way and removes fun and enjoyment.... like cancer..


earlier on gaming was new
it was for the clever
the imaginative
the creators..
you could get online and have
a great time and lots of fun with lots of different people


now you get online and have to be cautious and careful
and wary of people because we have little protection from all these
something extra negatives...

i know the good times to know these times now are ok... but not so good anymore...

people will still vote for twump.... we have failed as a society.

[Ruenis]

D. Flame původně napsal:

Ruenis původně napsal:

-snip-

And?

You seem to be rambling on and on, but not making any point.

I've expressed my stance peacefully.

Most Steam threads end up locked because people feel the aching need to "bullguard" their way through all common courtesy just to make a "point."

My entire point, is that society at large (Read: At large) could care less about how great someone feels they are at video games, and that the overwhelming majority frowns on gamer toxicity. You can prove your gaming skill without being a c*nt about it. Showing otherwise is a clear sign of greater, undisclosed problems with the individual "troll" in question.

I just most recently came from a YouTube video where a guy played "Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game" - a retro Sega Genesis game, without using continues, on its maximum difficulty. The guy wasn't a tw*t about it either. On a completely different channel, weeks ago, someone played Songs of Conquest, a "Heroes of Might & Magic 3"-like. Their video description simply said "I'm doing my part," but the dude had posted in a Steam thread flaunting their "superiority" in lieu of a player who was having trouble with the game, only to link to that video, let alone more of them (shill much?). Turns out the number one thing that player did wrong was......not backing off to the high ground with their archery units and pelting everyone with arrows, on top of the occasional offensive leader spell, only to only vaguely engage the enemy with their frontliners. Turns out the game rewards cowardice more than anything - More "Devil May Cry 5 Vergil Spam" fare for the kids. My nephew would be proud... (I only bring that game up because Vergil is a character who just zips all over the screen doing whatever the hell he wants with almost zero restrictions, only to end up unlocking a mode of himself - that you can straight up BUY in a microtransaction lmfao - that is free of those restrictions).

Nine times out of ten when these brats are flaunting their "skill," they're playing BI-PRODUCTS of the retro gaming eras, which are large-and-by casualized for folks who don't play video games. That whole world of comparing different video games and what's "harder and therefore, better" is a young person's territory, but if folks literally can't help but be that petty, at least know that in most cases, they're playing with graphics more than what should encompass a video game. That's probably the biggest boomer gaming related argument that's hit Steam in decades, but instead of claiming to be "too good for retro games," sit down and play a good one some time

Some young; even some mentally stunted older gamers wish for nothing but to pull someone down into that mindset of "Prove your worth." You see this more than anywhere in gaming in the competitive scene, as if having come out on the unsatisfactory end of what amounts to a lightshow on a screen is the worst thing that could happen to a human in life. The coralling of a person, the moment of truth, and the outcome - It's been mankind's curse since the beginning. Always someone trying to make a b*tch of someone else. Then guns get involved and everyone becomes a 6-letter f-word. Lol...

I have nothing to prove, as most older gamers don't. People should take a moment of silence to ponder just what exactly they are in the grand scheme of real life, and then try to come back with insults.

~

The real "hardcore gamers" are the ones who could care less about what era or company or from what ideals their video game hails from, nor what framerates it runs at, nor whether it's modded or not, or popular or not.

The real "hardcore gamers" are those kids who play with their brothers and sisters regardless of the game, and regardless of the game's performance rate - even regardless of if it's a video game or not and, if a video game, regardless of whether it resides on the platform of a PC, console, or mobile device.

The real "hardcore gamers" Do. Not. Give. A. F*ck. About the """[6-letter-f-word]"""ry of most people who THINK they're "real gamers" just because they bought an RTX 4090 they can barely maintain the upkeep of lmfao.

~

Give it up for the REAL ones. 👑

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UklqU7IqUkU

[D. Flame]

Ruenis původně napsal:

D. Flame původně napsal:

And?

You seem to be rambling on and on, but not making any point.

I've expressed my stance peacefully.

K, but U rong.

The "mom said it was my turn to play," came from the NES generation, so yeah...

[Realigo Actual]

ragefifty50 původně napsal:

is that true..... from my experience.... we have made lots of advancements in gaming
and also the online experience...

but along with the online in particular... we have more negativity in the arena
and the negativity is like cancer that is not being treated properly if at all...

greed creates something extra
bad management creates something extra
scammers create something extra
nasty people create something extra...
and that extra gets in the way and removes fun and enjoyment.... like cancer..


earlier on gaming was new
it was for the clever
the imaginative
the creators..
you could get online and have
a great time and lots of fun with lots of different people


now you get online and have to be cautious and careful
and wary of people because we have little protection from all these
something extra negatives...

i know the good times to know these times now are ok... but not so good anymore...

people will still vote for twump.... we have failed as a society.

This sums it up so well. It's not just one thing. There are so many different destructive aspects that have been introduced to games. No other entertainment business is like this. You have cinema with the whole cinematic universe thing, and it's already being rebelled against. You have music with wahwah, but I'm sure that will have its day. Cinema, music, art, literature, when comparing it to games, it's all pure. It's the same as it always was, or almost. Do the purchase, get the thing. That's it. This how things stay healthy.

But now, with games, it's the monetization, it's the politics, it's the ecosystem building and strategizing, it's discontent in the playerbase and aggression. It takes away the fun of it.

Most important of all, games used to be made by a smallish crew of young dudes trying to swing their tech-fu and create something awesome, who would put in long hours because it was their life; higher uppers left them alone except to motivate them from time to time. This produced some amazing stuff. Now games are made by unhappy jaded flocks of technologists that hate their managers, who may not even play videogames themselves, who wish to advance their politics with the creative work they are making, and are forced to put in many hours despite not wanting it. Some try to go independent to some degree, and have to sacrifice their creative vision because publishers have tried to choke out competition by elevating the economics of the industry.

Still, good games do still happen. So it's not all doom and gloom.