Are you a competitive player or do you play for fun?

[needler420]

I am a competitive player through and through. I still play games for fun when it's the time and place for being casual.


I play for game progression and high scores on leaderboards. I hate playing with people that I feel hold me back from progressing in a game. Which happens often.

As a semi retired trophy collector I meet people on forums all the time to help each other collect and beat certain things in video games. I am now realizing just how skilled based certain games can be and just how much skill level is involved with certain games.

I've played games with some really horrible people where I know my skill lever surpasses theirs. Quite a few times it has got me to the point of getting frustrated.

I don't want to spend like 8 hours beating a level with someone who lacks the skill If I know I can find someone closer to my skill level that can do it in half as much time.

I try to meet a middle ground of how I work it. It's not like I will be disrespectful and tell them they suck or anything like that. I normally just make up white lies so that I don't sound like a total ass and then eventually delete them off my friends list.

It's either that or keep wasting time trying to do a task that you know the person you are doing with is under skilled for. :vamp:

[FoxNtd]

I compete against myself. No interest in others really. Some games I really like, I find goals in them I strive for and it feels great to reach them, whether it's an easy goal like no special weapons or deaths in Raf World, or hard like counterstopping a game. :)

[wiggyx]

My favorite game as of late is Journey. That should be a pretty clear indication.

[Polygon]

I'm a competitive person by nature, but I mostly play for fun.

[A.C. Sativa]

Only game I play competitively is Forza (sidenote: if you're one of those people that spins someone out just because they passed you, you're an asshole) and even then I'm not hardcore about it or anything. I rarely even play games with other people in person, if I have friends over I'd rather go out and actually do something, not sit in my room.

[treismac]

When I play fighting games like Tekken or Street Fighter I like to imagine that I'm in a dance competition where I'm the only one on the floor, hopping and bouncing around while my favorite Middle School mix tape plays my favorite songs as everyone claps and cheers for me. This makes me feel happy regardless of how many times I lose, which makes me the true champion.

[Tanooki]

I more or less lay alone. Competitive is for people with something to prove, have poor lives and need the oneupmanship on others with mouthy cracks with abusive play style and or stalker behaviors, and those suffering a form of tiny penis big car syndrome.

[RP2A03]

I more or less lay alone. Competitive is for people with something to prove, have poor lives and need the oneupmanship on others with mouthy cracks with abusive play style and or stalker behaviors, and those suffering a form of tiny penis big car syndrome.

Because there is absolutely nothing fun about competition.

[JSoup]

Because there is absolutely nothing fun about competition.

Depending on the person, correct. I don't find competition stuffs very compelling and just don't follow all this e-sports crap the internet is on about these days. My gameplay time is my "leave me the hell alone" time.

[shopkins]

Nah, I'm not competitive at all. When I play two-player fighting or racing games, for example, if I notice I'm ahead too much I'll hold back a bit and let the other person win some just to keep it close to even.

I was proud of myself for having the fourth-highest legit (as in not obviously hacked) score on the leaderboard for some obscure iOS endless runner for a while. But that's not really direct competition, and I didn't set out to beat people I just had a really, really good run one day.

[ProjectCamaro]

When playing with friends it's all about having fun, I really don't care at all who wins.

If I really like a game I will try to beat my own time, score, or whatever but that's about it. I have a stressful job and use video games as a way to wind down and relax.

[JakeM]

I play for fun, theyre games.

Fighting games though I play to get better at, as long as the game is good.

[wiggyx]

I more or less lay alone. Competitive is for people with something to prove, have poor lives and need the oneupmanship on others with mouthy cracks with abusive play style and or stalker behaviors, and those suffering a form of tiny penis big car syndrome.

Damn, Tanook. A bit extreme, eh?

I used to play SF2 a LOT and was very much so into competitive play. But I got older and it just became far less important to me. There are plenty of "normal" (I.e. not 12 year-old children screaming racial slurs and calling everyone a "fag") out there that play competitively. It's not just for D-bags.

[Xander]

I more or less lay alone. Competitive is for people with something to prove, have poor lives and need the oneupmanship on others with mouthy cracks with abusive play style and or stalker behaviors, and those suffering a form of tiny penis big car syndrome.

I did not came to this forum to feel bad about my competitive nature!

LOL

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

I play video games for fun and to build new memories with the games and with the friends I play the games with. A long time ago I decided that some of my best memories as a kid were of playing video games with friends, I literally associate playing NES, Atari, and SNES with my childhood and early teens and remember it all fondly. Moving forward I told myself I would never play to be some kind of completionist or for competition, just to relax and have fun.

[needler420]

My idols are Billy Mitchell and Walter Day. So if you have any idea who those people are and what they did then you know the type of player I am.

FYI soon you'll all be eating my hot sauce mmmk.

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

I find competitive gameplay to be a problem depending upon who you're playing with. I've had friends who are sore losers and ever worse winners, you know the type. When they lose they always have an excuse and a reason that makes no sense, and when they win you get nailed with the "You suck!" routine. It's annoying. I like co-op games where 2 players can work together, stuff like the TMNT games or the Double Dragon titles, it's fun to play games together as one. If someone isn't as good as me or if I'm not as good as someone else than it's all about teaching/learning, I enjoy that as a part of being a retro gamer.

[GamerTheGreek]

I can be competitive but I'm generally a for fun gamer

[Gregger]

Personally, I only really enjoy competition if it's physical competition. Most games I play on easy.

[kupomogli]

Half and half. I play mostly for fun, but I'm still competitive. I'm not competitive to the point that I'm going to put most of my gaming time into one game or franchise but I'm competitive to where I try my best so that I'm ranked as a mid or top level player on all games I play. There are always going to be people out there that can beat me, I'd just rather be at the top 25% of people on all the games I play.

[granz]

Frankly, I don't think I'd enjoy playing anything with you, OP. Are you going to bark commands at me, tell me how I should be playing the game, or tell me that I'm holding you back with my lack of experience? If my friends and I get together, we're just going to play for fun. I'm a completionist myself, but I can handle achievements on my own time. There's no need to do it at the expense of anyone else being able to enjoy themselves while in my company.

[needler420]

I remember playing so much multiplayer with goldeneye and super smash bros and N64 in general. I got hardcore with super smash bros on gamecube. People would literally get mad after playing me for awhile because I basically perfected a lot of what I played.

Just a guesstimate but probably like 7/10 people that would play me would lose 9/10 times. Same thing happened with street fighter on sega genesis. I perfected the game to the point friends and family would no longer play with me. It wasn't because I was a shit talker or sore loser either. I am extremely quiet. I will say nothing to my opponent. Just let them see endless you lose and game over screens.

[SpaceHarrier]

I've logged probably 8-10 hours just flying a plane around Wuhu island in Wii Sports Resort. I've never beaten Super Mario Bros. - my first game. I own a second controller just in case the first one breaks.

Recently I was playing Trine 2 with a couple friends and I was playing the archer. I realized after a bit that I was the pointless character, I didn't need to manipulate boxes nor operate as the heavy, clearing foes. I contributed... a bit. But mostly I was just there. And I was fine with that. "Thank goodness I don't have to do stuff," was my general sentiment.

[wiggyx]

I remember playing so much multiplayer with goldeneye and super smash bros and N64 in general. I got hardcore with super smash bros on gamecube. People would literally get mad after playing me for awhile because I basically perfected a lot of what I played.

Just a guesstimate but probably like 7/10 people that would play me would lose 9/10 times. Same thing happened with street fighter on sega genesis. I perfected the game to the point friends and family would no longer play with me. It wasn't because I was a shit talker or sore loser either. I am extremely quiet. I will say nothing to my opponent. Just let them see endless you lose and game over screens.

You're so cool.

[needler420]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AacoxHFYvZw

[Tanooki]

Damn, Tanook. A bit extreme, eh?

I used to play SF2 a LOT and was very much so into competitive play. But I got older and it just became far less important to me. There are plenty of "normal" (I.e. not 12 year-old children screaming racial slurs and calling everyone a "fag") out there that play competitively. It's not just for D-bags.

Yeah well that's what much of faceless online gaming hs degraded into. Among friends is fine still, and if you're in a guild wars like title where they don't put up with abusive crap fun can be had still. I used to bit sf2 up a heap too when it and mk1 were new, and I'd smoke a lot of people but it got old after awhile for me too. Sure it's not just dbags but there's more than enough its hard to avoid.

[Immutable]

I was highly competitive with games like Goldeneye 007 and Mario Kart:D, but lately, I have only been playing for fun.

[Neb6]

Depending on the person, correct. I don't find competition stuffs very compelling and just don't follow all this e-sports crap the internet is on about these days. My gameplay time is my "leave me the hell alone" time.

Totally.

I generally like to play games to decompress. I make exceptions for events that are set aside for groups to hang out and play retro games for the sake of being retro.

Prett much the only game I play competitively is Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast.

[sparf]

I love the challenge of competition.

But there's a difference in enjoying competition and being an asshole. I don't tolerate the latter.

As many retrogames as I play, I spend a lot of time hopping in and out of pub server games in Team Fortress 2. The high-pitched little snotbags screaming obscenities and calling me fag don't really bother me anymore. I usually offer to introduce them to my Boyfriend. The reactions are hilarious. It's like they don't comprehend how little that insult actually matters to me, and they start sputtering. In the meantime I'm rocketjumping across the bridge and laying waste to their team's snipers from the air. :) I've been playing online deathmatches since Doom, but particularly since Quake I.

But yeah, if I find that I'm not having fun with the competitive element of a game I don't do it. It's about fun, not proving anything.

[bigbacon]

I was a hugely competitive FPS played on the PC starting with Duke 3d on Kali (through DOS!) on Case's ladder in the mid 90s and moved into quake 1,2,3 and then BF 42,V,2,2142.

We are talking to the point of addiction...it all ended with BF2142.... I was pretty close to divorce I think with that game. I played it not stop, I had goals to meet and was VERY angry all the time while playing it. I was constantly checking stats, trying to get all the awards and move up places with certain weapons, classes, etc. I ate, slept, worked BF2142.

After that, I've pretty much stopped playing MP games. For one, they aren't fun anymore because the games suck (like COD, BF3) or there are too many annoying people playing/cheater/ruining the fun for everyone else.

I really do kinda miss Operation Flashpoint (the original) and ARMA MP when you play with a tight group of people. So many amazing sessions in those games.

[PizzaKat]

I always play to win, but if I lose I could care less.
The only game I play online is UMVC3 and I never win in Lobbies, usually because everyone that goes on theyre is pretty much highly ranked.
If I go to a player match I usually find people I can beat. Since I don't I always get smoked and I could not care less. The game is really fun and that all that matters to me.

[wayultratech]

For the most part i enjoy competing with the AI or whatever the programmers of a certain game designed to be "your competition", as it seems pretty hard to have consistently well matched, engaging competitions with real people due to insane skill variation.

A perfect example is Mario Kart 64, where everyone knows that the game does it's best to even the odds and make it as close as possible during races, so if you get a shortcut on a track for a couple laps in a row, you'll be ultra far ahead and you can see on the map that the AI karts are making up the space between you and them in an unnaturally gnarly-fast way, so as to potentially make the race close again. For some reason, i enjoy that mechanic more than having somebody come over that can do that cheap drift boost trick to constantly boost around every track and win every time. Someone who has perfected that technique isn't really fun to play with, in my opinion, because you basically have to say "OK, well i'll shoot for 2nd i guess" by default at the start of each race.

As far as competitive e-sport stuff goes, in regards to FPSs I definitely agree with the syndrome of "faceless hordes of online 12 year olds playing FPSs and yelling extreme, sometimes even extreme to the point of being illegal racial and orientation-based slurs" turning many people off of competitive e-sport play, and online play in general. This behavior gives the whole competitive side of things an immature and sometimes downright disgusting image. Fighting game competitions, on the other hand, feel more "legit" to me (probably because i hate FPSs in general) because of the history of fighters being so popular and competitive in the arcades. You were (and still are if lucky) shoulder to shoulder with the person you were playing, and if you said something messed-up or downright cross-the-line-offensive, you'd probably get your ass beat down. I am not putting down the FPS community (I respect Quake and all those great historically relevant masterpieces), but I am simply saying that the competitive fighting game scene has that rich and radical history that adds a close-knit element which is important for any competitive community. Again, not putting down or saying the FPS community sucks.... but i much prefer the fighting game enthusiast community.

[The 1 2 P]

I mostly play for fun but I use to play fighting games competitively as far as actually competing in gaming tournaments. The days of Tekken 3, Tekken Tag Tournament and Soul Calibur were especially fun. I keep telling myself I'm going to make it to one of the MLG events to play in one of their fps tourneys but I still haven't gotten around to it yet.

[bb_hood]

I always play to win, but if I lose I could care less.
The only game I play online is UMVC3 and I never win in Lobbies, usually because everyone that goes on theyre is pretty much highly ranked.
If I go to a player match I usually find people I can beat. Since I don't I always get smoked and I could not care less. The game is really fun and that all that matters to me.


Yeah, Ultimate Marvel 3 is really really fun. Not everyone in the Lobbies is really good or highly ranked, but I didlike the lobbies because you gotta wait for other people's matches to end. Player Match or Custom match is better. The key is finding someone with about the same skill level as you are. The game does take quite a bit of practice before you can become any good at it, and this is mainly because the game is so fast. The only way to really get better at the game is by fighting players who are better than you.

Im not really competitive, I just play for fun. I like to use some of the lower teir characters like Hseinko or Viewtiful Joe. Its much more impressive winning with the low tier characters than beating someone down with Virgil, Doom, Dante.

[BricatSegaFan]

I used to play competitively back when I was playing Gundam vs Gundam Next.

I never made 1st place at my local arcade but got 2nd a few times with Gundam X and Gundam Virsago.

I really wish they did more Gundam tournaments and SBO qualifier matches.