View Full Version : Sucking at video games and still having fun
Although I really do suck at a lot of video games, there are some that I'm actually good at (TRON, Mr. Do, Soul Calibur, and Ikaruga).
As a kid, the idea of being crappy at games never really bothered me much. After all, the machine did just politely ask for another coin.
Now as an adult, I actually find it harder to deal with how bad I am at some games. It's almost embarrassing. That feeling lasts for a few seconds and then I remind myself of how I looked at video gaming as a kid.
Anyway, just wondering how other people deal with this sort of thing (and yeah, I'm sure there's someone out there that thinks they've got the skills of Kevin Flynn. I.e. great at all video games). :roll:
MidnightRider
10-03-2013, 03:45 PM
It always comes down to how persistent you are at it. Somehow as a kid, you have more of it. When you get older, you want to try more stuff out.
Whether collecting or emulating, you just have too many now to be able to really focus on that 1 game, like you did as a kid.
It was easier to get better at it, because it was all you had until next Christmas or whenever. In a lot of ways, it really was a better point in time.
SpaceHarrier
10-03-2013, 03:57 PM
I've been playing Street Fighter games off and on for 20 something years and I still am not terribly competent with regards to most of them. It does make me mad sometimes, when I am taking it serious but getting repeatedly KO'd by someone like... I dunno, Cammy. Then I quit using tactics and start being cheap, and somehow I win using just low kicks, or something. It's usually a momentary thing, and I have to remind myself that it's the game's job to not make things easy on me, or that I'm rusty.
..and also not as good as I think I am. LOL
bigbacon
10-03-2013, 04:17 PM
its worse though if you WERE really good at games as a kid and sucking hardcore once you get older...thats how I am now. I used to be very good at just about every game I could get my hands on....now I can play just about any game and suck at it horribly and it is very disheartening....
MidnightRider
10-03-2013, 04:18 PM
Like I was getting at though, were you inherently good, or did you keep at it until you got good?
DaveMMR
10-03-2013, 07:11 PM
Here's how it basically works for me...
1) I suck at a game but I like it enough to keep playing and I just naturally get better.
2) I suck at a game but I don't really care enough to worry about getting better.
3) I used to be great at a game in my youth, but now I'm terrible at it - see (1) or (2).
bigbacon
10-03-2013, 08:06 PM
Like I was getting at though, were you inherently good, or did you keep at it until you got good?
I honestly think it came naturally. if I really liked the game then I would play it enough to always get better.
But either way, most games, if I sat here and played all day (not that I oculd, I would get frustrated and quite) I would never really get that much better.
JakeM
10-03-2013, 08:48 PM
its worse though if you WERE really good at games as a kid and sucking hardcore once you get older...thats how I am now. I used to be very good at just about every game I could get my hands on....now I can play just about any game and suck at it horribly and it is very disheartening....
A year after I played Tony Hawk 3 last I put it back in and I sucked. Its all about focus and not being distracted in your subconscious by other things. There was a skate level in Spyro 3 with different controls, and so it messed me up, a few years after playing I wasnt good at that skating since I was playing Cool Boarders and MTV Snow Boarding. :S
To OP
You should do lets plays and make people like darksydephil go out of business.
kupomogli
10-04-2013, 01:09 AM
I'm a lot worse at games now than I was as a kid, but whenever playing competitively, I'm above average on most games I play.
I think people who suck at all games might have more fun regardless of difficulty than those who are better. People like that have no problem playing easy mode and having fun, or having overpowered characters, using game genie to walk through a game without trying, etc. If the game has balancing issues, whether it's too easy or punishingly hard, then I lose interest.
JSoup
10-04-2013, 01:40 AM
I love Robotron. It's an amazing game in every way. I've played it off and on for years. And I still suck at it. And I still enjoy every bit of it.
its worse though if you WERE really good at games as a kid and sucking hardcore once you get older...thats how I am now. I used to be very good at just about every game I could get my hands on....now I can play just about any game and suck at it horribly and it is very disheartening....
At one point in time, knew Sonic 2 so well that I could beat the game in just about 15 minutes at the drop of a hat. Jump a head a bunch of years, the PSN version is released with a trophy for beating the game in under and hour. I've yet to able to get it and it bugs the crap out of me each time I play the damn thing.
MidnightRider
10-04-2013, 05:47 AM
Heh, we had a TurboGrafx-16, and I can remember I used to know every secret of Bonk's Adventure. It got to the point where I'd have extra lives in the later teens, if not twenty's, by the final boss battle.
Be damned if I could repeat that now. Still an easy game, for a platformer, if you put the time in.
I think nowadays, if you're still playing the classics, you have to balance finding enjoyment with trying to win, without making the latter the sole goal of it.
TheRetroVideoGameAddict
10-05-2013, 07:42 AM
Some video games I absolutely suck at but I still enjoy playing them, and if you enjoy it than that's all that really matters. Some games I'm really good at and I don't enjoy nearly half as much as some of the games I'm mediocre or suck at, it's just how it goes sometimes I suppose, but if you're loving the games you're playing than at the end of the day that's the shining star.
PizzaKat
10-23-2013, 11:20 PM
It always comes down to how persistent you are at it. Somehow as a kid, you have more of it. When you get older, you want to try more stuff out.
Whether collecting or emulating, you just have too many now to be able to really focus on that 1 game, like you did as a kid.
It was easier to get better at it, because it was all you had until next Christmas or whenever. In a lot of ways, it really was a better point in time.
So true, I played the hell out of Super Punch Out that I got so good at it. I now look and wonder how the heck I got those time records back in the day. i should check online and see what the best times are.
To the question at hand I pl;ay fighting games and usually lose but its really fun so I don't care. Pretty sad when one of few people without a win in a lobby after so many matches.