Over the past few years, I've found online gaming to be a blessing and a curse. I'm talking mostly about shooter games, so games like WoW and MMO's and the like are not really what this post is about. I mostly play any online games on my PC, but I've had Xbox Live Gold before.
and it might just be me, but I've noticed something about online gaming: either I'm way more terrible than I thought, or the elite "hard core" clan players ruined a lot of it for me.
See, some of my favorite games online are the Halo games and CoD 4. Recently I just picked up the new Bionic Commando (which rocks, btw), and decided I'd try that out on Live. Here's the trend: theres almost always one "clan" guy who kicks the crap out of every other player, and then there's everyone else. It pisses me off, because I'm pretty sure I don't suck at games. It's one of my main past times. But it never comes across that the clan guys are better players, but rather something else involved that makes me lose. I fail to see how I can get an advantage over another player (he doesn't even see me coming) and then I shoot him several times, but he turns around and kills me in one or two hits. In CoD 4 I've unloaded an entire round into someone, only to lose the fire fight in a couple shots.
Wtf?
I know what you're thinking: it's lag. But my connection is very good. I never feel like I'm lagging out. And if it's the other players ping, why then do they always seem to get me?
But every third game or so, I will rank appropriately. Not always first, but far from last, and those are always the best games. You see, I don't mind another player being better than me, as long as it can be recognized and make sense. I shouldn't have to shoot 3 rockets at a player, when one, two max, should do the trick.
And here's something else, the players who seem to be this way are almost always some goofy stupid clan name like <clan> xXxXbe3fme43xxYZ. Ok, my online user handle isn't cool, but why do clan members always have jibberish names and characters? I hate clans, lol.
does anyone else feel this way? When I get into a good game, no matter what it is, it can be some of the most fun videogaming can offer. But it's so easy to flip that over and be one of the most frustrating aspects. Especially when players can shoot through walls *CoD 4*...
I feel EXACTLY the same way. Mainly in Uncharted2 Beta. I'm not sure what's wrong with MY bullets, they're all clearly going into XXx_gankmaster666's head, but he just shrugs them off and shoots me twice and I die. Same weapon, no difference in health or anything, and as far as I know you don't get more tough the more you play. It's really irritating and it confuses me. It really doesn't even seem like he's that much better. I mean I DID sneak up on him.
Heh, I know what you mean. Playing online is really showing me up; it seems I am not as good at videogames as I thought. Amongst my friends i am definitely above average at most games, but when i play against random folks online I am very much down the pecking order. The usual pattern is this:
Shooting games: I am at the bottom of the pile. I don't have the accuracy, twitch skills or knowledge of the maps to be even vaguely competitive. The only format I seem to be in any way okay was on Resistance 2, where there is an 8-player co-operative mode against a computer controlled scenario. This way the leet-skilled players can carry me along and I chip in where i can. Not sure how happy they are with this arrangement though.... ^_^
Fighting Games: I can get some wins here, but I'm way, way less than 50:50 on win-loss. I still get badly shown up where I come up against someone with a few killer moves - I know there must be a counter move which would at least make him work for the win, but damned if I can find it. However, unlike shooters I can find that many of my losses feel like they were competitive matches for me, which is nice.
Driving Games: I am approaching the median with these games; I would be expecting to finish mid table in a race, and can manage the odd win now and then. however, if I'm up against someone who really knows what they're doing, there is an obvious gulf in talent between us.
It's all fun though! :D
I used to play Counter Strike: Source constantly on the trP and Pantless servers. Guys belonging to those clans were usually some of the top players every round. And I noticed that most of them were playing even more than I was. They were playing upwards of 6-10 hours EVERY DAY.
When I was unemployed last spring/summer, and I was playing games for almost double that. When you're spending every waking hour pouring yourself into one obsession, you tend to get very good at it. I actually got good enough to start challenging clan players for the top of the leaderboard in TF2 and CS:S. And let's not the forget the controller I got to level 50 in 8 days in COH.
There are a shocking number of people (students largely) that have obscene amounts of time to pour into games. When you know every single ambush point, the recoil of every weapon, and common choke points (prefire is not a myth), it's easy to slaughter other players, regardless of their skill level.
^see, this is the type of thing that ruins online gaming, imo. Players who have nothing better to do with their time than to actually analyze and memorize maps, spawn points, and other game quirks. I feel like I can't really enjoy playing with others online because I don't know the best sniper locations. I understand if you're unemployed or going to school full time you tend to play games much more often, but it still doesn't answer the question of how some of these players are somehow surviving entire rounds of bullets when one or two hits downs me in less than a second. I want to say that these obsessive players are also hackers and/or modders, which ruins the experience even more. But then I just look like someone who labels those who are better than me as cheaters.
It wasn't always this way. Back when Halo 1 hit the PC, I never recalled these types of games happening very often. Maybe once out of 10 games or so. I'd run into plenty of people better than me, but I could always tell they were just quicker with their shots. They never survived 3 rocket blasts I fired at them, and then won the fight with a shotgun blast from 20 yards away.
which reminds me...how is it that I completely suck with the shotgun in every damn game? I'm always killed in one blast, but I hardly ever seem to be able to pull this off. And yes, I'm always in close range.
Back in my college days I used to be a clan member in JK2. Clans do analyze every aspect of the game...every aspect! in order to get an edge. We used to look down on users who used scrpts to chain skills together and move at inhuman speed, there were also chain commands you could program in for any situation.
Keyboard or joystick layout has a lot to do with getting an advantage. I was usually at the top of the list or in the top 5 becuase my keyboard setup rocked! Studying maps helps too so you know what weapons are around.
I haven't played any of today's shooters but if there are health packs you can carry with you then that may explain why some people can take obscene amounts of damage. The main thing is that you have to have a goal and have to seize every opportunity, be able to multitask, know how to strafe. Remember online you shouldn't restrict yourself to the way you would play in single player.
Online I get my butt whooped in every conceivable way (usually i'm in the bottom 4 with shooters) but when i play my girl friend and other friends here, i have to handicap myself severely. i'm astonished at how playing video games has such a wide skill variance.
Its all about tactics and knowing the physics of the game. You have to know when to take hits and what weapons to use for situtations...and have a good setup. A good way is to ask the guys what setup they use to play. Most are happy to boast about it.
Or you could you know, have a life.
I'm currently playing Battlefield Heroes, and the only way to play casually (whithout being sniped from 300 miles away) is to play with friends.
I use online play like a lan: i play with friends who I know have the same level than me. If someone is stupid/bored enough to play 8/10 hours a day to "be the best" at a game, good for him. I just don't want to have anything to do with that kind of player. If i want to play a half hour every two days, I don't see why i should first spend days of practive just to be able to enjoy it.
So create your clan/group/friendlist or whatever it's called on the game your playing, and stay with people who are the same level as you. That makes casual playing really enjoyable.
^problem with that though is that out of all my friends, I'm basically the only one who's considered a "gamer". I have a couple other friends who like playing games, but they don't play as often as I do. And even if they did, it's me and one or two buddies against the frustrating elite clan losers. Believe me, I'd much rather play with people I know than strangers online, but I just don't have enough gamer friends.
And as far as I know, there isn't a game out there that allows you to carry health packs with you besides your RPGs. There are some games out there now that actually have a ranking system, like Gears of War 2 and Halo 3, but even those aren't always accurate, especially when said jerk baggery clan elitists create new accounts just so they can dominate new players.
seriously though, I really want to know how people can survive an entire round and kill me in one shot from half way across the map with a shot gun if they are not cheating...
The first post sums up every online game I've ever played. For these reasons, I refuse to upgrade to the xbox live Gold (really Microsoft, I need to pay a monthly fee to realize your multiplayer games are not fun?). Even games like Rock Band are un-enjoyable online. I still play Delta Force 2 online, as long as some friends are around, but inevitably, some XxX1337NewbSlayRXxX shows up to ruin the fun. Nah, give me some open ended single player games like Fallout 3 and I'm good.
The only online gaming for me is co-op. It makes any single player campaign sooo much more fun. If I had my way...EVERY single palyer game out there would have a co-op option....even if it doesn't make any sense! :P
I tried the team vs team deathmatch stuff for a while...but way way way too much complaining, trash talking, camping, spawn camping, etc, for me to enjoy it.
I play left 4 dead alot, and killing floor, I SUCK at fps's but I still enjoy it, you get the guys that take things way too seriously, you just gotta roll with it, sevenforce has some really stupid friends who like to taunt and throw insults, and you know they lay too much because if you play the same map more than once with em you see em do the exact ame movements every time, then jeer you on because they're better organised than your team of 4 strangers who've never played before, lol.
at the end of the day, it's a game, play with your friends, dont let it get you down, and take every cheap shot you can :P
Sounds to me like some of these things described can only be cheating.
Back when I used to give a demn about online FPSs, aimbots, wallhacks etc were coming into vogue. One can only assume todays games are prey to such "tactics" as well.
Of course, dedication and obsessive playing will lead to a much better player, but skilled is not the same as "bulletproof and never miss".
I play for fun, not to win. I enjoy it most if I win and lose about equally to someone else. Every time I try something where I get pwned eight times in a row without a single win, I tend to find something else to do with my time. Maybe I'm just a quitter.
I never encountered bulletproof hacks. But there are armor powerups in many fps games and some did have health packs you could carry. If you know how to run around the map you can pick these things up and replenish pretty quickly.
Aimbots were a joke. It's much better to do it on your own. Wallhacks weren't cheating unless it wasn't a level design flaw (ie being able to jump through the floor to grab certain weapons vs. using a hack to go through a wall).
If you want to be good you gotta have a good setup and learn to strafe.
My Xbox Live handle is Bamphalas. Add me and let me know who you are when you do the request. I normally avoid the online gaming of FPS shooters because there are so many foul-mouthed players throwing out obscene comment one right after another. Among my friends I am considered great. Online, among those nasty brats, I suck. I have L4D among others. Let's play sometime. I assure you, no weird hacks here.
Yeah, the population of most online capable games has always turned me off from the experience. In general, the only people I've found playing are DISGUSTINGLY good. I'm usually in the top two or three in any given game with my friends, and first place more often than not, but any time I get into a game online I get stomped like nobody's business. That isn't really what bothers me though. I mean, it isn't much fun to be completely destroyed, but losing itself doesn't really get to me. What rubs me the wrong way is the mindset that I've found in every online match I've played, except with FR people or my own friends. It seems like people just take these games WAY too seriously. They use them as a prop for an unsatisfying or non-existent social life, I suppose, but I have been derided by one too many basement dwelling preteens to call that fun any more. I don't particularly enjoy being cursed at in the first place, but especially not over a video game. <_< That is why I started a gaming group with my close friends. I can trust them to be good sports one way or the other, plus we are all much closer in skill level than these kids who do NOTHING but game. We're all married, with real jobs, so our time for gaming is mostly limited to playing with each other. That helps keep us balanced.
It really pains me that you guys are doing so bad at the online games cuz this is my favorite community. When I was clan and pwning everyone in sight I had a great social life, so did most of my clan buddies. In my experience the the guys who take the game way too seriously are not the best players. The ones who kick back and have fun are the best. In fact my FPS clan was the anti clan cuz you had to be old enough to drink to join. LOL!
When I first played Star Craft I used to play only with my roommates. We had games that lasted more than 2 hours and had great fun. Then one day my roommates frat brother came over and pwned everyone one of us in about 5 min. We knew then that the game had changed. We studied. Bought manuals and read online strategies and upgraded our game to very intense levels. It got more fun. We were able to take on other groups online and win a good percentage of the time.
Anyway, it's possible to have a social life and be a good online gamer.
Quote from: thalaw2 on July 08, 2009, 03:34:59 PM
It really pains me that you guys are doing so bad at the online games cuz this is my favorite community. When I was clan and pwning everyone in sight I had a great social life, so did most of my clan buddies. In my experience the the guys who take the game way too seriously are not the best players. The ones who kick back and have fun are the best. In fact my FPS clan was the anti clan cuz you had to be old enough to drink to join. LOL!
When I first played Star Craft I used to play only with my roommates. We had games that lasted more than 2 hours and had great fun. Then one day my roommates frat brother came over and pwned everyone one of us in about 5 min. We knew then that the game had changed. We studied. Bought manuals and read online strategies and upgraded our game to very intense levels. It got more fun. We were able to take on other groups online and win a good percentage of the time.
Anyway, it's possible to have a social life and be a good online gamer.
I don't mean to imply that the two are incompatible thalaw. I was talking about those people for whom winning a computer game is the most important thing in their life. If someone whips me, but is a good sport about, I can grin and bear it much more easily than if that same person acts like they've just cured cancer by winning at a form of entertainment. :P
Quote from: thalaw2 on July 08, 2009, 03:34:59 PM
We studied. Bought manuals and read online strategies and upgraded our game to very intense levels. It got more fun. We were able to take on other groups online and win a good percentage of the time.
Anyway, it's possible to have a social life and be a good online gamer.
see that's what's bothering me. I shouldn't have to "study" to enjoy playing a game. "intense level" playing is not playing anymore, because it's just about winning and being effective. i like fooling around in a FPS, doing stupid and unexpected thing. if it's just about learning every respawn point and every location of power up it's no use.
but the argument gamer = no social life is not true. i've got a friend who's insanely skilled at any fps. even on his first day on a game he's capable of putting clan-gamers in difficulty. that's quite funny to watch, but he usually doen't play with us to avoid ruining our games
I know a guy like that too Trelau... wanna know something crazy... because of his insane skills he was able to get new and better positions in the army, i think now he's piloting predators over north korea, i met the general he works under, and seriously the guys a year younger than me and has only been in the service for a few years. being a good gamer can count for some things.
Quote from: Trelau on July 08, 2009, 06:06:24 PM
Quote from: thalaw2 on July 08, 2009, 03:34:59 PM
We studied. Bought manuals and read online strategies and upgraded our game to very intense levels. It got more fun. We were able to take on other groups online and win a good percentage of the time.
Anyway, it's possible to have a social life and be a good online gamer.
see that's what's bothering me. I shouldn't have to "study" to enjoy playing a game. "intense level" playing is not playing anymore, because it's just about winning and being effective. i like fooling around in a FPS, doing stupid and unexpected thing. if it's just about learning every respawn point and every location of power up it's no use.
but the argument gamer = no social life is not true. i've got a friend who's insanely skilled at any fps. even on his first day on a game he's capable of putting clan-gamers in difficulty. that's quite funny to watch, but he usually doen't play with us to avoid ruining our games
That's what's bothering me too. I understand that if you play any game for a long period of time, you're going to know locations and naturally get better playing. But I should never, ever have to "study" a game. That's what is so royally frustrating about playing with clan members. I have not once had a good experience with a clan either. From my experiences, the vast majority of clan gamers are elitists and play as if it's a second job.
It's funny Starcraft should be mentioned. I used to play that game back in high school with my friends (never played with strangers back then) and we'd play for hours just building up our armies, never really using strategies or "researching" the game. Then one day we branched out and tried playing over battlenet. The results weren't even funny. Same thing happened again in Warcraft 3. We were so bad against others, that one guy just messed around with one of those treant walking buildings and made his way to the middle of the map just to screw with us. Yeah, needless to say, I royally suck at RTS games, and I never play those online anymore, lol. But FPS games are way different. At least in RTS, I KNOW why I'm being killed. Not always the case in FPS, and I don't think I'll ever understand why.
Studying games has been going on since the dawn of man. Poker players study poker, chess players study chess, game hunters study animal habits...computer gamers study computer games. Some are excessive about it and some just do it to be a little more competitive.
Quotesee that's what's bothering me. I shouldn't have to "study" to enjoy playing a game. "intense level" playing is not playing anymore, because it's just about winning and being effective. i like fooling around in a FPS, doing stupid and unexpected thing. if it's just about learning every respawn point and every location of power up it's no use.
but the argument gamer = no social life is not true. i've got a friend who's insanely skilled at any fps. even on his first day on a game he's capable of putting clan-gamers in difficulty. that's quite funny to watch, but he usually doesn't play with us to avoid ruining our games
I love stumbling around FPS's and RPGs but I do that in single player and not online. Online gaming is a different environment. Matches usually have time limits and too many people are running around for me to explore a level unless I create my own server and play against bots.
I luckily, I generally don't often get killed in a way that I can't understand. Most of the time I can see exactly what I did wrong in a given situation (online, that is, for some reason when I play multi with my friends I can never understand how I've just died).
My biggest pet peeve is goofy clan names. I have a friend who regularly tells me "Oh! This clan accepted me!!!!!! Yayayayayay!" to which I ask "Well what does that get you?" and she responds "Well, I get to add [blahblah] on my username!"
I swear, my friend's user name is about 4 characters long, with 26 characters of clan garbage.