Video games connect people of all ages.
Shouldn’t be worried about being the old guy.
Men stop maturing when they reach the age of 16, in my opinion and those who don’t are horrible people anyways.
I mean I’m almost 33 and I still laugh about farts.
Just practice, play with people locally and make friends with people online who have good internet and are better or equally good as you are.
You can do whatever the fuck you want, people who tell you differently are always wrong.
Just cuz kids learn faster, doesn’t mean they use that edge to its full potential. You can use your discipline and a smart training plan to catch up.
It works. On black friday i found out that both the guys working the overnight shift at GameStop were fighting game fans, and they know other employees from other stores who also play fighting games. Now there is a scene where there was none. Besides if a gamer is too shy to talk to other gamers, then there is a real problem with them
You guys are very encouraging. I’m still somewhat scrub-level but at least I don’t have a scrub mentality when it comes to losing. Still, I worry about showing up to a meet-up with total strangers and embarrassing myself. So I keep putting off getting out there until I think I’ll be good enough to not be totally blushing, knowing full-well that I’ll never get better until I put myself out there.
I also have this insecurity about spending a lot of my free-time trying to get good at a game with no real-world applications instead of learning something more creative and expressive, or useful, like how to play an instrument or bake killer pies. Unlike being a kid, when you are almost 30, telling peers you are a beast at Street Fighter is like saying “I’m a loser with wacked-out priorities,” and just gets you sympathetic stares. But if you can bust-out some blues or a delicious baked-good people actually respect you.
But what can I say? I likes my gamez. I’m trying to find an online community for Indianapolis to figure out what and where things are going on since I don’t really have the time or nerve to just loiter around businesses.
I’m 36. I used to play fighting games in arcades, but stopped playing games when they closed down our arcades back in '96 or so. Back in 2007-2008 I saw a collegue watching ST vids of Japanese tournaments, which got me back into it.
If you know about a meeting, don’t think: “oh man, if I go and I’m not good enough, they’ll just laugh at me and …”. These people that are at these meet-ups LOVE to see new people (in general :)). They don’t care about your skill level. Maybe they are like you, wondering where the hell everyone is, wondering why nobody turns up at their meet-ups although they advertise it everywhere. It’s like those people saying: “I’m not good enough yet to go to a tournament”. Yes you are. If you like fighting games, then you are good enough to go to a tournament. Those strangers … just talk to them. They won’t stay strangers that way! If you go, don’t be afraid to talk to people. Usually the people who are better than you are eager to help you out and help you get better. Don’t believe that the online-mentality of a guy beating you single handidly then sending you a message “F U SCRUB” is a mentality that exists offline. I’ve NEVER seen that mentality offline (unless ofcourse you enter the place and start screaming “I AM THE BEST YOU GUYS ARE ALL LOSERS, PREPARE YOUR ANUS”, then get bodied badly :). I can write a whole book about this subject, really. I see it happen over and over on forums and facebook groups (the “I’m not good enough to go to a meeting/tournament” thing and the “I don’t know anybody there” thing).
First international tournament I went to (SvB 2009), I got bodied. BADLY. Lost all my matches in 3rd strike and Blazblue:CT, the only tournaments I entered. I wasn’t “ready” to go to a tournament skillwise, but I met so many people there. I could later play against them online, I felt a lot more comfortable playing against people I had actually met, the barrier of asking questions and starting a chat is much lower … it helped to improve my game. We are now 5 years later and I’m still friends with all those guys increasing my friend circle by a huge number (mostly from the UK, but also from other countries). So do I regret having went there ? OH HELL NO. I’ve never had a problem with my age btw, even if some of the guys I have played in tournaments and met at meetings could have been my son
And yeah about telling peers about SF. I usually try to wriggle around the subject TBH. But “do something more useful”: ask yourself “am I having fun doing this”. If the answer is yes: you are doing something useful. These same people that look down upon gaming, probably come home from work and watch mind-numbingly stupid tvshows all evening. Don’t let people tell you how to fill in your free time if you have fun doing what you do and don’t hurt other people with it.
I’ve seen the same thing in magic the gathering communities–as long as you aren’t smelly, rude, inappropriately crude (don’t curse around younglings) nobody will care.
I guess that arguably magic is way more social (it’s easier to shoot the shit during magic games than during SF rounds) and thus easier…
But what it really comes down to is what makes you think that you have no shared interests with a group of people who love fighting games?
It’s not like you’re going to randoms on the street and trying to befriend them.
Also, in fighting games you’re less likely to lose to a little girl, imagine how embarrassing it would be if you met a group of magic players, then a little girls bodies you free.
Just one thing I found, but if you have any local animu clubs or whatever, they can be decent places to meet other players too, pretty much get all my regular offline casual play with mates I’ve met at a couple of them now.
Of course with the whole animu club thing I understand it’s not for everyone but if you’re into animu as well as fighting games it’s worth a try.
You guys are awesome. Honestly, the real problem is just not having an online group or thread to find out when and where these meet-ups are happening. Like, there was a “big” tourney right downtown just last Saturday and I didn’t find out about it until the day after. They don’t do a good job getting the word out - even though it’s sorta monthly at the downtown arcade, it’s never on a consistent day and the FB group for the venue and the venue itself do does no promotion. I know some people go to this game room down the street from me, I guess I’ll show up on random nights and hope I catch them. Most of the time people are playing ccg/board games/rpgs but sometimes folks bring console setups to the basement.
My arcade sucks, btw. They have a lot of old machines and they never keep them up and half are out of order at any given time. All of them are for sale, all are way overpriced, but it’s a bummer to go there one day and see a favorite has disappeared. They have Marvel and AE cabs but usually at least one button doesn’t work.
Sorry for the horribly late reply… busy with exams and all that! Well there is a scene in newcastle/middlesbrough and leeds so they are your two best bets. Requires a little train travel ofcourse but worth it for some ggs and ironing out online habits!
Someone made a good post about thinking you need to be at a certain level, you dont!! As long as you enjoy the game, dont get salty when you get bodied (its part of the development) and try to learn. Everyone I know here is more than happy to give you advice to help you improve. Also most of the offline sessioms are recorded on twitch so its great way to watch yourself after and pick up on things.
If you would like to know more about when and where, drop me a pm
Hey, SRK itself has a great list of matchmaking resources! I think they have a local section, where you could ask about finding fellow players around your area! Hope I helped.
(Kayane started winning tournaments at a very young age).