Need some help with a fighting game argument

I was talking to some of my friends today, none of who play street fighter, tekken, marvel vs capcom or the like, and we got into an argument about if video games take skill or not. I defended street fighter, saying that fighting and RTS games take the most skill. But when they retorted saying you can button mash your way through it, that things like call of duty take more skill, I was sort of at a loss for words as to how to come back at that.

I just feel like its impossible to describe to someone who doesnt play what its like and how difficult yet skillful it is. What are your thoughts? Does Street Fighter take skill? How would you respond to this?

  1. Get better friends.
  2. If anyone can win by just mashing buttons then tournament results should be random yet you always see the same people at the final stages.
    Logic 101?

You are wasting your time. You can’t quantify how much skill it takes in one game versus how much skill it takes in another game. If they think fighting games take no skill, they probably don’t have much interest in playing SF, so what purpose does it serve to argue with them? Let them believe whatever they want.

Make them play the best player in your state 100 times and see how often they win.

Your friend’s not only play call of duty but they also think it takes skill. Therefore their opinions are invalid. I mean really call of duty takes more skill than a fighting game really?

This is pretty much how I feel, but I dont really know what to say to them. These guys are not like frat boy jerks or anything they are nice.

That would work

Tell them the truth, that they don’t have a damn clue what they’re talking about. If you want to be nice about it, then explain some of the basic aspects which apply to all fighting games - frame data, risk vs. reward, mind games, etc. It’s easy to trash games where the skill caps aren’t obvious without a deep knowledge of the genre.

Different games, different skills.

Being good at an FPS is hard. Being good at an RTS hard. Being good at a FG is hard.

They just require different skillsets. The arguement is pointless.

It would be like saying that its harder to play golf than chess.

And football tennis golf and every other activity can be mashed through. How far do you get?

I don’t think your friends being idiots is relevant to SRK. Infraction granted.