I like chess, but I haven’t played it in a while. Want to play more go. If you’ve not played go, check it out sometime, it’s really different and probably the most complex thing ever.
Adam (you just hit the “rant” button): Don’t spread that garbage about playing only one game. We’re such a small community that we need to try to learn each other’s games if only to give each other competition. Playing only one game gives people an excuse to isolate themselves from the community. I’m not saying play a game that you hate, but if you play 3rd strike and enjoy Marvel, but suck at it, go ahead and try to get better at Marvel.
If I took your advice, I wouldn’t have even shown up last night because I guess I’m a GG player and I’m not allowed to play anything else. I know this is not what you meant to say, but I really just don’t think it’s very sound advice.
The truth is that none of us has the luxury or ability to master even one single game in the truest sense of the word. The luxury we do have is one of a community of players of a variety of different games from whom we can learn much. We should use this to its fullest potential. This means learning the games we think we could enjoy from those among us who already know a fair amount about them. Hopefully this way we can all give each other competition and improve each other in our respective games. I say this because at a certain point, it doesn’t matter how well you know your combos, or how much frame data you know, or whatever. It’s going to come down to matchup experience, and the only thing that can help that is having more people to play against.
Seriously guys there’s nothing special about me, and I’ve learned a thing or two in a lot of games. I was even able to give Kameron some decent competition in Tekken for a while, and I think that lit a fire under him to step his game up at some point, which was really hard for him since he didn’t really own DR and I had to let him borrow my psp often. Even now I can improve my game in 3rd drastically by simply practicing my full stun combos more, which really isn’t that much work in the long run, and I know you wouldn’t have me give the game up just because I like Guilty Gear better. Sometimes I think people get this idea of having a “main” game in their head, and they let that blind them from the learning opportunities all around them. Just play what’s fun and look at what you have around you to help you learn it. I look at Jason and he hasn’t let the fact that he’s decent at 3rd strike keep him from learning GG. Good for him, but even better for me, because I’ll have someone else to play against and bounce ideas off of.
We’ll call ourselves TEAM Dayton, but we get together and just try to beat each other at our own games. Why don’t we try to beat (thereby helping) each other in a game that isn’t really our “main” game? Maybe eventually it can become one of our many main games. Quan and Kam, I know you guys play a little 3rd. Why not try and work on a few things and try to help us out by giving us more competition? If you hate the game I’m not forcing you, but if you can at least tolerate it, why not just see how you can help us out? If it’s not really your “main,” then it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, right?
There’s a point of diminished return in learning fighting games, and an hour practicing a game where you’re terrible shows greater improvement than an hour practicing a game where you’re really good. It’s not necessarily time better-spent, but if there aren’t really any impending tournaments that you’re trying to get ready for, could be worth it. Eventually, maybe you can get two games to about the same level, and then choose to take only one to the next level, then you hit a wall with learning that game and you try to take the other game to the next level. I don’t know.
Also, you never know where you might find yourself. Maybe you end up moving or taking a vacation to somewhere where the community is better for a different game than the one you main. If you’ve practiced whatever game that community plays, your time is way better-spent playing that with them than it is forcing them to play your game or just playing your game by yourself.
Anyway, I know you only meant that comment for Quentin because of his ADHD, and I agree that he should focus more on one character and one game if he really want to do what we all know he is capable of, but I was just afraid people might take it too seriously and it would turn our community into several segmented individuals instead of a team like we should be.
In conclusion, the advantages to learning multiple games far outweigh the advantages to limiting yourself to one game. Focus has its place, and it’s important to take one game at a time so as not to overwhelm yourself or confuse yourself, but it’s only impossible to be good at more than one game if you tell yourself that.
Another note:
If we want to improve as individuals, we need to improve as a group. It’s hypocritical to encourage people to practice up, and then throw a fit if they beat you because a: you didn’t practice enough like you told them to or b: they took your advice (for “I practiced and they didn’t and I still lost, see ‘a.’”) We need to be more respectful in recognizing each other’s skills when we lose to them. Ross, I hate to pick on you, but when you played me after losing to Jo, and picked Yun, I didn’t enjoy that at all, because I knew you weren’t playing your best character, or playing to your best ability, or even enjoying yourself. I know a lot was on the line, but this needs to stop if we’re to grow as a community. That goes for winners that like to talk too. I mean it’s funny if done in jest, but you gotta know which of us can take it and just back off on the ones of us that can’t. This even extends to the people that were hyping me up when I was getting lucky and winning yesterday. I know you meant well, and thanks for the encouragement, but be respectful of the people you aren’t cheering for. It’s one thing if we’re hyping up our own crew against another, or if it’s a team match and we’re hyping up our teammates, but from within the crew, rooting for me is rooting against my opponent, who is also in our crew and who we should also want to encourage. Adam as much as said to me that he was distracted and irritated by that when I was playing him (against Jo it was ok though because he was undefeated and a loss for him meant a better chance for everyone else.)
So yeah, community mentality from now on plz.
times new roman, 12-point type, just over 2 pages
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