Are you actually good at gaming?

[PrototypeC]

I suppose the OP is asking mostly about online games or multiplayer games, if the examples are to be believed. I won't sweat it and try to answer as truthfully as I can.

-I am OK at FPS's. This may sound like praise, but I consider just about every guy my age to be in the "holy crap you're good" bin of FPS players and I just can't keep up. I used to be comically miserable at them, if my friends' laughs were any indication, but I later discovered that was merely caused by my unfamiliarity with an Xbox controller. Now I can survive, if not hold my own the majority of the time, and even get a plus+ K/D ratio!

-I am terrible at RTS games. I have tried to be good at them, because war fascinates me. I can handle normal AI but I finally realized that building things was more fun than smashing them, to me, and my biggest reason to crush my opponent is so that they would not smash my nice things. Against other people I am horribly slow due to my refusal to use hotkeys.

-MMORPGs: see above regarding refusal to use hotkeys. The only exception is my MMOG of choice, Dofus, and that's because it's a turn-based game. I need to take my time and strategize ways to survive against stronger foes. Carefully considering your build-up of attacks, dodge maneuvers and sneaky backhanded tricks between every turn is vital to win. I'm quite good at it!

 

[PrototypeC]

-Fighting games make me sad. They always seem to have cool characters and funny backstories, and I like the idea of slapping two people with strong personalities in a room and having them just fight it out. Some even let me create my own characters and reasons to fight. I have a button-mashing strategy of finding a few tricky moves and sticking with them rather than try to get all fancy with it... It lasts me until I end up against someone who knows what they're doing and then I'm just a clumsy, predictable practice dummy. The exception is SSB: Brawl. The incredible simplicity of the basic moves makes it one of those Starcraft kinds of games: simple set-up, but it is the clever things you do with it that counts. Me and Metaknight have seen a wonderful amount of Winner screens.

In summary, while the idea of going pro is utterly laughable to anyone who has seen me play, I've gone from laughably inept to kickin' ass in a matter of two years. Usual difficulty level on a scale of Very Easy to Instant Game Over: Hard, with a few steps into Very Hard. Biggest weakness is slow reaction time, weakest genre is FPS. I have no best genre, exactly, but I have a few games that I have mastered to the point wherein I don't even have to think about it and usually don't even get hit. I prefer games that can be brutally hard, but survival is the only goal so you don't have to mess around with accomplishments and collecting macguffins while ALSO getting gangbanged by a billion Orcs.

 

[PaladinofGuns]

It really varies form game to game. For example, i play Fallout 3 and New Vegas on very hard, but give me let's say........ Persona 4. I won't touch even normal mode I'll stick to easy.

 

[Vault101]

to be completley honest...nah probably not, Im quite competant because gaming is my primary hobby
but I know there are a million other people a million times better than me

especially when I hear people completing gamesin 5 hours or less and complaing that EVERYHTING thease days is too easy

 

[Lancer873]

Well... I'm not that great at FPS games, (I'm not a fan of most, especially modern shooters, though I absolutely /love/ the Resistance series due to their typically epic weaponry) at least in terms of multiplayer. I'm decent on single-player modes, for the most part. I also kinda suck at racing and sports games. However, I'm a beast at platformers, especially physics-based-platformers like LBP and N: The Way of the Ninja, and I'm also damn good at twin-stick shoot-em-up games, though I'm not quite as good on sidescrolling shooters. Favorite and best genre is by far action-platformers. As far as puzzle, it depends on the game, and I don't play many RTS games.

But to give you an idea of my skills at action-platformers... I've beaten I Wanna Be The Guy. Twice. Once on medium, once on hard, and I've gotten about halfway there on Very Hard mode.

 

[RadioactiveMicrobe]

I"m not amazing, but I don't suck.

I'm mildly good at a lot of games, not REALLY good at one. Because that just seems boring to me.

 

[Jailbird408]

I have no idea. I used to think I was good at Super Smash Bros Brawl, but then I went online and got trounced three-quarters of the time. I used to think I was good at Quake, but then I realized I was playing at the lowest difficulty. I used to think I was good at Exit Path 2, and then I entered the Advanced lobby...

I also asked the Sheikah stone to help me get past half the puzzles in Ocarina of Time 3D, but then sailed through most of Master Quest. I'm up to the Spirit Temple, in the first sun switch room, and only consulted FAQs twice in that entire period.

But then I remember clearing Portal 2's singleplayer, beating a Lvl 8 CPU in Smash Bros, getting every flair in the original Exit Path and finally getting a 5-star rating on my NSMB Wii save. And I tell myself "You could be a lot worse at this, Jailbird408."

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

I'm better than most of my friends at first and third person shooters, and I'm pretty good with games in general, but I'm not amazing at it.

 

[NeoShinGundam]

I can finish most games on Normal Difficulty. Against human players I usually suck @ss.

 

[VinceVega]

Not meaning to toot my own horn or anything but i'm actually really good at games, like all kinds just a knack for it i supose, now i can "train" and get better at a video game to a point of geuine skill, but i seam to have just a knack for video games from the start, for instanse my brother is a big fan of sport games (Fifa, NFL, NHL) so much so he actually use to play competitivley at Fifa, but every once in a while he askes me for a game and i often win it's really strange!

FPS's Likewise i rather not play but i still seem to be able to beat my friends, and they've practiced.

I could be because of my Insistance to only ever play a game on it's hardest difficulty from the start i find it makes a game last longer, and for most games, improves the "feel" of the game (Not for God of War I your Opponents health becomes tediously long)

 

[Rorigon]

I'm decent enough, but it depends on what we're talking about.

As far as old SNES games go, yeah, I'm really good; but then I've been playing those since I was 5 years old. =P

When it comes to competitive multiplayer or PvP in MMOs goes, I suck. Hard. On the other hand, I fancy myself an above average PvE player and a bit of an MMO veteran.

Most other stuff, I'm average. Nothing great or terrible, but average.

Edit: I forgot, I am really good at games that have an emphasis on puzzles, like the Zelda or Portal series. I guess it's a side-effect of being brought up on Zelda games and Lucas Arts Adventure games.

 

[Zeriah]

I'm very good at Guitar hero/Rock Band, in the top 500 on several songs. I'm pretty good at MMORPG PvP (arena) and other online battle arena games (LoL, DotA, HoN). Got 2650 in WoW's arena which was in the top 0.5% of arena players. I'm above average at FPS's but not spectacular (1-1.5 K/D in multiplayer and beating most of them on veteran on single player without too much trouble) though I don't play them much on the PC and I'm worse on that platform. I'm terrible at fighting and RTS games and can do most RPG's/platformers without too much trouble.

 

[brainslurper]

I don't like this question. Back when L4D2 had rankings and actual teams, I was ranked in the top 25 out of everyone. And yet I suck at pretty much every other FPS out there, with the exception of TF2. I ran portal in 42 minutes, but I can't figure out how to finish braid. I guess it just depends on the game really.

 

[wilsontheterrible]

I play the games I like and I'm good at them. If I like the game enough I'll set some goal and try to achieve it or if it's a console game I'll get all the achievements for it.

If we're talking multiplayer I'm fairly decent when I actually try but most of the time I have more fun being a kill-stealing dirtbag. If it's TF2 I play the engineer with a friend and make a nest somewhere inconvenient, if it's Halo I'll gladly use the the needler or plasma for optimum post-game lobby rage, if it's Modern Warefare I use noob-tubes and grenades (and martyrdom if I have the option), if it's WoW I use a warlock and keep a person in fear until they exit the game, it doesn't matter what game it is. I will find the most annoying class/weapon combo and use it exclusively to the sound of bitter rage by both my team and those I fight against and it's music to my ears.

 

[loc978]

As most here, I have my strengths and weaknesses in gaming. I'm very good at racing games, the closer to a simulation, the better.
I'm also excellent at fighting games, I'm nearly always the guy who people refuse to play against.
With RPGs, I have yet to come up against a challenge I couldn't beat... though there is an occasional grind I'm unwilling to bother with.
RTSes... well, I can be competitive with the slower ones. Actual strategy I'm great at... but click-fest micro-management gets on my nerves. Repeatedly correcting AI pathing bugs for hours in a stretch isn't my idea of a good time, so I'm mostly a collaborative player.
Platformers... well, that's more a matter of learning level design and doggedly developing perfect timing than anything. I'm patient enough to have beaten Super Meat Boy, but I wouldn't say I'm a particularly great talent at platforming.

and then there's the elephant in the thread... FPSes. I'm pretty much out of that game. I can still pick up Unreal Tournament (the one from 1999) and twitch away better than most... but that's more about a preference for the style of gameplay and map design than anything to do with talent. I lack skill in new shooters because I don't play them... because they aren't fun to me... and here comes my cardinal sin: that includes TF2. The class balance is fine in it, the humor in the promotional material is top-notch... but every map I've played on in that game is atrocious. Too simple, no available options.

 

[Yeager942]

Well, I know my way around TF2 pretty well, and I play a pretty mean Veigar in League of Legends.

 

[zombiestrangler]

I like to think I am. I've beaten all CoDs, GoW2, Halo Reach, and Dead Space on the hardest difficulties with little to moderate effort (fuck WaW). My K/Ds in CoD multiplayer are all above a 1.0, though I've been told I could do quite a bit better if I didn't fuck around so much. So yeah, I think I'm good.

 

[cridia]

There are certain types of games I am rather good at while there are certain types of games I am extremely bad at (I play both). The games I am good at are games that tend to have distinguishable patterns, such as Zelda games or even games like Contra. My memorization skills are pretty good and I do not have a whole lot of trouble using an available skillset in certain ways to progress. When it comes to split second decision things, I tend to be bad. Games like hack and slash, fighters and FPS fall under that. I am too twitchy and make mistakes too often, often leading to unnecessary damage abd stuff.

 

[JWRosser]

I like to think I am, although saying that I still get mostly vaporised if I go on to Mortal Kombat online. Despite the fact I've pretty much 100%'ed single player, online peeps are difficult...

 

[Yopaz]

I did beat Ninja Gaiden 2 without too much difficulties so I suppose I'm not half bad. I'm not good at shooters, but OK on racers, pretty good at platformers and adventure games.
My main problem is that I am not persistent enough.