Does being drunk affect your gaming performance?

[UpInSmoke]

I often drink while playing Halo. My rank in Team Slayer typically holds steady for a while, but eventually drops by about 5 or 6 rankings before I'm too drunk to do anything but viciously curse at the children on xbox live.

And like the guy above me said, I don't FEEL like I'm playing worse as the evening goes on... but, uh... the numbers do not lie.

 

[Usige Beatha]

I've noticed my thinking skills drop substantially when I'm drunk off my arse. BUT, I do feel some of my games I do better at.

Besides, its always fun to get drunk and high jack a car in GTAIV and when the police chase you you just go crazy lol.

 

[Leorex]

i hate being in match's with drunk people. not because they are loud, although thats part of it, but because they get overly aggressive. so if you arnt as good as they think you should be, they start calling you on it, and tk'ing you.

 

[AntiAntagonist]

I tend to trash talk more. Even if I'm doing poorly. Of course the last memorable time I did this was with a group of friends and SO playing Burnout (crash mode).

Of course being drunk I've no idea how the jokes (and other talk) was received by people other than those I was addressing.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

I couldn't tell you, since I've never understood the point of getting smashed.

 

[EOT]

To be honest i have had some of my greatest gaming moments whilst under the influence. Things like killing the whole opposition team, 3 times in a row, with the chainsaw in Gears. Or owning completely in GRAW 2.

But i've also had numerious lows. The countless times i fell asleep, drooling all over the headset, slumped in a computer chair. The trash talk, the absolute vile-ness of some of my comments. And the lowest of the low, being violently sick into a bucket with my whole GoW clan listening down the headset. I did not feel good about myself. Oh and i also bought £150 of microsoft points and spent them all in one night...on crap.

 

[shadow1138]

I'm writing this while drunk (burp)and I've to say maybe it's the acting on instinct maybe it's cause you suddenly think your good at it but I just kicked trilby's arse and god knows I usually suck at this game too much. Next stop Il-2


EDIT: I've no Iidea how a thread like this pops out right on the night i decide to get my arse drunk

 

[fix-the-spade]

I've no idea about gaming but drink certainly does NOT improve your performance cycling...

 

[Flangle]

My typing is completely illegible when im drunk, my wow guild thought i was asleep on the keyboard or something and people on msn thought i was talking jiberish.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I'd say one of the chief motivations I had for getting a Wii was that I can play it while drunk. Just no good at dual-analog after I've had a few brews. Love me some Wii-bowling or No More Heroes after a night out though.

 

[Kovash86]

I'm better at throwing darts drunk I don't know about anything else.

 

[ThaBenMan]

There was actually some guy who tried driving while drunk (in-game) in GTA4 and driving while drunk (out-of-game).

It is my theory that if you played while drunk in real life and also drunk in the game, it evens out and you drive normal. I have yet to test this, however, since I do not own GTA IV.

 

[Drong]

If you think that being drunk improves your gaming then your not really drunk, a couple of drinks can improve things, we call this the two point peak when playing pool in the pub and sometimes even at twice that you can be pretty sharp but get to the stage where you are falling over the sofa and seeing 2 or more screens when you try and focus then I guarantee your gaming will take a turn for the worse.

 

[Force Feedback Codpiece]

Well, it doesn't necessarily make my performance worse. Red Orchestra is by far the funnest game to play while drunk imo, and everytime I've done that, I still ended up near the top of the score board. I guess it made me more daring or "brave" in the game. It felt like I was better than average, too. But RO doesn't require a ton of reflexes, unlike CoD.

Pwned by an inebriated guy.

Playing against players who are equally good or better though, like in a clan match or something, probably isn't a good idea.

So it really depends on the game or the players you're up against (in multiplay).

 

[figure_in_kuro]

Getting smashed, I find, really makes me suck at games, especially at platformers.

However, after about 2 beers I find that I own on Counter Strike. So much so that I was accused of cheating when I took out everyone on the opposing team using only an M4 Shotgun and then claiming 3 headshots at long range using a MAC10 in the subsequent round. (On the Aztec map).

 

[CyberAkuma]

I'd say it depends a lot on the kind of game you're trying out.

As far as fast paced games that demand quick and dead-on accuracy (like say FPS's) I say getting shitfaced is not gonna help at all. It's been pretty much scientifically proven that reflex-time and quick response deteriorates with the level of alcohol in your blood.

For fun times though you can try out quick-paced racing games with a steering wheel while being drunk. It's pretty fun.

On a sidenote, I did try playing videogames when I was on medicative morphine for an injury I sustained. It didn't work out at all. I couldn't stare at the screen for more than half a second before getting completely dizzy and uncoordinated. It was impossible for me to use the computer, even when I was clicking stuff on the desktop. It was like throwing darts with your toes.

 

[s0denone]

Counter Strike while being completely smashed is extremly fun

I got on around 5 am in the morning, after a night out - my mate hadn't gone to sleep. We found 3 other dudes, and did a match versus another set of 5 dudes. I can't remember the result, but I can sure-fire remember that I did some ridiculous stuff (Random headshots on people sneaking around, through walls - and the like) and then also remember that I shot my teammates several times by accident.

 

[Greymin]

Being a well practiced inebriate I have recently completed Halo 3, Orange Box (All the single players including Portal), RFoM, CoD 4, Bioshock and a few others while well and truly pi@@ed. I also remember it all, even the embarrassing bits, such as hugging the Arbiter for twenty minutes while telling him he was my best pal in the whole wide.