Multiplayer : do you hold back ?

[TorqueConverter]

So easy question . In online multiplayer , do you hold back when playing against people less skilled than you? Or do you go all out all the time?

I recently realized that i do hold back if i assume that my opponent(s) are less skilled that me . I take the battle less seriously and relax a lot more than if i am playing someone equally or more skilled . Sometimes i do give them free shots or punish them less for their mistakes all the while not trying to purposely lose . It has bit me in the ass sometimes where i lost when i shouldn't have . But it's a natural reaction i find i have . When i realized this though i feel bad for not taking them seriously , it's almost like a slap in the face and dishonorable. But i also don't want to purposely make a new player quit because i was spanking them too hard .

Kudos to you. It's always nice to give new players a fighting chance. The last thing a multiplayer game needs is to have it's future in jeopardy because the some veterans are beating up on the new players.

Yeah, it is hard on new players, especially when they join in late to the party . I remember when i first started playing UMVC3 online( having not played MVC3) , i used to get steamrolled by everyone it is frustrating. But on the flip side , it is patronizing when you realise when your opponent isn't taking you seriously . That's why i'm a little conflicted about doing that .

I guess it all depends on the individual , and there's no way for me to know that .

I say it depends on the game more than anything. A good multiplayer game will live a long life but ultimately suffer a slow death as a result of new players leaving the game.

If a gamer truly cares about the game then they will do everything in his/her power to encourage new players to join and continue playing the game.

I care, deeply, about Soldat. I've been playing that game off and on since 2004 and it's still around. I have witnessed the game evolve over the years from the golden years of a hot new game as a result of Tech TV promotion (before it was called G4 TV) to the state it is in today, a game that primarily caters to the veterans. You'll get your ass kicked in that game if you try to play it as a newbie these days.

I go out of my way to cater to the new players in that game so as to ensure the game has a future. K/D ratio is irrelevant. The future of my game is paramount.

Certain games, like CoD on PC, I'm not good enough to be put in that situation. Besides, new versions of that game are released so often that the player base migrates anyways.

If you you truely love a MP game, then in it's time of need, preferably before, be nice to the new guys. Say hello and teach them the basics while you have the chance.

[/soapbox]

 

[SirDeadly]

I only really play CoD online because my cousin has it too. We never hold back, there doesn't seem to be a point to holding back on CoD.

 

[Dandark]

Depends. I don't delibriatly give them free shots or something but I get lazy and don't punish their mistakes as much, im also not careful and make mistakes more easily.
I usaully only do this if im in the lead and am confident of winning.
That said I don't always put everything I can into it a lot of the time, I am usaully not too serious.

 

[WanderingFool]

So easy question . In online multiplayer , do you hold back when playing against people less skilled than you? Or do you go all out all the time?

I recently realized that i do hold back if i assume that my opponent(s) are less skilled that me . I take the battle less seriously and relax a lot more than if i am playing someone equally or more skilled . Sometimes i do give them free shots or punish them less for their mistakes all the while not trying to purposely lose . It has bit me in the ass sometimes where i lost when i shouldn't have . But it's a natural reaction i find i have . When i realized this though i feel bad for not taking them seriously , it's almost like a slap in the face and dishonorable. But i also don't want to purposely make a new player quit because i was spanking them too hard .

Never. I always put my full effort into it. That said, I usually dont leave a match with kills higher than deaths, specially if its COD.

 

[Vivi22]

I'm fairly competitive so as a rule I don't tend to hold back. Sometimes I will against friends so that they won't decide they never want to play with me again, but that usually makes things less fun for me.

Against random people online though the usual sequence of events is I dominate them for a bit, get kind of bored and then I start doing crazy off the wall things that would never really fly against better players. This probably makes me seem like a bit more of a dick to people who aren't that good though because then I'll still be crushing them, possibly even more so because nobody expects off the wall stuff that shouldn't work to actually happen, let alone end up working.

I never do it for the sake of being a dick though. I'm just the sort who gets bored if I'm not consistently challenged and will make up my own challenges when other players can't provide them. Strangely enough, making up my own challenges has often made me a vastly better player than most people, like when I stopped zooming in as the Sniper in TFC, or when I refused to use anything but the crossbow in Turok 2, developed the ability to headshot anyone within a fraction of a second of them rounding a corner, and then realized that the crossbow is actually the best weapon in the game.

 

[RJ 17]

When i realized this though i feel bad for not taking them seriously , it's almost like a slap in the face and dishonorable. But i also don't want to purposely make a new player quit because i was spanking them too hard .

That's really pretty much what it is, though I doubt your opponents see it that way unless before the match starts you say "Look guys, I know you're not any good so I'm gonna take it easy on you." In which case they know "I'm not actually playing against this person, they're just placating me to make me feel better." In which case the victory and points all become hallow because the opponent wasn't truly competing.

If you don't tell them, though, they'll get a big head and say "Holy shit this person sucks worse than I do! Lets all laugh in the face of the super-uber newb!"

As such, to avoid both situations, I take every multiplayer match seriously and play with the best of my ability.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Less skilled than me?
I'd love to see that day <_<

In all seriousness i don't really tend to hold back because i normally have just average skills due to not playing multiplayer most of the time. When i finally do decide to hop into an online match of anything i usually just get my ass blown off regardless of rank of actual experience so i just go as much out as i can before it stops being fun.

 

[King of Asgaard]

No. Never. Even when I used to play shooters, I would never hold back.
Nowadays, I've been playing Dark Souls religiously and you can NEVER not play at your best against other players because there is no visual difference between a good player and a crap player.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Nope. When I was a super noob, everyone went hard on me, and that's how I improved.

 

[Section Crow]

I hold out, it's no fun playing with people that are less experienced that me

the challenge of it loses out and it's just gets boring to me better to not be the prick and seek the easy kills, although i don't do it intentionally i just get less focused and don't try as hard

 

[juyunseen]

I play all out, unless any of my friends are playing. I'll set them up for kills if they're in my team, and hold back I'd they're on the other team. I'm s bit of a pushover around my friends lol

 

[Cyfu]

yea, i can't help it. i would feel bad if i played at the best of my ability against them.

 

[DasDestroyer]

If it's a game with multiple players, especially if there are teams, doubly especially if my friends are playing with me, I'll play all-out and if certain players are significantly worse than I am, I'll blow them out of the water. If I play a 1v1 game, then that means I am playing SC2 and the matchmaking system there is good enough for you to usually be paired with people of roughly your own skill level, so once again I do not hold back. But if I am playing a friendly 1v1 game against a friend I know is quite a bit worse than I am, I'll hold back and even give him tips and hints.

 

[Qitz]

Hell no.

I don't care if the guys lvl 1, I'm nuking the shit out of him. That's the whole point of multiplayer, it's not to care-bear the newbs it to run around killing people.

Besides, wheres the fun in going easy on someone? It's easier to learn when your getting destroyed for stupid mistakes.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I actually ended up quitting SC2 because of the INABILITY to hold back, due to the ladder constantly bumping me up to higher difficulties the more I won, forcing me to play balls to the wall every match to have a chance of winning. It's exhausting. Sometimes you just wanna mess around and try new stuff without getting your kidneys ripped out.

I will say, though, that it takes a special kind of asshole to constantly hammer the crap out of new/lesser players in an MMO setting. If you're the sort of guy who makes premades specifically to roll PUGS, or ganks, or otherwise enjoys creating unwinnable scenarios for other people, then congrats...you are going to hell.

 

[dimensional]

[blatant lie/]I have to otherwise I win too fast[/blatant lie].

No I hardly ever hold back reason is simple I play a fair few fighter all poorly I might add if I hold back I will be crushed I probably will anyway but id rather lose giving my all than lose thinking crap if I had tried I could have won that.

Their are exceptions on rare occasions a few times on SF4 when I did get to a middling stage of play if I kept getting matched against the same person repeatedly and I always creamed them I would stop playing my mains and try my hardest with an unfamiliar character to hopefully make it more interesting for the both of us.

If I knew somebody was a lot worse than me I would probably give them some room to at least try stuff as well as test my defensive tactics (I usually play aggressively) but there is really no way of knowing their skill level until after you play, sure you can look at their card and they may have lost 10 times in a row but they may have lost those 10 times by a fraction against top class players you just dont know.

 

[Bertylicious]

I basically play very half-heartedly till I'm killed more than once by someone. At that point I have the monopoly on bitterness and will relentlessly persue them.

Noobs are just things to shoot whilst you're looking for your real prey.

 

[RichardThompson]

Depends on the context. In LoL, if I concentrate on what I'm doing then I can do better. I don't know if you can call that holding back though.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

If it's a team game, I don't hold back.

If it's FFA, chances are that I'll be doing allot more fucking around and being silly instead of competitive.