Poll: A Question For Fellow Competitive Gamers

[Mycroft Holmes]

It depends on the game.

In an MMO like Ultima Online with full loot, it's pretty mean to kill a new player and take all their shit, plus there isn't even much sport in it.

In a fast paced FPS game, I don't even think about it. They are losing 10 seconds at most for dying. I'll play the wrecking ball all day, and they can learn from it or not. Same goes for RTS, no matter how hard and fast they lose, they should be learning something from it and getting better. It isn't my task to slow down for them, it's their task to catch up.

And every new game is a clean slate. Hence MMOs being the only time I ever might feel bad.

 

[Drummodino]

Generally not. I don't play online multiplayer anymore but when I did the games I played were LoL, DOTA, CoD and FIFA. With the exception of FIFA I never held back. In League and DOTA you play to win otherwise you're letting your team down. When I played CoD I played to get the best stats I could and to help my team win.

FIFA I would sometimes go easy if I was over three goals up or something. I didn't have to worry about letting my team down so I was willing to give my opponent some slack. No one enjoys getting pounded 12-0 (speaking as someone who had that happen IRL more than I would have liked).

 

[Vigormortis]

If I'm dominating someone in a game like, say, Counter-Strike or Quake, then no. I don't give it much thought. (unless they're one of only a few players in the match, in which case I tend to go out of my way to avoid them during the firefight and instead hunt down the better players)

However, in something like Dota 2, Left 4 Dead 2, or Starcraft 2; games with teams or long, drawn-out matches; if I or my team are absolutely mopping the floor with the other team I genuinely feel bad. I know what it's like to be stuck in a long game that's just a perpetual losing battle. It's not fun.

In those instances, I try to convince my team to "take it easy" on them for a bit. Not obviously so, as such a move can easily be viewed as condescending, but in such a way that's not "trying as hard".

If it's in a competitive match, as in a tournament, then no. Everyone in the tourney/scrim/whatever is there because they're good. If they're genuinely losing to me then it's simply because I'm out playing them. Or, they're making mistakes. Either way, in those instances, I won't feel bad for dominating. We're all there to win. In tourneys fun is, sadly, secondary to performance a lot of the time.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Depends on the game. In Planetside, for example, I don't actually care in the slightest. First, it's unlikely that I'll kill the same person several times in a row and, on the occasion it does happen, the player has a trivial out in that they can simply spawn somewhere else.

In an RTS, though, if it is appallingly clear that I'm playing against a noob, I tend to point out how they could have run a skirmish better or tell them what their flaws are. They may appreciate it and, if nothing else, it's far better for them than simply being butchered.

Thus, in shooters, I'm not inclined to feel badly largely because mechanical skill above all else is of primary importance. In more cerebral games, I'm inclined to feel bad simply because beating someone at a strategy game means I simply had a better plan than they did. It's a more personal defeat.

 

[Razentsu]

I feel bad sometimes. I fear that I might away newcomers from whatever game we're playing. Still, I tend not to go easy on newbies. Even when I "go easy" on a newbie, I still win. The only difference between a win from normal play and a win from "easy" play is that a win from "easy" play is insulting. I mean, they're playing competitive multiplayer to compete, right?

Disrespectful/troll-y play is more discouraging to newcomers than normal play, so I stick to playing normally. Again, I don't want to scare newbies away.

Sometimes I'll "go easy" by switching characters, but I usually only do that after a decent amount of matches, when I feel like I need to spice things up. Even when I do play different characters, I play normally. I won't go easy on people.

 

[Aidan Greener]

i use to play FPS's competitively (clan skirmishes) and found that when i was playing on my clans main server i was consistently in the top three for the map. And quite often over half of my kills were against the low level/new players, at the time i didn't give it a huge amount of thought, however for the clan i ended up giving new players who joined the ts chat a heap of tips to help avoid getting killed so much. So i guess i did feel a bit bad that a lot of my kills were against new players, and i tried to make it up to the new clan mates by helping them to get better.

 

[GoaThief]

Thus, in shooters, I'm not inclined to feel badly largely because mechanical skill above all else is of primary importance. In more cerebral games, I'm inclined to feel bad simply because beating someone at a strategy game means I simply had a better plan than they did. It's a more personal defeat.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who does this, was getting worried for a while.

That said, I don't agree that mechanical skill is most important in FPS, especially past a certain point. You can help someone refine aim and such, sure but in competitive shooters (I don't think I would class Planetside in that) it's all about the meta game, map control, item timing, movement, pathing, blah blah. Then again I often find a lot of RTS all about quickest build order and little strategy out of that... Guess that's why I don't play many of them any more. Absolutely adored Frozen Synapse, whilst not real time I found it far more strategic than the pretentious.