Poll: On focus: Laser vs. Shotgun

[SimuLord]

I just got my hands on GTA Chinatown Wars for my DS (along with Super Mario 64, which I'd never played before, yes I'm aware 1996 called, I got the voicemail) and loaded it up and...sucked royally at it. I'm mildly surprised I didn't figure a way for my character to actually shoot himself in the head with my utterly incompetent controls. Mario 64 wasn't much better---I was awful at it.

This struck me as a bit surprising, since I spend so much of my free time gaming that if someone paid me even the minimum wage to do it I could pay my rent and feed myself on the income. I'm what you might call "l33t" when it comes to sports and strategy games. Key words there: "sports and strategy". It occurs to me that in the nine years I've been playing those two genres more or less to the exclusion of all others (main exception: Oblivion/Morrowind), my twitch-gamer skills have eroded so badly that they have all but ceased to exist.

Am I the only one with such a laser focus? Or do other Escapists tend to stick within narrow windows of gameplay and suck almost as badly as a complete n00b picking up a controller/mouse for the first time at other genres?

 

[spuddyt]

Shotgun, except sports games - i play rts, rpg, fps and various blends of them, but due to hating the guts of real life sports, I dislike sports games

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

I am pretty bad at RTSs, even though I love them. I do have ADD and tend to get bored easily though. What usually happens is I focus on attacking the enemy with my uber-mega awesome attack squad, and leave my base open to be pillaged and raped by the enemy. I look back to find my base destroyed and say "Well fuck this". I mainly play shooters and RPGs where I control one character.

 

[tk1989]

....both?

 

[Randomologist]

I'm decent at some RTS, some driving and some FPS games, but I'm a complete noob at sporting games, and games which force you into using stealth continuously. Gunfights I can do; stealthy parts where you fail the mission for breaking wind, I can't.

 

[Kirra]

The only type of games i haven't tried are sports games. So i guess it's shotgun for me.

 

[DM.]

Shotgun.

I'm hard pressed to find a genre that I hate or haven't played a game in.


Wait, sports games.

 

[Jaccklesby]

I focus on attacking the enemy with my uber-mega awesome attack squad, and leave my base open to be pillaged and raped by the enemy. I look back to find my base destroyed and say "Well fuck this".

As is the way with RTS games. One becomes bored and tries to have a bit more fun, one gets fucked over for it.

 

[Gruthar]

I'm mostly a FPS gamer these days, but I do play a fair amount of the other genres. I have terrible micro-management when it comes to RTS games (I suck at Starcraft, CoH, Warhammer, etc) but I do well in turn-based games and strategy games that emphasize tactics (like the Myth and Total War series.) I'm OK at racing and flight sims, but I've been playing those on and off since I was a kid. RPGs are RPGs, I don't think it's really possible to be bad at them. Sports games are the only genre that has never held my interest, so I probably blow at them.

Basically, I'll switch genres whenever I get burned out on one.

 

[ThorUK]

I'm what you might call "l33t" when it comes to sports and strategy games.

I LOL'd.

I'd group sports games in the same pile as bus and train simulators: not worth playing. Instead of paying £50 for a game that simulates you looking at a bus/train, go outside and look at one! Heck, you could even get a ride on one for under $5 (for you Yanks, I figure it must be you buying this drivel up)!

Enough criticism for now - I'd say "l33t skills" mostly apply to FPS and RTS games, since being cool under pressure and actinging in response to your opponent in a short time matter in these games. Frankly if you want to play sports, just learn and train IRL. RPGs don't really need nerves or decisiveness, so Morrowind abilities wouldn't do you much good in GTA IV

To asnwer the topic's post:

I play pseudo-realistic (BF 2, CS, WR, etc.) FPSes, (MMO)RPGs and RTSes. Which is pretty much all the non-casual game genres out there. Or I like to think so.

 

[number2301]

I'm fairly focussed at the moment, but not on a specific genre, more open world, story driven games with real time combat. Sandbox games I guess you could call it.

Sports, racing sims, FPSs and the odd RPG get a look in, but yeah mainly 'sandbox' games.

I'm what you might call "l33t" when it comes to sports and strategy games.

I LOL'd.

I'd group sports games in the same pile as bus and train simulators: not worth playing. Instead of paying £50 for a game that simulates you looking at a bus/train, go outside and look at one! Heck, you could even get a ride on one for under $5 (for you Yanks, I figure it must be you buying this drivel up)!

Enough criticism for now - I'd say "l33t skills" mostly apply to FPS and RTS games, since being cool under pressure and actinging in response to your opponent in a short time matter in these games. Frankly if you want to play sports, just learn and train IRL. RPGs don't really need nerves or decisiveness, so Morrowind abilities wouldn't do you much good in GTA IV

Brilliantly flawed logic there, if you want to shoot people don't buy an FPS, just join the army instead. That makes about as much sense as playing actual sport instead of playing a game.

 

[Nia-san]

I try my hardest to play a variety of games and keep a collection of a variety of genres. For me it means that if I'm in the mood for shooting thousands I can do that or I can use my brain (OMG functioning!) and still have fun. But I have to say most of my games have something dying in them. weather you shoot it or blow it up.

 

[SimuLord]

I'm what you might call "l33t" when it comes to sports and strategy games.

I LOL'd.

I'd group sports games in the same pile as bus and train simulators: not worth playing. Instead of paying £50 for a game that simulates you looking at a bus/train, go outside and look at one! Heck, you could even get a ride on one for under $5 (for you Yanks, I figure it must be you buying this drivel up)!

Enough criticism for now - I'd say "l33t skills" mostly apply to FPS and RTS games, since being cool under pressure and actinging in response to your opponent in a short time matter in these games. Frankly if you want to play sports, just learn and train IRL. RPGs don't really need nerves or decisiveness, so Morrowind abilities wouldn't do you much good in GTA IV

To asnwer the topic's post:

I play pseudo-realistic (BF 2, CS, WR, etc.) FPSes, (MMO)RPGs and RTSes. Which is pretty much all the non-casual game genres out there. Or I like to think so.

To which I reply "this is why nerds get shoved into lockers in high school." Insufferable smugness is a pretty good way to make people bigger than you want to kick your ass. Besides, I'm a couple months shy of 32, got arthritis from old sports injuries, and just flat-out can't perform athletically anymore. The only way I'll ever be able to play sports competitively is via video games, comes with the territory when your body decides it can't do past 30 what it did at 17.

Also, quick literacy test: What part of "and strategy" didn't you understand? I play games like Hearts of Iron 2 with actual Europeans and my all-time favorite series is Total War. But you're too busy spouting ignorance about the skill level of sports gamers to read the rest of the sentence.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I get bored if I don't get some variety.

 

[Madshaw]

I'm either on my xbox playing rpgs and shooters mainly, or i will play total war games on my pc, so its shotguns all the way

 

[ThorUK]

I'm fairly focussed at the moment, but not on a specific genre, more open world, story driven games with real time combat. Sandbox games I guess you could call it.

Sports, racing sims, FPSs and the odd RPG get a look in, but yeah mainly 'sandbox' games.

I'm what you might call "l33t" when it comes to sports and strategy games.

I LOL'd.

I'd group sports games in the same pile as bus and train simulators: not worth playing. Instead of paying £50 for a game that simulates you looking at a bus/train, go outside and look at one! Heck, you could even get a ride on one for under $5 (for you Yanks, I figure it must be you buying this drivel up)!

Enough criticism for now - I'd say "l33t skills" mostly apply to FPS and RTS games, since being cool under pressure and actinging in response to your opponent in a short time matter in these games. Frankly if you want to play sports, just learn and train IRL. RPGs don't really need nerves or decisiveness, so Morrowind abilities wouldn't do you much good in GTA IV

Brilliantly flawed logic there, if you want to shoot people don't buy an FPS, just join the army instead. That makes about as much sense as playing actual sport instead of playing a game.

Well, you see the difference there is: in a game of football or rugby, you don't put your life on the line in quite the same way a soldier does every time he/she goes on a patrol/mission. Sure, if going to war suddenly didn't involve a significant risk of death, I probably would. And unlike a war, you can go home after you 90 minute game of football, and have a hot bath, dinner, whatever, war scars you for life physically and psychologically. But if you want to compare war and sports, I won't stop you next time you bring your hockey stick to Iraq.

 

[hagaya]

How about a shotgun with a laser taped to it?