Too scared to play online!

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neonsword13-ops

~ Struck by a Smooth Criminal ~
Mar 28, 2011
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JUST. PLAY.

There is nothing to be scared about, just play and you will learn. Fairly quickly I might add.
 

Shoggoth2588

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Aug 31, 2009
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AugustFall said:
The best prep to play online is to play online. In every game.
There's truth in that. It's the only way to really learn. As for the '4 noobs only' rooms, NEVER enter those rooms. They're poorly disguised traps. Make your own noobs only room so you can at least kick people who are too good to be noobs.

Fighting games online are always hell for me.
 

J-dog42

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Aug 1, 2010
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Yea I don't know about the whole video watching and FAQ studying thing. I just run at them until they die or I die and then I do it again. I did that on COD: MW2 and BF: BC2 for a long time before I got good. But I still had fun and being a "noob" it makes every success that much more exciting.

neonsword13-ops said:
JUST. PLAY.

There is nothing to be scared about, just play and you will learn. Fairly quickly I might add.
So basically this.
 

Vinculi

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Jan 15, 2009
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aescuder said:
The fact that hardcore players make "noob" rooms for them to have a little target practice speaks volumes. Why is there so much douchebaggery in online anyway? There's got to be a better way.
Funnily enough I've found that some hardcore and niche games can have really helpful playerbases, I mean, every time someone new joins a game in Killing Floor, asks where the crosshair is and then dies in a corner somewhere I cringe a little, but then we generally help him improve, and I remember playing TF2 with the name "It's My First Day" for the first few hours, and I was surprised how helpful the really good guys can be in that game.

Although admittedly the prospect of playing Demigod online kinda scares me, even though I really like it as a game, the one online match I did play my partner ragequit because i was a noob leaving me to fight the two opponents with a thick AI as backup. Its also the only time I've had the other team be nicer than my own to me in a game I'm new at.

So basically I can understand where you're coming from, but the communities for some games are better than that, its just unfortunate that some aren't.
 

aescuder

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Aug 24, 2010
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J-dog42 said:
Yea I don't know about the whole video watching and FAQ studying thing. I just run at them until they die or I die and then I do it again. I did that on COD: MW2 and BF: BC2 for a long time before I got good. But I still had fun and being a "noob" it makes every success that much more exciting.

neonsword13-ops said:
JUST. PLAY.

There is nothing to be scared about, just play and you will learn. Fairly quickly I might add.
So basically this.
For a game like COD (or other FPS) than I don't need videos or FAQs, although admittedly I did look at some sniping videos just to see if it was worth the trouble (If you were wondering: no, sniping in Blops is dumb). Other games like LoL, MvC3 (or any other fighting game), and armored core needs a ton of prep work that can't simply be "learned" during pwnage time.
 

Nouw

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Mar 18, 2009
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Combat Arms has a low KDR server which nicely counters but brings the problem of being on the edge of the KDR limit for said server.

I think it works, at a cost.
 

LordRoyal

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May 13, 2011
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aescuder said:
For a game like COD (or other FPS) than I don't need videos or FAQs, although admittedly I did look at some sniping videos just to see if it was worth the trouble (If you were wondering: no, sniping in Blops is dumb). Other games like LoL, MvC3 (or any other fighting game), and armored core needs a ton of prep work that can't simply be "learned" during pwnage time.
COD's a pickup and play FPS, it was designed for players to just dive into. Mortal Kombat is a game where you have to remember combos and use strategy etc.

Like you wouldn't dive into something like Starcraft within the first hour.
 

Cogwheel

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Apr 3, 2010
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I'm with you on this one, actually. Most games are scary to play online. FPS, TBS, RTS, fighting, whatever. You will be ground into dust by improbably skilled people. Skilled and frequently rather obnoxious.

Personally, I stick to local multi or nothing, on most games. That, or playing against people I know, who tend to be at a distinctly more human level of skill. Don't know what to suggest past that, really.
 

Vakz

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Nov 22, 2010
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aescuder said:
hours of practice, gameFAQs, youtube videos...
Hours of practice, yes. But what can one ever be good at without practice? Someone who has played a game for ten hours is going to beat someone who's new to the game, and someone who has played the game for fifty hours is going to beat someone who has played for ten hours, and that is all somewhat inevitable, until you reach a point where both have played so long that the exact amount doesn't really matter, but practice still makes perfect.

As for gameFAQs and youtube-videos.. I guess it depends on the game. For RTS-games, then ya, you'll probably want to do the above, or you'll be spending a lot more time figuring out tactics than other players. For FPS, then definitely not. I have never read a gameFAQ in my life for an FPS, and the only times I've watched videos have been some montage that has been linked to me, not really something that teaches you how to play, and I still finish in the top five of most game (I play Battlefield, so 32 players in total). Here, it's pretty much ONLY practice that counts.

Cogwheel said:
I'm with you on this one, actually. Most games are scary to play online. FPS, TBS, RTS, fighting, whatever. You will be ground into dust by improbably skilled people. Skilled and frequently rather obnoxious.
Honestly, this just isn't true. At least not for most games. About FPS-games, ya, there might be one or two really good people online on a server, who might be killing you more than the rest, but they are mostly team-based shooters (at least if we're talking CoD or Battlefield), so work as a team and stop thinking about whether you're the number one player on the server or not.

About RTS-games: Doesn't most RTS-games feature decent matchmaking now days? I haven't really played a lot of RTS lately, besides HoN, LoL and SC2, and I have yet to find a game where I got "grounded into dust", and I'm a fairly bad RTS-player (to the point that local multiplayer is where I get grounded into dust).
 

Fieldy409_v1legacy

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Oct 9, 2008
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im lucky enough to have become obsessed with fps games early in my childhood so ive played the long enough to do alright in halo or cod(when i remind myself to use tactics and stop rushing anyway) But other genres of multiplayer games...like strategy games, i am horrible at and i really cant be bothered learning the skills to play competatively. my best advice? play with friends at your skill level. I used to go to a lot of halo lan partys before i got live come to think of it.
 

Flailing Escapist

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Apr 13, 2011
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I usually play at least a bit of every core multiplayer game until I'm "good" at it. Not the best but if I'm somewhere in the top half of every match I'm satisfied. But I can see what you mean, I stick to the games I've grown fond of and I try to get into newer games (ie: Brink) as soon as I can so not to be the proverbial n00b.
 

Vrach

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Jun 17, 2010
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Yeah I know what you mean OP. This is one thing that largely turned me off TF2, though frankly, I'm not much into the game anyway, so I don't consider it a giant loss.

It's like that with any game you start though. The fact is, you're just a beginner and PvP is always somewhat dynamic and takes some getting used to. When I first walked into Battlefield: Bad Company 2, I was like "what the fuck, where's what, what's going on, who do I shoot, aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhh". And I even played previous Battlefield games online, quite a bit too. Once you get used to it though, it's good.

I agree some matching could be done, but frankly, I'm happy with how Battlefield (or rather, the community) handles it with the servers. Just aim for the designated "noob" servers and you're more or less alright. That said, it's still a bit of a daunting experience and it always will be, no matter what, you will always need some persistence.

A Brink-like system could go a long way though (not that it's an excuse for Brink calling that a singleplayer). Having the option to add bots is awesome anyway, I really don't understand why current games mostly don't allow it. You could get used to the maps (which is a big part of getting used to a multiplayer), get used to how the objectives work, what's expected of you etc. So yeah, some training modes would be good, the tutorial isn't something that should be reserved for singleplayer, not by a long shot.
 

thiosk

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Sep 18, 2008
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Competitive multiplayer sucks the joy out of life. Thats what drew me to L4D: oh, turned out everyone was into the competitive multiplayer part of it. Fuck it.
 

PureChaos

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Aug 16, 2008
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if i play online, i try to play with people i know. done a few random games and more often than not the other people just annoy me
 

TriggerOnly

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Oct 18, 2010
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aescuder said:
AugustFall said:
The best prep to play online is to play online. In every game.
Hence the "hours of practice". Agreed, although still laborious especially for games like Star Craft 2 and League of Legends.
League of legends.... ಠ_ಠ

put down the game that says LoL and pick up the real man's modern Dota..HoN!

(not a fanboy at all (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ┻━━┻ )
 

Turing '88

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Feb 24, 2011
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Wow can't believe the hate the OP's getting here. He's not saying games should be simpler or easier, just that matchmaking should be better so new players, especially ones new to the genre, don't get scared off.

You should absolutely have to spend a lot of time learning how to play properly to compete at the mid/top levels. If you could just jump in and play at lower levels though it would help introduce others to the multiplayer aspect of a game, then they can decide if they want to learn how to be better through youtube videos and the like.

Oh and before people start moaning that I'm a casual who's ruining gaming - I've been playing games a long time and hate the influx of casual games in recent years. I also don't play online so maybe it's already balanced, which is the only argument I can see against the OP's argument.

The point is, why not let the casuals/newbs play against each other. Then those that have the ability can move up to the stiffer competition.

EDIT: Also, lose the arrogance people. You were shit at games once too, and all this elitist attitude does is scare others away from our medium.
 

ntw3001

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Sep 7, 2009
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Well, some games have it better than others. I found Counterstrike's difficulty curve to be unassailable (until you reach a certain skill level, you'll be dead before you see anyone, making it difficult to learn anything), but TF2 doesn't have that problem. At least, it didn't used to; now it's hard to get into for other reasons. But parts of the game's basic design are there to ensure that new players at least get to play the game before they die: the weapon selection and damage falloff mechanic encourage short-range combat, the deathcam ensures that players know how and why they died, the combat is often relatively slow to resolve and the absence of headshots devalues hard-to-learn twitch aiming skills. Only the Sniper doesn't work this way, and he's limited enough in all other areas that his range and potential damage advantage aren't overpowering.

So in TF2 new players will get slaughtered the same as in any other shooter, but it presents more opportunity than most for those players to improve quickly. It's a pretty good model.

Oh yeah, and Magicka is good. The only thing you really need to know to avoid the ire of your team is this: W, A, space to revive. Once you know that, nobody will mind carrying you while you figure things out.
 

aescuder

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Aug 24, 2010
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My friend keeps telling me to play the new street fighter but I'm playing MK9 at the moment and the thought of memorizing and practicing a new set of characters seem exhausting to me. I've already poured a number of hours into honing my skills for MK9, watching videos and all that jazz. It was fun but I'm still getting nowhere in online multiplayer.

Despite the great Yahtzee saying that fighting games struggle for relevance these days, they still seem to be cranking out new games all the time at $60 a pop. It might be that fighting games has gone over to the hardcore niche side and my days are over.
 

WoodenPlanck

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Jun 15, 2011
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I'd like to ask you if this is mostly about performance anxiety, or about your competitive desire to win?

If it is really the anxiety because you don't feel like you are doing well, or don't feel like you know what you are doing, I would suggest finding a RL buddy to play with. At least with that you can go 2v2 in a game like SC2, or have someone who you know how they act in LoL, DotA, or HoN, to give you support and watch each others' backs.

If it is simply about winning, there is only the time-sink of suffering losses to get better for you. That's just how things will play out. I know that more games are getting better about making more fair match-ups; Matchmaking doesn't stop pub-stompers though.