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Gaming Skilz
Friday, September 12th, 2003 by joelI have a friend with whom I occasionally play
games.? Computer games, board games, card games, it doesn’t matter,
he’ll try anything.? And he generally wins.? Wait, no? okay, yeah, I’ve
only ever matched/beat him in three things, all of which he discounts.?
One of those things is Starcraft.? I played Starcraft non-stop for about
four years, mastering its ins and outs.? He discounts my victories as a
comparative lack of practice on his part.? I kind of resent that.? I
mean, I worked hard to master that game.? For him to deny my skill is an
insult to the time and effort I put into it.
The other game I can crush him in is Marvel vs.
Capcom 2.? One of the little quirks about that game, though, is that,
the more characters you unlock, the more difficult the Arcade battle
mode becomes.? For this reason, my friend racked up the high score early
in the history of us owning the game, and now that we have all the
characters unlocked, I have an impossible time beating his score.? But I
can still crush him one on one in the game.? But if I so much as hint
that I might be better than him at that game, he gives a smug little
grin and says “Oh yeah?? Who has the high score?”? This, likewise, seems
unfair.? I mean the guy wins at almost EVERYthing, can’t he afford to
grant me the few victories I get?
The final thing at which I currently match his
skill at is the board-game ?Frag.’? He’s actually up on me by one
victory now, which I am sure in his mind is a clear margin of
superiority.
I suppose my point in all this is that some people,
like him, are just naturally good at games and gaming, while other
people, like me, have to work hard to become good at games and gaming.?
And at the end of the day, who is the better man, the one who was
instantly good at the game, or the one who worked hard and mastered the
game through sheer determination?? You decide.
