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Why do I suck at video games?

I suck at games as well. Im scared that because I am enjoying P4G on my Vita so much that im scared ill get stuck because I am bad and won't be able to continue.
 

Pallad1um

Member
I am in a similar situation to the OP, and I really realize that is mostly my fault, at least regarding fighting games. For example, in Super Street Fighter IV, I have a ridiculous win percentage of 10%. One of the problems is that I don't focus enough on one character, making it difficult to master it. The characters I play more, have better percentages, of course. But I get bored of playing always the same character (as much of playing against the same ones).
 
Despite the fact that I pour hundreds and hundreds of hours into games, I never get any better. Sure, I can beat most games fine, but as soon as I play multiplayer I realize how shit I am. This happens in countless games, Mario Strikes Charged, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Battlefield, Team Fortress 2, basically any game with multiplayer.

Why do I suck so much?

Same here. It's funny because even if I play a game for hours and hours people crush me in multiplayer most of the time. But I kinda expect that now. The really horrible part is that people often beat me even if they never played the game before.
Happened a few months ago with my flatmate and Halo 4. He never played Halo before in his life, I played all of them, even though I just dabble in multiplayer every once in a while. I am a console gamer, he is a former Counterstrike fanatic and almost never held a controller. 10 matches in splitscreen and he had me. That is really depressing ...
 
Im going to assume you are fairly young and reaction time isnt an issue.


Online multiplayer is not the same game as single player. With single player you are playing within a certain framwork of rules, rules that never change even when you find exploits or glitches. Thats why you can play a wide variety of single player games and still beat them fairly easily even on their hardest setting.


Multiplayer is never the same thing. While you are operating umder the same rules of the game, you are playing to defeat someone who is applying them against you in a different more dynamic way than how you are used to. Its not about just learning a games logic anymore, you also have use that logic creatively and adapt on the fly. To do this you need a much deeper knowledge of the game and how it works to understand what you can and cant do. Not only that, but multiplayer requires a level of immersion that for many is uncomfortable. Only in a truly flow state can you be good at multiplayer and you will only get that from hours of practise in that particular game.


Its a significant time investment and something that puts a player with a large taste in games at a significant disadvantage. Our time is finite and for many its more fun to get really good at one game than to to play a bunch at the same time. These are the people you are competing against. I used to consider myself above average in fighting games but the fact of the matter im just not going to be able to compete with the 13 year old who has logged 20 hours of play in a new fighter in its first week. The fact I can beat some people shows I have good fudamentals, but I flat refuse to invest so much time in a singular game. It isnt that serious.


If you really want to get good OP, pick two or three games and just play them. Continously. For at least 2 months. At first you will get destroyed, but over time, it will just click and you will be able to compete. The good thing is, once you get to that level that you understand multi in a particular franchise, it usually holds you in good steaf for future installments. Sometimes you will pick up competing games and once again you will feel the advantage of that practise, because of the similar metagame. That effect is most pronounced in fighters, racers, sports games and shooters.


But if you feel that is too big a time investment, just acceot that you may never be good playing multiplayer. Its no big deal. I personally would rather play 20 new games a year than play 8 and be really good at them. Different strokes for different folks.
 
I don't know, some people are just innately good at games, I think. I used to be completely terrible when I was younger and I've gotten better as a result of challenging myself to play more difficult games and years of practice, but when I was like.. 5 or 6, my cousin who was my age was beating Sonic 2,3, and Knuckles etc. and those are games that even now I can't really beat without help. I can get close, but some of those final levels are brutal. Or my husband now--he's better than me at most games, but it's not like he has the time to sit and play all day (he's a doctor). I feel like some people are just born with better.. I dunno, reaction time and hand-eye coordination, I guess.
 
Hard to say what is holding you back. Like with PC FPS when I realised that I played with mouse sensitivity set way too high because I was too lazy to move the mouse enough or something it helped. And with Dota 2 when I realised that I couldn't be bothered to learn all things you need to know to play and uninstalled it that helped a lot.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
there's very little genetic advantage for anybody when it comes to games, it's 90% just the time you put in. and whether you play to win or to get better, and it's not always the same thing.
 

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
What are your reaction times like?
Test

:D I average between 45 and 25 :lol

As for why you suck at games, the first step to getting better is to try different things, let it fail a few times to test it, then try the next thing. If something works don't stop there just keep it as a reference of what to go back to if other things you try doesn't work out.

Never giving up and constantly trying new things and focusing are all key things to be good at a lot of games.
 
I find the sub genre to be critical to me. I love fps games, but almost strictly class based ones. If not classes, something I can justify as such (vehicular combat, etc). When it comes to your run of the mill shooters that rely more on twitch combat than strategy (cod comes to mind) I notice I fall behind because everyone is on the same page. I like being able to fill a gap that no one thinks of, and using that as a boost to my scores.
 

PK Gaming

Member
The only way to get better is to practice. Even if you're not talented or you suck at everything, continually practising is the only way to improve. Supplementing that practice by reading guides is also recommended.

Believe me when I say that you can improve. All it takes is serious dedication.
 

Booshka

Member
Map awareness, anticipation, accuracy>>> reaction times, take it from someone who is really good at fps's and has average reaction times.

This, I was getting like 250 ms most of the time on that site, but my smart game sense and anticipation, as well as taking quality shots is more important than just bleeding fast reaction times.
 
Just keep playing multiplayer... I've seen a few people who get sad they aren't best at multiplayer and get upset. They are used to single player where the games are designed to make you feel like you're always #1. Suddenly they have to work their way up from the bottom and it frustrates them and they don't keep going at it.


#1 step: Stop caring about score and winning. Try and have fun with what you do. Playing a shooter online, find the person who's killing you the most and make your SINGULAR goal to kill him. Not every life... just once. After you've accomplished that goal, move on to someone else. Focusing on a single goal lets you focus on that for improvement.

#2: Find one thing you like about multiplayer, and focus on that for improvement. It's tempting in a game like Team Fortress 2 to when you lose to switch classes. Find 1 class and stick to it.

#3: Support classes are the best for people who aren't good. Take the pressure of "having to have a good kill score" away completely by playing a class that doesn't primarily attack. Go medic. Go engineer.
 
I just quit Dota 2 after 1300+ hours because I just wasnt getting any better and that's not something I'm used too. You will always hit a skill ceiling in any game but I didnt think it would be so low for me with Dota 2. I didnt start playing CS until my late 20's and by my early 30's I was very dominant in the game. I'm probably just too old to compete anymore. Skills declining, usefulness fading.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
I just quit Dota 2 after 1300+ hours because I just wasnt getting any better and that's not something I'm used too. You will always hit a skill ceiling in any game but I didnt think it would be so low for me with Dota 2. I didnt start playing CS until my late 20's and by my early 30's I was very dominant in the game. I'm probably just too old to compete anymore. Skills declining, usefulness fading.

Dawww
 

jblank83

Member
Despite the fact that I pour hundreds and hundreds of hours into games, I never get any better. Sure, I can beat most games fine, but as soon as I play multiplayer I realize how shit I am. This happens in countless games, Mario Strikes Charged, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Battlefield, Team Fortress 2, basically any game with multiplayer.

Why do I suck so much?

Doing the same thing over and over won't make you better. It'll just make you more efficient at doing what you're already doing. And if what you're doing is making you lose, well... So switch up your mouse sensitivity settings, change your controller settings, change the way you hold the controller, try different tactics, play different games.

Play lots of different games, also. Play platformers. Play shooters. Play puzzle games.

And don't let your K:D or W:L ratio upset you. Games are for fun. Have you seen the massive d-bags who play games for money? You don't want to be like them.
 

Dead Man

Member
If you are good at SP and not MP, it just means you either have a life, or enjoy a variety of game types at once. Those that are good at MP tend to be pretty focussed on a single game or series for decent periods of time.
 

Rayis

Member
OP is exactly like me, I'm horrible at most games, whereas all my friends get good, I never seem to improve, however, I've noticed that I'm better than them at slow strategy games than at games that take fast reaction times, I suck at shooters and fighting games so much it ain't even funny.
 

elektrixx

Banned
It's actually a stealth compliment. The richer you are, the more games you have. Your abilities are spread across many titles.

If you're poor you only have a couple of games. You get great at those. Also you shit your pants when you can't trade in your games.
 

kick51

Banned
Read up about how to get better at the game online. There are vids and guides for everything nowadays. Start implementing that stuff.

and never call anything "cheap" like you mean it
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Maybe you don't dedicate yourself enough to a single game before giving up and making the excuse that you suck when you could improve if you spent enough time with it?

Ehh that's partially true.

But you have to find a portion of the game to get better at first. This whole experience and being "good" isn't all what its cracked up to be.

When I was young I went to the arcade. I sucked (still a scrub today) but I can pull of combos and juggles now. You focus on doing a set of moves: rather its movement, button pushing, or hell just getting away from other person. Focus on little parts. Don't just jump in there and press buttons. Like in Tekken, you have to learn first how to block all attacks, move in a direction at a certain time, and you got to know how to connect/pull off moves. It takes time. But you have to do some sort of training. Learn moves when the characters are moving, when they are attacking, and so forth.

I see so many people walk forward in a game with no defense. You can easily punish those mistakes. If they throw a random move out.. I know from practice that I can hit them again. Just so keep practicing and don't let your losses get the best of you. If you watch some these pro's all you're seeing is years worth of experience. You have to learn the basics first then develop your own style.

Which is why in games like Marvel you can pull off the same combos Fchamp or Justin Wong are pulling off. But you can't copy their style, that's on you. And even those guys get beaten. Justin Wong seems to lose and his Marvel 2 win record is amazing. I never was interested in the FGC because where I lived I grew up with arcades, rather than players. So its all thanks to the internet and streams I know this stuff. Seems harsh how some of those losses look.
 
I love stealth and fighting games. But I suck so hard at them it's painful.
Me too. :( Except I've gotten better at stealth games over the past year. Was surprised I beat The Last Of Us on hard; nearly gave up a few times. I don't enjoy repetition, that's why I can never get better at fighting games. But they are so fun to play.
 
You have to devote time specifically into multiplayer. Once you get good at say one FPS, or fighting game, there are things that carry over and the barrier is a bit easier to get through per game. So just find a game you think is awesome and stick to the multiplayer. I was awful at CoD4 when I started, but I invested time, losing, losing, losing, then I got better. You need to play the game with the mindset that win or lose you'll have fun, and eventually you'll get better. Play and learn. Watch what other players do and figure out how to counter it, develop strategies.

Something a lot of people have trouble with is that ITS OK TO LOSE. Nobody is the best right out of the gate. You need to invest time to get better and losing is just time spent developing your skills.
 

GamerJM

Banned
I tend to suffer from the same problem most of the time. I'm pretty sure it's just a combination of not putting enough time into one single game and not being particularly gifted or good from the get-go at anything other than rhythm games.

The only games I can say that I think I've put a lot of time into are Melee and most of the Pokemon games. Melee I'm still not that great at, even from a non-competitive perspective. The Pokemon games I think I'm good at in that I can figure out how to pretty much demolish the single player content with ease, but I don't keep up with competitive Pokemon very much since it's not that interesting to me so I'd get destroyed in anything like that.
 

GolazoDan

Member
I'm kinda the same. I never got into Call of Duty multiplayer for this reason, people play it all the time and learn the tricks, where to hang out and that, meanwhile I'm running around like a headless chicken getting mauled. However, that became very fun when I partied up with my friends who were just as bad as me. I became less self-conscious about my own performance and it just became silly fun. Plus the "good" way in those games, and many multiplayer games, doesn't seem very fun to me. This is difficult for me because I love numbers flying all over the place, I love stat screens, so sometime's it's difficult to disregard a shitty K/D ratio, but that's probably the key to having a more enjoyable experience.

Online fighting games suck though. I can whoop the AI because I kinda learn what they're all about, online's a whole different story. I don't even think if I practiced a lot I'd be able to catch up with some of those cats.

I am good at FIFA though, mostly because I've been playing football video games since I was like 10 and some of that stuff becomes second nature.
 

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
I'm the same even when it comes to SP, I often struggle, have done all my life, trying to get through 'The last of us' now and it's just frustrating tbh as it's such a good game but when your dying all the time it breaks the immersion quite a bit :-(
 

jf DOOM

Member
It's all about practice. The more you play the better you'll get ultimately. Also pick one multiplayer game and stick with it. You may be spreading yourself too thin.
 

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
I know that, it's just that it seems everyone is better than me. I was just playing Bad Company 2 and I got 16 deaths and 1 kill.

That isn't a great measure of skill in a Battlefield game. Go for the objectives and get the kills as they situation calls for it. Focus on the objectives and you'll find yourself topping the scoreboard soon enough. Spot enemies. Use your kit abilities (Heal, give ammo, repair vehicles, etc, etc).

It sounds like you're playing too many games at once to really focus on any one of them. Almost everyone I know who is good at DOTA2 for instance seems to play that game almost exclusively. Same goes for fighting games. These kind of people always seem to play a very small amount of games at one time.
 

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
Everyone is teaming up on you.

Before every match we're all telling each other "kill Crayons."

I can vouch for this. It's true

In seriousness, a lot of times when I'm sucking it's because I'm trying to do too much. You might do better by keeping your strategy, weapons, etc simple and safe to help get your footing
 

noal

Banned
I think you are asking the wrong question.

Surely we play video games for the enjoyment?

Are you enjoying playing your current games?

I Don't have much to compare myself to seeing as I have a Wii U but I was in the top 1000 for Rayman Legends before I dropped off and to be honest I enjoyed the challenge of trying to climb higher.

If a game made me feel inferior on multi player so much that I started to not enjoy it then I would just stick to the single player campaign.

Games= FUN. If it stops being enjoyable then just play by yourself until you feel ready to try again.
 
I suck at them too. If I'm playing a game more for the story (like Last of Us or Bioshock Infinite) I'll just play on easy. Being really challenging doesn't make a game any more fun for me.
 

dab0ne

Member
There is some lag you have to consider as well as the fact that some people only play one specific game and nothing else. The Gears of War community is like that. If you hopped on Judgment right now you would probably get destroyed just because it's all those guys/gals do.
 
I love playing video games, but if you're talking about being competitive, then you need to practice a lot. Fighting games are good example since people practice more than 8 hours to get better and ready for tournaments. You have to commit yourself into getting better despite getting more losses than wins. You have to understand why you lost, and how can you learn from it.
 
Despite the fact that I pour hundreds and hundreds of hours into games, I never get any better. Sure, I can beat most games fine, but as soon as I play multiplayer I realize how shit I am. This happens in countless games, Mario Strikes Charged, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Battlefield, Team Fortress 2, basically any game with multiplayer.

Why do I suck so much?

It could be what you are playing with, how you play, and maybe you just need someone to teach you.
 

Ranger X

Member
Multiplayer modes is an extremely bad way of checking if you're good at a game.
This is simply because with the internet nowadays, you can always play against someone better than you. Its perfectly normal to lose in that case.
 

ptuck874

Member
dude dont even worry about it, as long as you are having fun, that is the main thing, I surely suck at team fortress 2 , but still love messing around with it :)
 

Booshka

Member
I suck at them too. If I'm playing a game more for the story (like Last of Us or Bioshock Infinite) I'll just play on easy. Being really challenging doesn't make a game any more fun for me.

The combat cycles and resource management in Last of Us really adds to the overall experience and tension of the game. It's unfortunate that you are just passing through on your way to exposition. The 'game' part of video games shouldn't be marginalized by dialing back the difficulty if the combat and mechanics are rewarding and balanced on higher difficulties.

There are direct effects to your experience and investment in a game when it is stupid easy. There are plenty of games that benefit from easy difficulty, but you really shouldn't be so quick to put it on easy to experience the story, because the actual game you are experiencing in return is very shallow.
 

goldenpp72

Member
Being good at a single player game is entirely different than being good in a multi player one. They cross in some ways, but you need to dedicate a lot of man hours to learn all the tricks and nuances other people also spent hours learning.

I mean, i'm good at Halo, but I only play them moderately, if I go online I can hold my own but not really win all the time because I only play for maybe a few hours ever, where others put in hundreds of hours. I am however also naturally good at video games for some reason, but it doesn't mean I can go beat down people who put in dozens of hours still.
 
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