Hello again to the world of TA Gamers.
Here is my Great Random To Do List for 2015...oh wait...no it's not...no one gives a shit about that. Why don't I write a real blog instead...
Last week in one of the comments on my blog, someone brought up that for many of us we may improve our gaming abilities as we get older due to maturity, particularly emotional maturity. I liked the comment quite a bit and it spawned a whole other blog in my head about efficiency and maturity in gaming. To start it off...I think I will re-cap last weekend.
So, last weekend my cousin had a bachelor party in Atlantic City, NJ. Thought that would be a good example of lack of maturity ruling the night. Tons of drinking, gambling, clubs, and other things I won't mention due to the apparent "take the night to the grave with you" speech given by the best man before we all got started. Let's just say my cousin had his t-shirt and 2 different pairs of boxers ripped off of him by some various ladies and has welts on his backside to go with it. I don't think my brother in law, my other cousins, or I had ever laughed so hard as a group before at the thrashing we had paid for him to receive on his bachelor night. Money well spent by our group
. I being the quiet and quirky nerd of this whole group stood back of course most of the night and egged on all the "entertainment" to make sure they took care of the bachelor. Made me feel like the old fuddy duddy of the group (maybe because I was the second oldest next to my brother in law) but also made me realize I am a hell of a lot more mature than all the other guys we were with. Hell, I was the one that they gave the extra key card to my cousins room knowing that I would be the sober one to drag his ass back to sleep it off at 2 AM (which as the accurately predicted, happened almost right around 1:30 AM when his speech became incoherent and his walking became very humorous). Here is the group of cousins and brother in law before the night went really crazy...as always I am the tallest one there...being 6'4" sure does make me stand out in every group.
While it was fun to be with family and to witness things I have never seen in my life, truth be told I would have liked to be back home in my comfort zone with my wife. For most of us on this site, I think this is our typical comfort zone...
Hey, that looks a lot like his gamer pic...how did he do that? Must be magic...or bacon. Magic wrapped in bacon? We all know everything is better if you add bacon to it...
So clearly, back to topic, I had the whole concept of "maturity" on my brain most of this last week and weekend. Maturity in gaming seems to be an interesting topic to say the least (well,
I find it interesting) since gaming itself is looked at as an immature pastime or way to spend ones time. A lot of us are stereotyped to look, act, and heck, even sound a certain way if we are gamers. It isn't just male gamers either, as female gamers are stereotyped just as much, if not even harsher than male gamers to the point where many of them choose to not talk online and remain anonymous so no one finds out their gender so they can avoid verbal abuse that is thrown their way (or harassment).
How many people think of this as a gamer out there?
Or think of girl gamers like this...
When the point is, we are so diverse that you can't put a type or look on us. I am not saying that we are all hunks or attractive here (heck, I know I am not...look at that huge bridge on my nose in my pic...which has been broken playing basketball) but we are also not all trolls, overweight, or incapable of social skills like we are portrayed to be.
THIS is where I think maturity comes in. When you think about it who are the most vocal people in games when you play online? Most of us aren't (unless we are boosting, doesn't count. Talking about playing a ranked match with random people) we tend to be quiet or in many cases even polite. It is the immature kids out there that are shouting obscenities, screaming things that would make an angel cry or the devil blush, and overall act like complete little d-bags.
What's funny when I think about it is most of them aren't always that good. Most great gamers I meet are quiet...until you start talking smack to them. I will give you my favorite story I know of for a gamer that would beat the living crap out of people and never trash talk them about it.
I used to work with a guy named Mike Christopher Bennett at Gamestop (had to use his full name, since because of his initials we always called him McB which I will refer to him as such for now on) McB was a hilarious kid, fun to work with, but when it came to Dance Dance Revolution he was a trash talking dick. Don't get me wrong, McB was GOOD at that game. He went to tournaments and also knew all the best DDR players from around the area by name and initials from their high scores. He could do the songs from memory without the machine in front of him. He would go to arcades, buy people games so he could destroy them in it and then tell them about it. The epitome of a immature gamer in my mind. His favorite place was the bowling alley arcade in Maryland (keep in mind this was back in 2004/2005 when we still had some arcades floating around). One day, McB is in the arcade lighting up the machine and another young guy walks up and watches him. In his typical fashion, McB offers to buy him a game so he can play him (and crush him) and the guy humbly accepts. McB asks him directly "So, you any good at this?" Mystery guy just says "I'm okay at it I guess..." McB's response "Well get ready cause I am about to whip your ass!"
What McB didn't know is this guy was the regional DDR champion, the one who's initials he knew and memorized from all the machines he had played on around Maryland. He soon found out quickly, as this guy stomped McB into the ground so hard and badly that he was stunned into silence. When the guy put in his initials, McB jaw hit the floor and he then knew who he had just faced. The regional champ just looked at him and said "You're pretty good, but you talk too much shit. Next time keep your mouth shut and just play..." and walked away.
I laughed at McB for quite a while over that one. Point is, guy was good, but he didn't have to tell everyone he was good. Didn't even introduce himself to him, just played him and then left. I wish more gamers took this mature attitude. I know the folks I associate with (for the most part at least) are like this and that is why they are on my friends list. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't tolerate all that immature acting like a D-Bag while gaming shit. I always hope that makes me a better gamer as well as when I approach a game, I do it logically and with a strategy rather than shout expletives or trash talk my way to victory (except for the occasional shouting of "HE GONNA GET IT!!!!" Can't resist that one but normally hardly anyone ever hears it).
Think I lost the topic of my blog because I ended up ranting and telling stories, but in the end I think mature gamers are better. Most of the more sensible folk out there I play with know how to talk to another human being properly, take a loss and not let it send them into a titanic rage, or just shoot the breeze with you while you shoot each other in the face. I also find mature gamers are more efficient. I can't boost with folks anymore that just cannot get on board with strategies or efficiency, cause you then have someone blow you up cause they "got bored" while boosting Grand Theft Auto online. Might be funny to them, but sure pisses me off.
I think the other thing is a mature gamer doesn't need to hit a certain age, just needs to not act like a D-bag or a dick while gaming with others. Sure, there are 6 year olds at there that can probably whoop my ass in quite a few games and not have to tell me about it, but I would wager that many cannot complete some titles I have been able to master. Isn't that the whole point to gaming anyways, to find your nitch and what you like? Not everyone (or anyone for that matter) will master everything. For me, I just want to have fun and not suck. Think I am doing okay at that so far \o/
And with that, I will say adieu. Happy achievement hunting to all until next time!