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You know what the "yips" are. It usually occurs in sport - like when a golfer can't draw back the club to begin his swing, or when a dart's player can't let go of the dart to make his throw.
Of course it's all psychological, but the underlying reasons for the problem are hard to pinpoint. The general theory goes that the cause of this bizarre and often heart-braking affliction is that it has its origins in the fear of failure, but often the person suffering from it cannot understand why it is happening.
Former British Open Champion Ian Baker-Finch is a famous case of the yips in golf. A year or so after his greatest ever win (the British Open) his problems began to escalate, and in the end his yips became so bad that he was forced to retire from playing the game altogether.
So what in the name of Solid Snake has this to do with gaming?
Well I was wondering whether anyone has or ever could suffer from an unusual form of gaming yips? I mean just imagine: you pick up the controller and you just can't coordinate the button presses; you attempt to pull off a certain move in a game and you just can't do it - even though you've done it a hundred times before without the slightest problem.
Did you read about the kid in Florida who - because he couldn't pull off a special move on Tekken Tag Tournament - threw his PS2 out of his 3rd floor apartment window fracturing the skull of the postman below? No? Well neither did I because I just made it up.
But the reason why I mention this is that on rare occasions I suffer from what might be called a subtle form of gaming yips especially on beat em ups. Sometimes the controller feels uncomfortable in my hands and I seem really bad at a game I am normally very adept at. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's the yips, but when it happens it disturbs me to the point where I am forced to quit until I regain my marbles. It's a bit like the gaming equivalent of stammering.
Perhaps being a gamer (especially on fast arcade style games) is in many ways a bit like being a sportsman, say a footballer: most days they play out of their skin or at least put in a solid performance, but every now and then, no matter how determined they are, they just can't do anything right - for no apparent reason they are out of sync, they have what is commonly referred to as a nightmare.
So has anyone else ever suffered from an occasional bout of gaming yips - or when it comes to fast action-based games is it only natural to have an off-day every now and then?
Of course it's all psychological, but the underlying reasons for the problem are hard to pinpoint. The general theory goes that the cause of this bizarre and often heart-braking affliction is that it has its origins in the fear of failure, but often the person suffering from it cannot understand why it is happening.
Former British Open Champion Ian Baker-Finch is a famous case of the yips in golf. A year or so after his greatest ever win (the British Open) his problems began to escalate, and in the end his yips became so bad that he was forced to retire from playing the game altogether.
So what in the name of Solid Snake has this to do with gaming?
Well I was wondering whether anyone has or ever could suffer from an unusual form of gaming yips? I mean just imagine: you pick up the controller and you just can't coordinate the button presses; you attempt to pull off a certain move in a game and you just can't do it - even though you've done it a hundred times before without the slightest problem.
Did you read about the kid in Florida who - because he couldn't pull off a special move on Tekken Tag Tournament - threw his PS2 out of his 3rd floor apartment window fracturing the skull of the postman below? No? Well neither did I because I just made it up.
But the reason why I mention this is that on rare occasions I suffer from what might be called a subtle form of gaming yips especially on beat em ups. Sometimes the controller feels uncomfortable in my hands and I seem really bad at a game I am normally very adept at. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's the yips, but when it happens it disturbs me to the point where I am forced to quit until I regain my marbles. It's a bit like the gaming equivalent of stammering.
Perhaps being a gamer (especially on fast arcade style games) is in many ways a bit like being a sportsman, say a footballer: most days they play out of their skin or at least put in a solid performance, but every now and then, no matter how determined they are, they just can't do anything right - for no apparent reason they are out of sync, they have what is commonly referred to as a nightmare.
So has anyone else ever suffered from an occasional bout of gaming yips - or when it comes to fast action-based games is it only natural to have an off-day every now and then?
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I pictured a roaming gang of Chinese Detectives playing Cluedo and then fighting in an alley with cleavers.
Damn.
Damn.
Every time I used to play Street fighter 2 in the arcades, I would suck at it. My timing was all out, and I couldn't pull off any special moves - yet I was actually quite good at the game when I played it on my megadrive.
Yips? Inability to use a joystick, or play standing up? One of those, I guess.
Ever had the opposite of yips? Where everything goes correctly, even though you normally don't even come close?
That happened to me a couple of years ago, on Mario Kart 64. The track was Moo Moo Farm, and I normally take many, many attempts to finish three good laps without hitting anything. Yet I had one attempt at the school féte, not having played the game for several weeks, and everything went perfectly. I got a prize for having the fastest time at the end of the evening, too.
Wetrix induces yips.
You're there for half an hour, dropping each block in the right place, basically everything goes in one corner except water and fire.
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
Bomb appears. Guess where it gets dropped?
Anyone who's played Wetrix will know this feeling ;)
"Must not
Yips? Inability to use a joystick, or play standing up? One of those, I guess.
Ever had the opposite of yips? Where everything goes correctly, even though you normally don't even come close?
That happened to me a couple of years ago, on Mario Kart 64. The track was Moo Moo Farm, and I normally take many, many attempts to finish three good laps without hitting anything. Yet I had one attempt at the school féte, not having played the game for several weeks, and everything went perfectly. I got a prize for having the fastest time at the end of the evening, too.
Wetrix induces yips.
You're there for half an hour, dropping each block in the right place, basically everything goes in one corner except water and fire.
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
"Must not drop bomb in lake"
Bomb appears. Guess where it gets dropped?
Anyone who's played Wetrix will know this feeling ;)
"Must not
You know what the "yips" are. It usually occurs in sport - like when a golfer can't draw back the club to begin his swing, or when a dart's player can't let go of the dart to make his throw.
Of course it's all psychological, but the underlying reasons for the problem are hard to pinpoint. The general theory goes that the cause of this bizarre and often heart-braking affliction is that it has its origins in the fear of failure, but often the person suffering from it cannot understand why it is happening.
Former British Open Champion Ian Baker-Finch is a famous case of the yips in golf. A year or so after his greatest ever win (the British Open) his problems began to escalate, and in the end his yips became so bad that he was forced to retire from playing the game altogether.
So what in the name of Solid Snake has this to do with gaming?
Well I was wondering whether anyone has or ever could suffer from an unusual form of gaming yips? I mean just imagine: you pick up the controller and you just can't coordinate the button presses; you attempt to pull off a certain move in a game and you just can't do it - even though you've done it a hundred times before without the slightest problem.
Did you read about the kid in Florida who - because he couldn't pull off a special move on Tekken Tag Tournament - threw his PS2 out of his 3rd floor apartment window fracturing the skull of the postman below? No? Well neither did I because I just made it up.
But the reason why I mention this is that on rare occasions I suffer from what might be called a subtle form of gaming yips especially on beat em ups. Sometimes the controller feels uncomfortable in my hands and I seem really bad at a game I am normally very adept at. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's the yips, but when it happens it disturbs me to the point where I am forced to quit until I regain my marbles. It's a bit like the gaming equivalent of stammering.
Perhaps being a gamer (especially on fast arcade style games) is in many ways a bit like being a sportsman, say a footballer: most days they play out of their skin or at least put in a solid performance, but every now and then, no matter how determined they are, they just can't do anything right - for no apparent reason they are out of sync, they have what is commonly referred to as a nightmare.
So has anyone else ever suffered from an occasional bout of gaming yips - or when it comes to fast action-based games is it only natural to have an off-day every now and then?
Of course it's all psychological, but the underlying reasons for the problem are hard to pinpoint. The general theory goes that the cause of this bizarre and often heart-braking affliction is that it has its origins in the fear of failure, but often the person suffering from it cannot understand why it is happening.
Former British Open Champion Ian Baker-Finch is a famous case of the yips in golf. A year or so after his greatest ever win (the British Open) his problems began to escalate, and in the end his yips became so bad that he was forced to retire from playing the game altogether.
So what in the name of Solid Snake has this to do with gaming?
Well I was wondering whether anyone has or ever could suffer from an unusual form of gaming yips? I mean just imagine: you pick up the controller and you just can't coordinate the button presses; you attempt to pull off a certain move in a game and you just can't do it - even though you've done it a hundred times before without the slightest problem.
Did you read about the kid in Florida who - because he couldn't pull off a special move on Tekken Tag Tournament - threw his PS2 out of his 3rd floor apartment window fracturing the skull of the postman below? No? Well neither did I because I just made it up.
But the reason why I mention this is that on rare occasions I suffer from what might be called a subtle form of gaming yips especially on beat em ups. Sometimes the controller feels uncomfortable in my hands and I seem really bad at a game I am normally very adept at. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's the yips, but when it happens it disturbs me to the point where I am forced to quit until I regain my marbles. It's a bit like the gaming equivalent of stammering.
Perhaps being a gamer (especially on fast arcade style games) is in many ways a bit like being a sportsman, say a footballer: most days they play out of their skin or at least put in a solid performance, but every now and then, no matter how determined they are, they just can't do anything right - for no apparent reason they are out of sync, they have what is commonly referred to as a nightmare.
So has anyone else ever suffered from an occasional bout of gaming yips - or when it comes to fast action-based games is it only natural to have an off-day every now and then?
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