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"R U Game?"

What makes a good gamer? A recent comment by developers Free Radical Design (Timesplitters) in the gaming press about older gamers having better reflexes than younger ones made me pause for thought: "Do they"? I wondered. What makes a good gamer?

Do you need intelligence to play RPG's or just a sense of adventure?
Do you need lightning reflexes to play an FPS or just an itchy trigger finger?
Do you need good peripheral vision and foresight to succeed where others have failed in a platformer?
Above all, I think experience counts. I've been playing games for 20 odd years and can whip my 8 yr old nephew at any game. But then he IS only 8. Still, it's the winning that counts. Maybe that's what makes a good gamer, the determination to succeed, the will to win, the "We shall never be defeated!" attitude that got William Wallace drawn and quartered. (But then he never had the PC version.)

So, my question stands: what, in your view, makes a good gamer?

YEP! it always happens to me I think of something and write it then something similar was made an hour before which gets frustrating!

:)

Thanks Sheepy. But as you know, I'd never knowingly copy another person's work. If it is similar then I apologise for not reading your original topic in more depth, but it just goes to show that great minds think alike...

Actually reading again it is quite different expept from the last paragraph!

I am afraid to say this is a copy of my post yesterday (no offence) if you look at 'Why we love Games' it is all about the will to suceed and win makes us love games and be good gamers.

I don't care as long as you don't win :)

POWER OF THE SHEEP

The main RPG tactics (over a broad cross-section of RPG's) is to build a balanced team with a mix of abilities. The same could be applied to the Pokemon games too on the Gameboy (my latest fad).

Driving games involve a good mixture of tactics depending on which game you are playing. Driver, last level, took me hours to suss, the trick there was getting the right route because the cars came at you thick and fast if you went the wrong way. Ridge Racer mainly involves not hitting the sides of the road, and blocking tactics. Gran Turismo involves the most skill, because you really do have to know how the cars brake and slide to learn to apply the correct power, especially on the licences.

FPS? Well, hard to say, I'm like BJ, going in all guns blazing (Ammo count? What's that then? Click. Oh.....)

What makes a good gamer?
Well, experience, reflexes, intellignece and coordination will get you so far, but what separates a good gamer from the rest is the ability to suss out patterns and flaws in the AI (or your human opponents), and adapt to the "style" of the game. For example, in sports sims, there are always bugs in the AI to exploit. In RTS games the same applies. Fighters and 1st person shooters mostly involve learning how your opponents fight, and adjusting accordingly.
I'm not sure how I can apply this to racers, platformers or adventure/RPG games though....
This only holds true for games that are directly competitive though,

I like most types of game, with the possible exception of RPG's - I had FF7 but never bothered finishing it.

I tend to play flight-sims and adventures on the PC, and also some 'God' games like Sim City and in particular, RollerCoaster Tycoon. Until the PS2, I also played all my FPS games on the PC; Unreal, Half Life, Soldier of Fortune and Deus Ex are some of my favourites. I have just got TimeSplitters with my PS2, and my next FPS is likely to be the PS2 version of Red Faction.

On my PlayStation, I play things such as the Tomb Raider games, GT, MGS, Syphon Filter (which I completed in 5 days, playing evenings only, after work), Dino Crisis, Resident Evil etc., and I also have Time Crisis and Point Blank.

So it's a general mix of thinking games, reflexes and skill, I suppose.

Oh, and I always lose to 'button-bashers' on the Tekken games. :-(

Okay I guess I'll answer the question seriously. I tend to be better at the games that take a little working out. I'm usually pretty good at sports games, because more often than not theres a simply system that once you know, you can win all the time.
I'm pretty crap at FPS games. I like to go in all guns blazing, but I can't hit a cows a$$ with a shovel.
Driving games Im alright at, once I get used to the controls.

I tend to be alright at most games really, and I'm patient enough to give anything a chance. I just think it's a shame that I don't have time to really get into any PC RPG's in the forseeable future.

But I'm best at beating people, again and again at games that they've never played before, and laughing at them.

So what are you good at? Driving? RPG's? Those are my main strengths. I'm come a poor 2nd at Footie, but then they get a bit repetitive for me, not enough special moves and things. Then there's the beat 'em ups, I just haven't got the patience to learn all the moves and get all twisty-thumbed trying to pull off combos.

If you're not me you're second best.

Me. That's what makes a good gamer.

Me, me, me, me, me.


Me.