Respecting Different Play Styles: Don’t Be a Scrub.

Something that grinds my gears is people’s unacceptability of the fact that there really is more than one way to play a game, and really no “Proper Way” in order to do so.  Loads of people get stuck in one particular style of gaming and expect everyone else to conform to their way as it is the “best” way; If they don’t, I’ve seen a lot of people get mad, break their game discs, demean their fellow gamers, and in some cases threaten to never play the game or with the gamer again.  Rage quit out of games is not very uncommon, and I’ve gotten loads and loads of hate mail based on the way I was playing, even if it was not much different at all from how my opponent was playing, or even if the reason I was playing that way in the first place was because my opponent had a certain strategy I knew how to counter.  This close-minded thinking when it comes to different play styles stumps individuality of one’s own style and attempts to force everyone to be clones of each other.

Often times, more-than-not, people are the way they are because of “Imaginary Rules” they have made up in their head about the game; Things that are “honorable” and “unhonorable”, “cheap” and what is “fair”.  In Gears of War 2, something that is present is called the “Two-Piece”, which is a melee attack into a close-ranged shotgun blast while your opponent is still stunned from the melee, resulting often times in an instant kill people call cheap (because of this outcry, the ability to do this is extremely limited in Gears 3).  The “Sys2” clan leader “Sys2Amaze” of the Gears of War series actually tried to belittle me because I used the Two-Piece as part of my play style when we are close to our opponents and because I melee to down enemies if they are already damaged, call it a “noob” thing to do.  My argument was why walk back and forth blindly shotgunning and hoping to gib the other person when there was a way, regardless of lag, to make sure you win the exchange?  Fact is, made up rules in a world where no rules exist except the ones built into the game by the developers.  It is ridiculous.

Not everyone will play the same way you do, nor do they have to.  A fighting game does not have to be played purely offensively, a shooting game does not require you to always storm towards your enemies base, nor does an Action/Adventure game have to be played with the most stylish approach possible.  It is idiotic to believe that your way is the ONLY correct way to play.  Also, how can someone call someone else a “scrub” or a “noob” if they themselves cannot counter what is constantly beating them?

Somethings however, I can understand crying foul at.  Overpowered things which take no skill to win with, such as the Sawed-Off Shotgun in Gears of War 3, Dark Phoenix in Marvel vs Capcom 3, and Akuma in Super Street Fighter II.  However, there is a difference of cheapness that comes with skill that has to be hard learned, such as Magneto or Sentinel in Marvel vs Capcom 2.  But often enough, people are only complaining about the way someone plays and not these things.

I’ve found many people actually limiting their abilities by not accepting and playing against players of different origins of skill.  When people play Call of Duty, I often do hear complaints about camping; but it shows you where people are most likely to be so you now know to figure out a way around it to kill them as an Offensive player.  You know where to set up C4 or Claymores because those are the areas that Defensive players are most likely to go.  Defensive players in fighting games learn what can and cannot be punished quicker because they are busy defending, they have very good blocking skills and even the greatest offense is not good against something that stops every attack perfectly.  Yet, knowing how to deal with these things and being exposed to them better sets you up to conquer them when you are faced down with them.  A big example of what I am talking about can be described when playing my friend, who I believe has even more potential than me when it comes to fighting games, but her gaming style often makes her hit a wall.

I have a friend whois a capable gamer, able to do advance combos in Fighting Games with her only practice coming primarily from actual matches and not any type of Training Mode.  She favors aggressive tactics, very good at “Mix-Up”, and recognizes the play style and mechanics of the game she’s currently working with, even better than me on occassions.  However, as impressive as these things are, they are also things that hold her back.  She’s able to be so amazing at games without hitting the Training Mode, would become an even bigger beast and reach a whole new plateau if she put in the necessary hours to come up with additional stuff.  Often times we will play a game and I will win starting off because I have practiced thoroughly, once she gets the in-game experience she comes in and often beats me and counters whatever I do with Mix-Ups and frustrating resets.  However, once I learn all of these I am able to anticipate and counter them and from that point it becomes harder for her because she doe not have Training Mode to practice situational or impractical combos that are only possible in strict conditions, and learning how to make an otherwise impossible situation possible.  Also, as far as actually modifying her combos even further and maximizing the damage per combo.  Eventually, she can master a character with her method (Her Juri in SSFIV and the beginnings of a Ibuki beast) but it can take far longer without the boost of training mode.  Something else is because she hates defense with a passion, and hates anyone that is excessively on guard, but it is also her greatest weakness.

She is the very reason I had to change my play style from Offensive to Adaptive.  Before that, I was a Rush Down King in every game that I played; but I had to learn to be Defensive against someone who was an even greater rush down threat than I was.  Learning how to be Defensive and take the onslaught helped me to better be good in pressure situations where I cannot seem to get my offense going, and must counter attack rather than locking down my opponent to make them second-guess their moves.  I would never know how to do that had I not met someone who forced me to change my style in order to beat someone who beat me in an aspect I had not been defeated in yet.  So while she is a Queen of Offense, her defense is often lacking; and she’s an example of a player who has ridiculously high potential but is capped off by her own hate for a particular play style.

Be open minded, be respectful, and keep your eyes open to learn something.  You never know until you try, and in gaming, the person with the most knowledge and the most experience often wins; the person who knows how to deal with everything tightens his weaknesses while those who cannot deal with certain things are in trouble when exploited.  Think about it.