Competitive Gaming

Seems almost intrinsic to modern gaming.

How do you feel about it? Does it irritate and befuddle, do you know anyone whose into it? Do you have a high opinion of it in general, or of those that go professional?

I certainly might have played Street Fighter a little more if I knew I could make money at it.

edited 17th Apr '16 3:05:27 PM by Soble

I enjoy the general aspiration of it (attempting constantly to better oneself) rather than the actual application of it (...pretty much everything else).

Just how many genres have a pronounced competitive scene? We have shooter ( Halo, CoD, Splatoon), MOBA (LoL, DOTA), RTS (Starcraft), Fighting (Smash, SF, MK), RPG (Pokemon), card game (Heartstone), and not much else.

Even though sports games, racing games, and some turn-based strategy games have a multiplayer mode, they are not treated as seriously. Genres like puzzle games and simulation can be cool.

edited 16th Apr '16 8:46:26 PM by flameboy21th

Splatoon doesn't have a competitive scene at all, and you're missing Counter Strike GO, which is definitely the biggest competitive shooter at the moment, and Quake, the graddaddy of them all even if it's currently dead (I'd count it on sheer legacy alone tbh.) And Trackmania sorta has a competitive scene, I mean it's on the ESL roster so its got some competitive activity (more than Splatoon, which doesn't have any support from ESL/CEVO/MLG/etc.)

There's no real way to determine if a given game will get a "scene" or not. Like, you have plenty of games that are purposely DESIGNED and marketed for E-sports that get nowhere (Monday Night Combat and Evolve are good mentions) and then you have games that don't give a fart about competitiveness and end up with a scene regardless (Hearthstone and any non-Melee Smash Bros, since as far as I know Meele was the only one designed with pro play in mind.)

Honestly it comes down to if enough people like a game in question and if your game's ruleset has enough flexibility and tactical opportunity that it catches on with pros.

My main problem with me personally getting into competitive gaming is that it usually makes me feel frustrated and I have both a poor self-image and can't justify spending the amount of time required to get better at it.

With that said, I have nothing against people playing games competitively, though I do think there are some games better suited for competitive play than others.

Monday Night Combat was?

I enjoy the idea of competitive gaming.

My go-to genre is racing but most of those games don't have much a scene sadly. Doesn't help that online for most of them is garbage. I've heard Trackmania is quite the thing and even though it doesn't look quite my style, I'm gonna try the new one coming out. There's also Sim Racing but that requires money and a gaming rig that I don't have.

I'm also into fighters and competitive Fighting games are... interesting. It's different from most other genres since it's not team based and that it's a very self policed thing. People train near daily to hone their skills for the game(s) of their choosing and aim to be the best. I think fighting games are at an all time high, so many good, well-designed games to choose from. The infamous Fighting Game Community (FGC) isn't nearly as bad as people swear they are. Front page commenters, stream monsters, and netplay warriors (basically 90% of the stupidity) are not FGC, people who attend offline meetups are. Of course it's not perfect, but they're chill for the most part.

I'm hoping to get involved in a meetup in the next few weeks, I live walking distance from a weekly local, lucky me. I only went one other time before, most people were playing SFV, others were playing Smash, and only one setup had MKX and Blaz Blue (thank goodness for the latter, my preferences don't quite align with the mainstream though I'm not too keen on Blaz Blue either). Thank goodness the SF 4 days are over because I don't like that game, and I'm not playing a game simply because "everyone else is." Plan on getting SFV since it looks tons more fun.

That said, I know SFV has been a polarizing topic because of it's "rushed launch" and whatnot. I'll keep it brief and say that I think they overlooked some things in the game design phase and should've launched with more. But it is a quality competitive fighter and is worth playing if it meets your preferences.

edited 17th Apr '16 11:16:13 AM by Niitris

x4 Splatoon DOES have a competitive scene, by the way.

edited 19th Apr '16 2:53:05 AM by Malco