RF Generation Message Board

Gaming => Video Game Generation => Topic started by: phoenix1967 on April 10, 2006, 12:57:10 PM



Title: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: phoenix1967 on April 10, 2006, 12:57:10 PM
It seems to me that if you play different types of games, that your skills in other types are at risk of declining at the expense of the type you are currently playing.

For example, if you're skilled at sports games and you start playing a FPS or a fighting game, you're likely to get schooled by the competition. Then, if you stick with it, your skills at the FPS or fighting game may increase, but if you try to go back to the sports game, you're likely to get schooled at that genre because you were away from it for awhile.

Anyone else experience this?



Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: den68 on April 10, 2006, 01:06:34 PM
you're still pissed that I kicked your ass in Halo last month because you were spending all your time playing a sissy game like Ico while I was playing a manly game, Far Cry.

actually I don't think I play any game genre's enough to notice a skill drop of when I switch.

I do see it when I switch consoles. If I'm playing Xbox  for a long time and switch to PS2 there is an adjustment period that my brain needs to tune in to a different controller.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: Tynstar on April 10, 2006, 01:21:27 PM
Other then NHLPA 93 for the Genesis and Ms Pac Man coin op I suck at all games so I don't notice.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: The Metamorphosing Leon on April 10, 2006, 01:36:47 PM
It usually takes me a few minutes to adjust before I start pwning people. I remember playing multiplayer Vigilante 8 on N64 at a friends house and destroying all comers, a kid complained about how someone who has the game shouldn't be allowed to play people who don't, but I'd never played it before. Same thing at both Halo parties I've gone too, I suck at first and then I pwn and it gets boring and I hate X-Box's so I stop playing.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: Hydrobond on April 10, 2006, 03:12:47 PM
I've experienced this phenomenon even within the same game.  While I was playing both a priest and a warrior in WoW I would screw up a lot when I switched characters, because I was used to the playing style of the other character.  I caught myself trying to heal while I was playing the warrior quite frequently, which is something they cannot do.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: Speedy_NES on April 10, 2006, 03:32:53 PM
For me, it may take a few minutes to get back into a game, but I don't seem to lose my skills in the long-run.  Similar to what Leon said, when I play a game for the first time against others who have played it many times before, it only takes a short amount of time before I start kicking their asses ;)  It's probably like that because I've played tons of games when I was younger, always in a very competitive manner, so my gaming skills have become habits hardwired to my reflexes ;)  Afterall, most games nowadays have one thing or another in common with one or more previous games...so it's all a matter of slight adjustments ;)


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: Izret101 on April 10, 2006, 03:35:04 PM
Yes and no.
I don't loose skill at specific genres but do for specific games or characters.

For example i haven't played Halo 2 for more than 1 or 2 matches in a LONG time. I am MUCH worse than i use to be. I assumed this would happen but not as bad as it has.

Example 2
I use to play with all the characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee for instance. I was decent with most of them and good with a few. I pretty much play exclusively with Dr. Mario now. When i play with the otheer characters i am not nearly as good with most of them as i once was. But i am much better with Dr. Mario than i ever was before.

Pretty much any game i haven't played in a long time i get "rusty" at. I just have to remember the button combo/timing usually.
Games with lots of buttons are the ones that i forget the easiest though.

If i don't play Jade Empire soon i won't be surprised if i forget which buttons do what. I am sure i don't remember what buttons will do what when i go try and start up Morrowind again.

This reminds me,
I really need to get use to controlling GoldenEye again. I controlled that horribly last time i played. Got to use to "modern" controls with 2 thumbsticks


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: Cham Zord on April 10, 2006, 04:13:16 PM
For me, it's not so much the genre of the game, but the length between times of playing it. I notice this especially in games such as Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ikaruga; put them down for a few months and, by the time you go back to play them, you've rusted up so much that you struggle through Level 1.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: The Metamorphosing Leon on April 10, 2006, 05:29:38 PM
I've got a problem with God of War right now because I stopped playing it right before the last boss battle. And it's on Spartan mode so I'm stuck.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: Shimra on April 11, 2006, 07:27:29 PM
I never had any problems just picking up and playing a game and being good at it. The only games I am bad at are the realistic sports games, like Madden. I suck at those types of games so I hate the genre. It's wierd though that I enjoy the Mario sports games(but that's another story).

And Leon, did you have any glitches in the final battle in God of War? When I fought the final boss the game kept freezing in the button mashing sequence on his second form.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: atari_wizard on April 28, 2006, 04:49:54 AM
I really suck at RPG's & driving games. I really enjoy Sega Rally on the Saturn, but I totally suck at it. I'm so-so at sports games & fairly good at many old atari 2600 games. I agree with Izret, the more I play a game with a specific character the more I rock. I totally rock in Pitfall II, but if I go without playing for a few months.....it's like i've never played it before. lol.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: captain_nintendo on April 28, 2006, 05:08:54 AM
Noticed a huge drop in my Guitar Hero skill when I was playing Elder Scrolls.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: The Metamorphosing Leon on April 28, 2006, 05:45:39 AM
Quote
I never had any problems just picking up and playing a game and being good at it. The only games I am bad at are the realistic sports games, like Madden. I suck at those types of games so I hate the genre. It's wierd though that I enjoy the Mario sports games(but that's another story).

And Leon, did you have any glitches in the final battle in God of War? When I fought the final boss the game kept freezing in the button mashing sequence on his second form.


No glitches there, I had one earlier though where it kept freezing on a load point and I had to go back to an earlier save, which sucked.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: chrisbid on April 28, 2006, 09:05:54 AM
i think most games based on patterns are easy to remember for the most part, though there may be some key situations where timing can be lost if you do not play.  but those situations are pretty rare in modern gaming, and in multiplayer games, the strategy tends to be more important than critical pattern recognition.


Title: Re: Gaming skill atrophy...a problem?
Post by: Izret101 on April 28, 2006, 10:43:34 AM
Strategy games can be the easiest games to pick up a pattern on.

Games that have "random" factors are the ones that you get screwed on.
Because the only way to make it harder is to makes the odds for you worse and the "harder" opponent better.