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How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

theguardian.com

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Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#71

Post by shortstuffsushi »

keraf wrote: post #60

I enjoy more slower paced FPS' these days that don't require to maintain skill. Fini the Call of Duty and Battlefield days, these licenses have been milked long enough anyways. Even the newer licenses like PUBG or Overwatch require a regular time commitment to be any good at it (which make them enjoyable). I find myself having a great time on Rising Storm 2: Vietnam[0], Insurgency: Sandstorm[1] or Hell Let Loose[2].…

For what it's worth, I actually found PUBG fairly enjoyable, given I only played two games. The first I dropped with a group who seemed to know what they were doing, but I spent about half the game in the menus trying to figure out some settings to switch.

The second I got dropped solo and ... won the game. That felt a bit silly, I'm not that good. I haven't been back since though.

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#72

Post by shortstuffsushi »

watashiato wrote: post #57
tstrimple wrote: post #19

FPS games require skills along two primary axis. One is your physical skill. Can you click on heads very quickly and accurately? This skill has an age related peak. If you're good at this alone, you can be successful playing these games. Another axis is "game sense" which is a combination of map, player and meta knowledge. What are the most common routes taken by the enemy on this map? If we secure this site, what ar…

I was about to write up this exact post, almost verbatim. Excellent game sense can seem like you're able to predict the future. Someone who thinks they're "bad at FPS games" usually runs into a lack of game sense, but mistakenly blames it on bad reflexes.

Which seems easy to confuse. If you don't have good game sense, you'll get into situations where you feel like you need twitch sense, so you'll want to think that's your failing.

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#73

Post by subjectsigma »

kipchak wrote: post #67
subjectsigma wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am 100% resolute in my opinion that turning off comms in online games and treating your teammates as if they were really advanced bots improves every game. If I want to play a game with someone I will call my friends on Discord and ask if they want to play. nearly every game I play has a workable ping system so if I am playing with random players, that's how I communicate. Otherwise I don't want or need the validat…

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but knowing that people are yelling at me but I just cant hear them feels weird.

The only game I play with any expectation of improving is League of Legends. In that community there's the concept of "mental," e.g. your ability to stay calm and think. Players will talk about "improving my mental" like they talk about practicing combos or learning more about game sense. As if they were Buddhist monks and not teenagers playing video games. I think this is because League is a uniquely frustrating game for the same reasons it can be uniquely rewarding: teamwork matters a lot. It is easy to get frustrated. It is very obvious that people who don't get frustrated easily perform better.

If you're upset at the idea of people yelling at you then you just have weak mental and need to improve. Alternatively, you just might not enjoy that kind of ultra-competitive game and should find another game to play. Either one is absolutely fine.

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#75

Post by tstrimple »

watashiato wrote: post #57
tstrimple wrote: post #19

FPS games require skills along two primary axis. One is your physical skill. Can you click on heads very quickly and accurately? This skill has an age related peak. If you're good at this alone, you can be successful playing these games. Another axis is "game sense" which is a combination of map, player and meta knowledge. What are the most common routes taken by the enemy on this map? If we secure this site, what ar…

I was about to write up this exact post, almost verbatim. Excellent game sense can seem like you're able to predict the future. Someone who thinks they're "bad at FPS games" usually runs into a lack of game sense, but mistakenly blames it on bad reflexes.

I mean it can be both. Some people really struggle with that level of hand eye coordination. That's one of the reasons I really appreciated Overwatch. It gave a lot more options to play well that didn't require the ability to click on heads at all. This doesn't just help uncoordinated or less experiences players, but also players with disabilities of various sorts. The character Mercy for instance has a beam which heals or boosts damage but it locks onto a player so tight aim is rarely ever a concern and game sense becomes almost everything.

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#76

Post by josefresco »

kipchak wrote: post #42
josefresco wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your mouse sensitivity should be very low. > Use your elbow and shoulder only for aiming. What in the WHAT?!? As a fellow 40+ year old gamer, who's played more Q3A and UT4 AND Counter-Strike than I'd care to admit, I've never heard or scene this strategy. You must be very entertaining to watch with all the ...flailing about! UPDATE: I watched some YT videos of competition and while there's no "flailing" there's def…

You can see something somewhat similar here, though I don't think many people use high acceleration anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEamcaYyoa0

In the handful of CS:GO/Apex competition videos I watched, none featured such extreme arm movements. I also asked my hardcore gaming teen nephew if he "arm aims" and he was not familiar at all. His exact reply was "you mean aim with your whole arm lol?"

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#77

Post by Xeoncross »

subjectsigma wrote: post #73
kipchak wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but knowing that people are yelling at me but I just cant hear them feels weird.

The only game I play with any expectation of improving is League of Legends. In that community there's the concept of "mental," e.g. your ability to stay calm and think. Players will talk about "improving my mental" like they talk about practicing combos or learning more about game sense. As if they were Buddhist monks and not teenagers playing video games. I think this is because League is a uniquely frustrating gam…

I'm sure the kids and the military thinks yelling at people improves outcomes, but I'm pretty sure we all learn that actually doesn't help anything.

I've watched competitive games and the teammates are in no way distracting and yelling at their teams. They are doing their most to work cooperatively and even minimize distractions by only speaking up when it contributes.

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#78

Post by kipchak »

subjectsigma wrote: post #73
kipchak wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but knowing that people are yelling at me but I just cant hear them feels weird.

The only game I play with any expectation of improving is League of Legends. In that community there's the concept of "mental," e.g. your ability to stay calm and think. Players will talk about "improving my mental" like they talk about practicing combos or learning more about game sense. As if they were Buddhist monks and not teenagers playing video games. I think this is because League is a uniquely frustrating gam…

I definitely get the tilting aspect for League, I found it generally un-fun to play competitively without the right team. ARAMs however were generally more enjoyable for me as while people are still playing to win there's usually a more reasonable set of expectations. I suppose it does make the highs higher, but spending 30 minutes in a game with frustrated people isn't a very good time. Maybe that's part of the reason some people will /ff so early.

For me at least it stops being fun if people are legitimately upset about what's happening versus people enjoying playing the game together. In general esports seems to have really turned this dial for games in general towards competitive, with a shift in focus from moment to moment gameplay being fun to climbing ELO and completing battlepass tiers.

For what it's worth if this sounds like scrub salt I was GM in Overwatch for the first few seasons (back then people actually talked too) so I get the appeal, but long term it just feels like a second job after a while.

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#79

Post by GloriousKoji »

bovermyer wrote: post #27
Xeoncross wrote: post #14

All I want to know is where are the servers with the adults on them? I have enjoyed the more realistic FPS, but the kids running around everywhere just cussing at everyone or using aimbots kind of kills the fun.

This is why I don't play Call of Duty or other similar games. Overwatch and its successor/patch Overwatch 2 have had less toxicity compared to other FPSes I've played. And I've almost never encountered a cheater.

My experience with Overwatch (1) is completely the opposite. In competitive queue there's blatant cheating about 1/20 games. Then there's the smurf problem where it might as well be considered cheating for about 1/10 games. Of course I report them and I see that thank you message about reporting but it feels like it hasn't done anything to curb reduce the numbers.

Toxicity is the the inverse where 1/10 games feels like it's a match filled with rational minimally behaved adults.

I pretty much stopped playing when Overwatch 2 came out.

Re: How to play FPS games if you’re over 30

#80

Post by dickholesalad »

subjectsigma wrote: post #32
Xeoncross wrote: post #14

All I want to know is where are the servers with the adults on them? I have enjoyed the more realistic FPS, but the kids running around everywhere just cussing at everyone or using aimbots kind of kills the fun.

I am 100% resolute in my opinion that turning off comms in online games and treating your teammates as if they were really advanced bots improves every game. If I want to play a game with someone I will call my friends on Discord and ask if they want to play. nearly every game I play has a workable ping system so if I am playing with random players, that's how I communicate. Otherwise I don't want or need the validat…

I do this too and am 32. The only way I like to play games is auto muting everyone and pinging everything. I often used to have people get in chat just to yell or curse you out to vent frustration. Like, I couldn’t even mute these guys, almost always males, fast enough for them to not get in a quick little shitty jab if we were losing. No thanks. We may have run past each other and respectfully pinged some badguys. It would be different if people had anything interesting to say outside of they typical hey what’s up talk.
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