I explained a fighting game to a programmer friend. It got existential

This started as a conversation with a friend who doesn’t play games.

I tried to explain why I still lose despite thousands of hours in Tekken 8.

The deeper I went, the more I saw it wasn’t just about games. It’s about reaction time, pattern recognition, psychology — and how you hit a wall even when you know what to do.

Would love to hear how others have experienced this in games, coding, or life.