Patience, Competition, and Me.

Lead Salad got me thinking about something, something that's been halfway on my mind for what seems like a long time.

Competition has become a huge part of the gaming culture. Although this doesn't really constitute any huge revelation for any of us as experienced players, it deserves some thought.  When an activity that could be considered intrinsically "fun" (i.e. Videogames) becomes a competition, often times the level of "fun" we end up having depends strongly on what the outcome of the competition was.  Example: I may enjoy playing this specific game, but if I don't win, I don't enjoy it.  Some out there may argue that the experience itself is still fun, but if one consistently loses, I refuse to believe that the experience could hold the same degree of "fun."

(For the record, I recognize a great deal of this is subjective, so please bear with me and apply as appropriate to your own lives/experiences.)

It's almost impossible to avoid a competitive mindset though.  The cards are stacked against us in this manner.  It's a very common gameplay element now to have a competitive multiplayer, so common in fact that it's sometimes surprising that the designers omitted one intentionally.  Outside of that, we even find competition within the gaming systems interfaces, using achievement points and trophies to give us feedback on our progress, and a relative measure of how we "rank" amongst others who are undergoing similar tasks.  I'm not trying to imply that achievements and trophies are one dimensional and can't do more than compare us, but those comparison tools are part of the interface of the operating systems, so it's almost impossible to argue that a little bit of friendly competition isn't woven into their design.

I don't believe, however, that the competition we currently see in videogames is an unnatural progression.  In almost any hobby/activity, we have backseat drivers who look on condescendingly almost as to say, "gimme a turn, I can do better", if they don't just go and say it outright.   This principle may even just be built into our humanity.  Anyone ever have someone tell them better directions to go somewhere, even though you already know a perfectly adequate route?  Or have someone criticize a popular sports teams decision? Or just take the grilling tool straight out of your hand to do a better job?

In my personal opinion, a huge issue that magnifies this common principle is a lack of patience.  We're such a busy culture/world, having patience to let things play out and see the result is something that we lack overall, and it's got to be infecting our gaming as well.  We get frustrated at delayed titles, canceled DLC, slow load times, someone sitting next to us on the couch "playing it wrong."

Now about Halo: Reach (HA HA! You knew it was coming...)

I know Halo can be a bit of a hot button out there, but I'm using it as an example because it's the most current example we're all familiar with.  Reach's multiplayer has gamers across the world torn between loving it and hating it. Bungie has quite a task set before them - they not only need to meet expectations of a revamped multiplayer and gameplay overall, but they also need to not ignore the hardcore Halo fanbase that's currently in motion.   Bungie set aside, I think a little bit of patience when undergoing a new multiplayer experience goes a long way.

My personal experience with Reach has been interesting.  I was frustrated at first.  My experience in other Halo games wasn't really helping me out here.  Things were way too different for me to play in my same traditional Halo style.  After I was able to nail down a control scheme I liked, and experienced some of the loadouts that I responded well too, I was finding a great deal of success.  It was shortly after this happened, that I realized I wasn't the only one who was finding what worked.  It was harder to win, more frustrating to lose, and as a result, more difficult to enjoy.

I'm now at a turning point in my decision making with Reach.  I feel like I've gotten a pretty good cross-section of what it's like, what it's supposed to be like, and a few fair predictions on how it's going to be come launch.  How much patience though, should I exercise.  It's arguable that any single person, given enough patience and time, could master any game and ultimately enjoy it well enough.  How much should I dump into Reach?  Should I quit if the armor lock setup isn't nerfed a bit?  What if they change the grenades around?  Is it worth my time to learn the nuances of the game before I make a judgment, or are those changes and differences from my expectations too much of a dealbreaker.

Obviously this is a Beta, so we'll have to see where it ends up, but I don't see any reasons why a similar thought process and asking personal questions like these can't apply to any game we undertake.   We do it pretty regularly in single player experiences, but it's harder in multiplayer.  In a single player game we can forgive wonky controls, weird AI control, and even bad all-around gameplay because the only hurdle we have is whatever baggage we bring going in.  We don't need to worry about a winner/loser condition to dictate our fun.

Where do others sit with issues like this.  I'm a big fan of Halo, so it's easy for me to give it a little patience and try to learn the system to gain success, but I'm not so patient with Call of Duty.  It's not really about the title we're playing, but how we relate to it.  I've had friends who have encouraged me to look past my own instincts with single player stuff because the benefits of being patient were worth the time - how is any multiplayer experience any different?