Things learned over the years...

So it has been a while since I was active on the site.  A lot has changed since then.  I like the new look though.  I do not really consider myself a gamer since I play one game.  I do love some Halo.  I never played Reach before I went MIA.  During my long time off from gaming I got a chance to break free from the hold that Halo had at the time.

I never had an Xbox until I played H2 with a friend.  I went out that day and bought everything.  From there the monster grew.  I am a competitive person by nature regardless if it is photography, basketball, cars, or words with friends.  I want to win, and I want to learn how an object operates in order to be the best I can be.  I cannot begin to understand the mindset of losing is fine.  Losing to me is nothing more than A) making mistakes, or B) overmatched.  Anything past that is my laziness.  This is solely my opinion.

This is the beauty of Halo though.  Not only must I be the best I can be, but I have to morph my mindset to gel with other's on my team.  In Halo it is pretty difficult, if almost impossible, to beat a team of skilled players by yourself.  Based on past MM'ing with kids quitting leaving four vs. me the record looks a lot like the Charlotte Bobcats last season.  

When we formed our FBK team back in H2 it is the best experience I have had in Halo to this day.  Yes, we DEFINITELY were not the crowd favorites due to how we conducted ourselves.  What most did not see though was how much work we put into it all.  I know a lot could care less because it requires them to think way more than they want to playing a game, but if you want to win you love learning a system inside out.  There was nothing more satisfying then running a game near perfect as far as planning goes and owning the game.  A lot of times even when we won it did not matter because we were focused on how to make our setups tighter.

We eventually ran so hard though that it took it's toll on us individually.  A lot has changed in my life since then that I wish I knew back when we were playing that could have eliminated a lot of the headaches we brought on ourselves.  I recently had a chance to get some games in with Neks over the past weekend that brought back memories of the good times.  It was so much fun team shooting, communicating, and enjoying the game for what it is.

Humility, kindness, and willingness to teach others can really change the attitudes of a lot of people.  Our team before struggled with pretty much all three of those, but it is what it is.  We had some awesome fun with it all.  Played against some of the classic Pro teams….Straight Rippon…(and I know that is spelled incorrectly)… Best Man's crew, had lessons from Foulacy, T2, …..a few more, but you get the point.  We basically were destroyed by those teams, but it was still a fun experience.  

Regardless of which Halo it is, Halo will always be a competitive team game that forces people to come together if they want to win.  I love using basketball as a model while playing Halo because they are both similar.  I know what I can do in basketball individually, but what can I do to make the team better?  In Halo it might mean sacrificing kills in order to watch someone's back, or dying a lot to get the objective completed, or taking shots to keep a teammate alive.

Each edition changes, which is a good thing.  If all they had was H2 then everyone would be pretty one dimensional.  However, with every game adding more to it you are required to adapt.  Same holds true in basketball.  Every team you play is different.  So you have to adjust your defense and offense every game.  You either improve by adapting or you  essentially get left behind due to being unable to adapt.  It is something I never realized until I started playing again.  I missed H2, but the overall aspect of Halo has not changed a bit.  I want to play Halo Reach, and I will want to play H4…………however that means I will have to adapt to the new game in order to be good.  If I get stuck in the past then I will become the past :)

Competitive Halo is not a bad thing.  It'd be nice to see the mood change over competitive gaming here, but it would require people to have a certain attitude.  Competition tends to bring out the best/worst in people at the same time.  The game will always be a thing of beauty though when you think about what it does……regardless of weapons, maps, and other devices… you can actually learn a lot from the game that you can apply to real life.