Competitive Gaming

Ive noticed more and more people getting upset or their feelings hurt from playing the more competitive games with other site members. Ive seen several players raise their game skill in hope of becoming one of the better players on the site. Not that there is a set criteria of what classifies the better players on the site, and its soley based on other peoples opinions. If youre going to play competitive games with other skilled players there a few things to making yourself a strong player.

First and foremost you must know the game. By that I mean knowing the maps extensively. Jumps, grenades throws, escape routes, ambush points, forcing spawn, knowing the spawn points, how to use any weapon on the game effectively. When Ive done classes in the past most people didnt even know the differences in damage by a standing melee, running melee, or a jump melee until I showed them. If you want to become a strong player you cannot do so until you learn the fundamentals of the game. One of the largest flaws I see with some members in these MLG games is that they dont know how to use grenades properly. This is a much needed skill if you want to become a stronger player. I see grenade throws that arent even close to anything a lot of times. Midship is a pretty popular map for games in these tournies. I do customs all the time by myself just running around the map throwing stickies and frags learning angles. I get with Soupnazzi a lot to see his throws, and I show him some when I find them. Its kind of a unsung talent with a lot of members, but huge advantage for the ones who know. Now I know most probably wont care, or dont care to put the time in to learning this stuff. Some players really try to learn these skills though.

Team games. I dont know how many teams Ive seen play to that dont really have a knowledge of a skirmish based game. I mean if youre going to play these games its critical that you know how to play them if you want to be good at them. Flag for instance..... if youre the only guy around and a couple of your teammates are dead, dont grab the flag. All youve done is taken the objective without any backup. Once youre killed its returned. Congratulations youve earned a flag stolen medal. Watching your teammates icons is pretty important due to it showing you which way you need to go with a flag, bomb, or ball. Even one of my good friends on this site who is a really good player surprised me not too long ago when he wasnt throwing a flag. Some people will say if they throw it that theyll see the flag. Well reality is any smart team who doesnt know where the flag is, is going to come to your flag scoring point to stop you.  So the less throwing you do, the slower you walk giving the other team more time to catch up. Another mistake I see people do is hold onto the flag when they need their flag returned. Find a good spot to keep it, and prepare to defend it. Also, be able to look at a map and say "oh none of my teammaters are over there, so chances are the opposing team might spawn over there. If youre playing on Midship while in their base..... theyre going to spawn Car 2 (middle room with the carbine and explosive cores) or theyre going to spawn pink 1(the very bottom of the pink side with three grenades and walk throughs.) One other thing is learning the parts of a map that have to be controlled. Midship for example. You dont have to control pink 2 like most like to. You can control carbine area if thats the area you can control. However, you have to control one or the other. If you dont youre screwed. If they set up right youll be spawning underneath your base to 2 BRs when you come out of the bottom door trying to kill that flag carrier. So this ties back into knowing the maps.

Slayer is a whole other bag of worms.  Any good team is going to consist of three types of players.  One will be the main slayer whose objective is to control a power weapon.  This person is usuaully one who is the strongest at staying alive.  Ive played Ivory Tower a lot, and its funny how people will go for a sword before the rocket launcher even though the rocket launcher owns that map.  Ive had several games to where ill just run around with it for 5 mins before I lose it, but by the time I lose the RL its empty.  So guess what......... the other team doesnt thing to camp the respawn, and I have it again.  If youre going to be the one to carry it though make sure you know how to aim so you dont lose it lol.  Youre next player is another good slayer who offers support to the main one.  Its totally a support role.  The third would be another good slayer, but good objective person also.  While your fourth is usually totally objective with some slaying skills.  So the third and fourth guy arent really there for killing.  Theyre objective is to kill whatever gets in the way of them getting the flag, or whatever.  Now since were talking about slayer you might be wondering what their role is since its not objective.  Their role is totally support.  Like on Lockout, if you have the lead while having control of BR tower........... you dont want your best slayer watching library window.  This is where the support cast comes in play so that youre best killers can do what they do.  Players knowing their role in any game is important to how well youll do.  I dont consider myself a super slayer, and 9 times out of 10 youre not going to see me charging into an area trying to be a hero for that one reason.  Ive always been a support role player, and I always will be.  Yes I can kill, but Im not a super slayer.  I get a lot of my kills usually to people charging and leaving them a good grenade.  Or....... if I have a particular weapon knowing where to maximize the potential of it.  If you have rockets obviously you dont want to walk wide out in the open.  At the same time you dont want to get into too small of an area.  Back to roles though.  Once youve determined what kind of player you are you need to focus in on being the best you can be at that.  Not everyone is going to be a super slayer.  Thats a problem I see on the site though.  Its not hard to play a game and find a loner that really cant defend himself too well.  I was playing on Beaver Creek the other night in a custom slayer game.  I was camping teleport at one point with a shotty BR combo.  Now for the first kill I was on one side of the tele.  For the second kill I had moved to the back wall waiting for them to jump through.  Now I didnt know for sure they would jump through, but I was hoping theyd tell their team I was camping tele with a shotty.  So did it work........ yes.  Next guy comes jumping through right onto my shotty.  So now Ive established that Im there.  So for my next 2 kills I moved up on top of the red base on the back angles of it with my BR.  So now someone comes through jumping around, just to get hosed with a BR thinking theyd be going against a shotty.  One more time this person comes through with the same result.  So after four easy kills they finally stopped.  Now this doesnt mean anything but that I outsmarted my opponent and used my weapons to their potential.  My other point was you didnt see me charging through to their side for the mere fact Im not a super slayer.  I might, I stress might, get one kill, but thatd be about it.  You dont accomplish nothing if you trade a kill for a death. 

Now Im not writing this professing that I think Im a badass or nothing.  Ive just seen a lot of people get frustrated or their feelings hurt due to them not having good games.  It wont change until you learn to play smarter.  If you know a player is better than you, give them respect and dont charge them.  Try to lure them into coming to you.  I see a lot of people chase players and end up dying.  I do the same, but Ive been getting better at not chasing and repositioning myself for when they decide to pop back out.  It doesnt always work, but itll work at least 75% of the time.  One final thought before I close this out.  If you get beat bad you shouldnt get mad.  Upset I can understand, but if you get mad you lose out on the lesson.  The lesson is looking back at the game, and figuring out what they did that you didnt.  Now I know some games teams will just be outmatched skill wise, but sometimes the better killing team isnt always the best.  So my advice is to be a loser with grace so that you can enjoy a win much better.  When you lose  though, just take the time to look back to see what a team did that prevented you from winning.  The next time you play that game remember what happened so you know how to combat against it if it happens again.  Learn the game.  Peace out