For Those Who Play Fighting Games

[Captain FuKu]

I know there is a decent amount of gamers here who are into fighting games. But what makes me curious is that it would appear many here (K'dash not included; I know he has written about Evo and tournies and such) are not into competition. In other words, some people for whatever reasons (valid or otherwise) are happy just playing fighting games by themselves or within their small circle of friends -- they don't seem to care about looking to face high level players or improving their gaming skills.

 

Now all this makes me wonder: at its core, fighting games are competition games; without support and interest from gamers, any particular fighting game cannot survive very long. It is not like an RPG or some plateform game where it is a given that gamers play solo. IMO, you can only play against the computer for so long before it quickly becomes lame; and practicing in training mode becomes pointless if you'll never use what you've learned against human competition -- hopefully good ones, at that. (I hope all of this is making some sense so far.)

 

So, excluding valid reasons like the fact that your nearest arcade may be thousands of miles away or you are missing some fingers, to those of you who are happy playing fighting games alone or within your small circle of friends, what enjoyment do you get from this? Wouldn't it be more fun to play some sports, RPG, or whatever solo game instead of a competition game like a fighting game?

 

Personally, I play fighting games to meet and play against other players who share the same interest. That is, improving one's gaming skills, facing competition who are equally interested in improving their skills, hence as players improve, the level of competiton rises and this determines whether a particular fighting game has "support" from players and whether it survives or dies. At the heart of fighting games: number and quality of competition = fun, and without it, it does not survive.

 

For example, I personally like Guilty Gear XX, but there is practically no support for it at my arcade. Everyone is just interested in MvC2 and CvS2. I can not stand MvC2, and CvS2 is bearly tolerable; and dispite my personal interest in Guilty Gear, I am going to abandon it and move on to CvS2 where there is competition.

 

So...yeah, my questions are included in this post.

[Inky]

well as I've sayed before I play to win and if I can't win then I learn something from the match. so I guess your post doesn't apply to me. I don't hit the competitions to much anymore. mainly cuz real life gets in the way. you know: wife, kids, jobs, and other outside interests keep me from the arcade.

[BoomBa_GoosE]

there wasnt a reason for me to play fighting games at first. my older brother introduced me to street fighter 2 in 1990 i believe, and from that time on, fighting games have become my favorite games of all time. as i got older, i understood why i played these games. it wasnt bc of the high scores, or being able to do a fireball. i jus see it as constant concentration, non-stop interaction, and building ur hands to be skilled in the arcades and later on at home. competition brings out a different side to people, and i think those who are skilled at fighting games are to be very creative. fighting games are jus exciting...

[Wizard]

Personally dude, that was the first offical one I've been too that I didn't host for a couple of friends. It was an actual tourney. The only way I ever practiced was with those group gatherings of friends. The computer gets very lame even on Arcade level 6. You'll notice patterns and such after a while (personally, thats why I got sick of GGXX). It's with those group grathering of friends that have made me good using Millia.

 

Tournements and friends aside. The only reason I play is to learn more of the characters and storylines. Another reason is because it's just fun. When you quit playing a game for months or even years. The instant you play it again you get a sense of joy and question why you stopped playing it. Thats what happen when I started to play Guilty Gear XX and UMK3(on mame) again. I felt that something rekindered my soul for the games. As you left the game, your skill deteiorates. Once you play the game again, for the first time in months, you feel an instant when all that you thought you've once lost has come back anew. And to be honest, I don't think I would be as great compared to the greats in Guilty Gear.

 

Since you excluded arcades and such for competetion. I'm actually thinking of getting an Xbox with live and a few live enabled fighting games.

 

No one touches fighting games here anymore. Only the selected few that wish to toy around with a couple of friends. Until they see me The Assassin in the Moon Light comes anew

Edited May 16, 2004 by K`dash

[Ryuken]

because in fighting game i can learn how to fight( tekken, VF )

Edited May 16, 2004 by Ryuken

[random guy]

I just play by my self or maybe occasionally with a friend. Why? Because 1) there's not that many people I know who still regularly play games, and 2) the arcades in this city suck, and gang-wannabes hang out there. Besides, I'm not playing $1or $2 just for one fight, that's just a waste of money

ps I think it's not very accurate to assume that most people who play fighting games crave the competition, and yearn to one day win a championship - I think you'll find most people just play for fun (It seems as if you hardcore gamers sometimes forget that games are supposed to be fun.

Edited May 16, 2004 by random guy

[Inky]

I just play by my self or maybe occasionally with a friend. Why? Because 1) there's not that many people I know who still regularly play games, and 2) the arcades in this city suck, and gang-wannabes hang  out there. Besides, I'm not playing $1or $2 just for one fight, that's just a waste of money

ps I think it's not very accurate to assume that most people who play fighting games crave the competition, and yearn to one day win a championship - I think you'll find most people just play for fun (It seems as if you hardcore gamers sometimes forget that games are supposed to be fun.

here we go again. for hardcore gamers, playing games hard core IS FUN!

Edited May 16, 2004 by garageink

[Mr.X]

For Those Who Play Fighting Games, What's your reason for playing ?

 

- The name of the company (Capcom, SNKP etc)

- Charas (number of charas, charisma, fighting styles & moves) ;

- Gfx (charas & backgrounds) ;

- Animation ;

- Game system + technicality ;

- Sound & BGM ;

- Scenario ;

- Maniability ;

etc...

[Weirdy]

in my local arcade there are many fighting games that get a lot of ppl playing (MvC2, Mshvsf, SvC: Chaos, kof2000, kof2002, kof2003, and Guilty Gear X2 )....yes, a lot of good games, I would go the arcade a lot often cause I know some moves, combos, etc....but only one problem....I HATE JOYSTICKS!!!!! seriously, I'm a big time joystick noob.

 

seriously, I hate whenever i do a move that requires quarter-circle-forward and the character ends up jumping up and down

 

or whenever I pull left the character jumps up

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2004 by Weirdanzeige

[Agozer]

My reason to play is simple: For fun and to get rid of stress.

[Captain FuKu]

Obviously the word "fun" can be used in different ways for each individual, so I think when answering this it'd help if each person can define what they have in mind when they say "just to have fun."

 

To me, the "fun" in playing fighting games comes from practice, losing matches and learning from them, and overall improving my gaming skills until I'm winning more and more matches consistently -- and of course, in order for any of this to happen, the vital ingredient: large numbers of quality competition needs to be there. (I mean, fighting games ARE competition games at heart.)

 

So I have fun knowing that I am always learning and trying my best to improve; and it's a great feeling when you start winning more matches against quality competition, cuz that is a sign, an outward manifestation of your improvement.

 

So yeah, it really helps to define "fun" for clarity sake.