Like most gamers my first idea to become big in the video game world was to become an expert gamer. Overall I’m a good gamer I have two world records over at Twin Galaxies and I can beat most single player games I get my hands on. As time went on I figured out that high scores and competitive gaming aren’t my thing, I would rather design game ideas and mechanics which I seem to be better at. I’ve tried a few times over the years to get into competitive gaming, played in a Halo tournament, Smash Brothers tournament each time with failure. Since then I’ve come to realize that there is a huge difference between designing video games and mastering them on a competitive level.
Basically different skill sets are used in these two professions with some overlapping. To become a designer the key skills are being analytical, creative, attention to detail, critical thinking and what ever professional skills you’ve learned(ex: typist, programmer, writer, etc). However for professional gaming you would need these skills : attention to detail, excellent hand eye coordination, analytical, pattern recognition and an excellent memory for all those tactics you’ve discovered. I have the analytical skills to figure out patterns and such, but my mind works faster then my hands to keep up to perform all these complex patterns.
The other factor is something hard to describe, I wouldn’t say patience or determination, as that is present in both professions, but the ability to focus on a task like playing a game for many hours straight to figure out every single little exploit and bug you can use for your advantage. I play a lot of video games, but I really can’t play the same game day in and day out as it would become too derivative for me and it loses the fun. At the Smash Brothers tournament I was a great player among friends and people at the local Gamestop, but playing against people at the competitive level was something else entirely. There is a technique called “wave dashing” that I never heard of until this tournament which is considered a bug the developers left in that became some kind of exploit tactic used by competitive gamers. I do not have the patience to sit and play a game for 20 hours to find and learn all these little bugs to become a competitive gamer.
Still I would not ask MLG (Major league gaming) players to be apart of my design team. Like I mentioned earlier there is just a completely different skill set required for these positions that most competitive gamers don’t have. Designing a game is not about discovering every little bug and exploit to win at games but to create something new that people can play and enjoy. The difference is about being active (creating levels/ gameplay) against being reactive (going through a level to find all the best weapon drops that someone else created) .Let me stop here and say that I have nothing against the people at MLG or any competitive or high score gaming tournaments I’m just stating that there is a difference between what someone like Sid Meier or Shigeru Miyamoto does and something the FragDolls do (I’m really sorry for that comparison but their the only competitive gaming team I can remember off the top of my head). In all seriousness, if designing a game was the same as playing it, then shouldn’t Shigeru Miyamoto be the absolute King of Kong at this point?
The time I’ve spent learning about the industry and working on my own skills at design, have further cemented these ideas into my head. Playing a lot of video games is different then just playing Halo 3 all day long. I analyze games I’ve played looking for mechanics I like and dislike, good and bad interfaces , and see what I would change to make the games better. I don’t play video games to find that little tear in the wall you can use to climb a pillar to get into an optimal sniping position. The lesson for this entry is to rise to the top of either profession requires dedication specifically to it and nothing else. Which is also why if I ever do decide to get into professional gaming competitions I don’t think I would ask Sid Meier, Suda 51, and Brad Wardell to be apart of my MLG team 🙂
Josh
