Monday, June 7, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
What is skill? (Baby don't hurt me)
(This was a reply to a forum topic on the Halo: Reach boards. There might be some terminology specific to reach here, but I think the main idea still stands.)
To put it simply, I think that skill (In the context of a video game) is a mixture of game knowledge, muscle memory, and reaction time.
Game knowledge are things like "If I shoot someone in the head with the sniper, he dies in one hit. If I shoot him in the body it's two.", "X weapon spawns at Y place on Z map.", and "When I'm right next to someone I should spam the trigger with the pistol instead of breathing the shots."
These are things which a skilled player can give to a new player in order to improve their game. A lot of this can also be attained through research and watching videos without ever putting your hands on a controller. (I did very, very well in my first couple of days on the beta because I already knew where everything spawned and what all the weapons and loadouts do.)
Muscle memory is our ability to actually press buttons to make things happen in the game. These include our ability to stick people, land sick no scopes, and even simple stuff like keeping a laser reticle trained on a banshee while the laser charges.
Muscle memory can not be given to a new player and can only be attained through consistent play or rigorous training.
Reaction time is how fast we naturally can respond to things happening in the world. Example: If someone pops out from behind a corner with a shotgun, your reaction time is how long it takes between you seeing the guy and you trying to respond to his presence. This can be improved slightly through training, but some people are just naturally biologically better at it than other people, which makes this a natural limiter on some people's skill levels.
I think that how much each of those three aspects are rewarded is different for each game. For instance, I think that the call of duty series rewards muscle memory and reaction time much much more than it rewards game knowledge. (In other words, it's a mindless twitch shooter.)
Halo on the other hand, with it's complex sandboxes and slower kill times, rewards game knowledge a lot more. (A new player who can land headshots every time (basically, an aimbot) will still lose a DMR fight against a slightly less accurate player who knows about shot spacing, for instance. In a call of duty game, the aimbot will win in any encounter in any situation.)
So in other words, I think that for halo, skill = game knowledge + muscle memory + reaction time.
For CoD, skill = game knowledge + muscle memory times 50 + reaction time times 50.
To put it simply, I think that skill (In the context of a video game) is a mixture of game knowledge, muscle memory, and reaction time.
Game knowledge are things like "If I shoot someone in the head with the sniper, he dies in one hit. If I shoot him in the body it's two.", "X weapon spawns at Y place on Z map.", and "When I'm right next to someone I should spam the trigger with the pistol instead of breathing the shots."
These are things which a skilled player can give to a new player in order to improve their game. A lot of this can also be attained through research and watching videos without ever putting your hands on a controller. (I did very, very well in my first couple of days on the beta because I already knew where everything spawned and what all the weapons and loadouts do.)
Muscle memory is our ability to actually press buttons to make things happen in the game. These include our ability to stick people, land sick no scopes, and even simple stuff like keeping a laser reticle trained on a banshee while the laser charges.
Muscle memory can not be given to a new player and can only be attained through consistent play or rigorous training.
Reaction time is how fast we naturally can respond to things happening in the world. Example: If someone pops out from behind a corner with a shotgun, your reaction time is how long it takes between you seeing the guy and you trying to respond to his presence. This can be improved slightly through training, but some people are just naturally biologically better at it than other people, which makes this a natural limiter on some people's skill levels.
I think that how much each of those three aspects are rewarded is different for each game. For instance, I think that the call of duty series rewards muscle memory and reaction time much much more than it rewards game knowledge. (In other words, it's a mindless twitch shooter.)
Halo on the other hand, with it's complex sandboxes and slower kill times, rewards game knowledge a lot more. (A new player who can land headshots every time (basically, an aimbot) will still lose a DMR fight against a slightly less accurate player who knows about shot spacing, for instance. In a call of duty game, the aimbot will win in any encounter in any situation.)
So in other words, I think that for halo, skill = game knowledge + muscle memory + reaction time.
For CoD, skill = game knowledge + muscle memory times 50 + reaction time times 50.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
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