TITLE: Bye-bye Gaming Skill AUTHOR: KyoshoBallard DATE: 12/22/2005 06:40:00 ip. ----- BODY:

To do well in First Person Shooters, online, you generally have to be skilled. A lot of people can say they're particularly skilled at Counter-Strike, or Battlefield 1942, or whatever. I can get good at those types of games to an extent. Maybe not quite as good as most "skilled players" that play, but good enough to hold my own and be an asset to my team. If I stop playing for a few weeks, that skill goes away. Not completely away, but for the most part I will suck again when I try to play after a long stint of not playing. I suppose that's normal. After all, Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel reportedly practices 14 hours a day to keep his skill. A lot of gamers, though, can tell you of at least one game that they're excellent at, no matter how long it's been since they've played last. For me, that game was Team Fortress Classic. You know, the official Half-Life mod that almost zero people play anymore. It's not a realistic game by any means, and doesn't try to be. There's people rocket jumping, grenade jumping, etc. It's refreshing to play TFC after playing so many other games that try to focus on realism. TFC focuses on fun. Anyways, I was always extremely good at it. I could stop playing for months, but on my first game back, my team would most times be assured a victory. I could choose the Scout class (weakest class) and go around killing people with the crowbar (weakest weapon), and do well. The game just came naturally to me. There was even a time when I stopped playing for close to an entire year for one reason or another. Playing other games, not having internet access, or just plain losing interest. I came back, and kicked ass. I thought TFC was the game for me. I just GOT it. Some people can play the piano expertly, or draw professionally, or design buildings, whatever. For me, I could kick ass at TFC. It seems an assured fact. I didn't think it would ever change. And then it did. For almost 3 years now, I haven't had a chance to play many First Person Shooters. Let alone online. I recently tried playing TFC again, and guess what? I suck. Okay, maybe I don't completely suck, but I'm nowhere near as good as I used to be. I'm getting my ass handed to me by bots. BOTS, for christsake! That's just WRONG! Perhaps if I keep playing I will get better. In fact I'm almost certain I will. But it sucks. Appearently you can never forgot how to ride a bike, but you can forget how to kick ass at TFC. Or at least I can. Argh.

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