The Rule of Versus - A Grumpy Argument

[Bells]

So, a recent episode of Game Grumps brought to mind a subject that i'm sure many of us went through in our younger days.

See the video above for it! But here is the gist...

What's Versus Etiquette on gaming for you? Cause i'll tell ya... on Goldeneye i would watch the living SHIT out of the other player's screen. And on Mario kart or Need for speed, i WILL ran the PC car onto your car...

And in Mortal Kombat 3? It's 1 Button Fatality codes for all or NO mortal kombat!

But, how you guys do when you're playing with friends or against friends? I mean, nowadays is a bit more rare to join a bunch of people together to play games like that, where a Smash Bros match could turn into a Knife Fight at any given second... but those were fun.

Would you give tips to the other player? Would you handicap yourself on purpose?!

THE WORLD MUST KNOW!

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Anything goes. Except screen-watching. That's what Hitler does.

[Bells]

I always felt like Hitler was that one kid that would bring his own Turbo Controller to the Steet Fighter 2 Tournament at his friend's house, y'know?

Everybody is there, brackets are filled, and then he pulls the Turbo out of his backpack and everybody goes "GHerrhhhjjjjmmmmmmm" quietly

[Magus]

I'm fairly ruthless, I went a little far one time though with someone who was pretty much completely new to Smash Bros. Melee and they got pretty pissed. You need to know when to put on the kid gloves.

If you've played a game several times before, though, I have little mercy. This extends into board/card games too. Again, it depends on context. If you want someone to get better at it you can't completely destroy them. This extends into chess and so on, you have to be good but you have to explain what you're doing and why when they lose.

For the clip above, obviously learning the basic controls would come under a category of non-ruthlessness.

[Solid Snake]

There's a difference between an advantage that stems from knowledge of advanced strategy or tactics, and an advantage that stems from knowledge of the basic control scheme.

At the time Arin asked Jon for help, Jon was already guaranteed to win the match. At best, knowledge of the proper button to press would have simply helped Arin stay at a pace behind Jon. From that perspective, Arin wasn't frustrated with Jon because he was going to lose, he was frustrated because not even knowing the controls took all the fun out of the game itself.

This just strikes me as a communication error between friends, though. Jon was in hyper-competitive mode and he interpreted Arin's initial comments as the typical kind of trash gamers say when gamers are frustrated when they're losing. Arin was actually genuinely confused and upset, and I don't think he actually cared whether he won or lost.

So Jon probably should've helped Arin out, but as with any frequently-watched series on the interwebs, I have to be a little skeptical. Exaggerated conflicts lead to more views and more comments from viewers, after all.

[Magus]

They are always getting fake-mad on there, I doubt it really amounted to much. But he did sound genuinely aggravated in the moment.

[Krylo]

The continued argument was clearly a strategy to win the next round, by causing enough distraction so as to make Jon run out of time.

What a dick move.

[Magus]

Are you saying that Egoraptor understands...the Greater Game?!

[Krylo]

No. I'm sayin' he's a dick.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Krylo

No. I'm sayin' he's a dick.

Based on how much Ego struggles when attempting to play vidjagaems, I think you're actually giving him a bit too much credit in the long-term strategic thinking department there, Kry.