Getting Good at Games (How to)

How do you get good at a game? How do you get great? How do you become pro? These are all questions that gamers have been asking themselves ever since games began holding high-scores. It's nice to be good at a game, sure, but being the best? That's even better. I can summarize this article with 3 words: Practice, Patience, Persistence. The 3 P's. Read on if you would like more detail.

P # 1: Practice.

It's no mystery how people get good at things. Practice is the root of all improvement. However, when you go on Youtube and see videos of people absolutely dominating at Halo, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and other competitive games, you don't see the hours and hours of practice that the players put into them. It is true that some people can pick up a game faster than others, but they still spend hours of time getting good at it. It's said that in order to master something, a person has to spend 1,000 hours of work at it. Most people don't have that kind of time, but really, they do. 2 hours a night, (Less than most "Hardcore" gamers spend) would take you a little less than 2 years to master a game. But practice isn't all you need...you need to have PATIENCE.

P # 2: Patience.

You won't go pro over night. Far from it. Accept this fact and you will find your journey to being the best a lot smoother and more enjoyable. As it was said with Practice, this takes time. Patience also means working your way up to being awesome. A good way to get used to a game is to play through the single-player modes first, perhaps a few times. Do you think that the best Halo players haven't beaten the game on Legendary a few times before? Probably. How about Call of Duty players beating the game on Veteran? Of course they have. Odds are some of the best probably have all the achievements/trophies as well. This shows they can work their way up. Don't dive right into Multiplayer if you're feeling a little hazy about the game, or you think that playing solo won't matter.

P # 3: Persistence

This is the biggest pitfall of most gamers aspiring to greatness. They gave up. Giving up is a nice looking option for someone who has hit a few plateaus in their gaming ability. I have fallen victim to this pattern with a few games as well. I know I'll never be the best at Super Street Fighter 4, so I gave up on getting any better. When we get pounded online, it's not a great feeling. It downright sucks sometimes. Controllers have been thrown on the ground and obscenities have been shouted for stuff that was our own fault. If you're online, EVERY TIME you die, fail or lose, it's your fault. You weren't good enough. (Don't worry, peppy part is coming up) But that's okay. It's called learning. People learn from their own mistakes. You now know "Oh, okay, that's a common sniper spot, I should check there before running out next time." or "Hmmm, I'm not too good with fast switching between triple note chords, maybe I should practice those." Or even "Damn, I should probably not play with this character yet, maybe I should switch to an easier one, until I get the hang of this." To quote the author Richard St John, "Persist through the CRAP. Critisism, Rejection, Assholes and Pressure". You'll find a lot of all of those online. Chin up and go for it.

Hopefully this little guide has proven itself useful to you for your coming adventures in getting better at gaming. Just remember, don't see a high-score and think you'll never get there. Maybe the person with that score thought that too...Happy Gaming.