The Basics: Getting Good Part Two

Part Two
Getting Good.

Before we discuss how to actually get good, it's important to understand that there are many games that are too shallow to support high level play. These are imbalanced or just ill-designed games that fall apart when their mechanics are given any sort of push. That's not to say that you should avoid these games altogether, but recognize when you are playing one and don't be afraid to abuse obvious imbalances.

Getting good is complicated, and there's no way to skirt around the fact that you're going to have to bang your head against the game for awhile before you get any better. However, there are ways to make it easier. The most important thing to do in a game is to overachieve. Constantly.

Overachieving

The concept of overachieving is pretty simple to understand, but when you're actually in the thick of the game it seems counter-intuitive. The most easily illustrated example of overachieving is Guitar Hero. Most people pick up Guitar Hero for the first time and play it on Easy, then Normal, where they have to learn to use their pinky and panic a bit, then Hard, where they have to learn to use the orange button (thus relearning everything they thought they knew about finger placement) and panic a lot, then Expert, where they're in pretty much a perpetual state of panic.

However, if you really want to get good at Guitar Hero, the first time you pick up the guitar, start on Expert. Play the first songs a couple times each, get used to the speed. Then bang your head against the hardest first tier song over and over again until you can play the entire tier. Repeat this with the hardest song on each tier. If you absolutely can't play any songs on Expert (make sure you at least try a few times) go back to Hard.

Starting out on Expert will help in a couple of ways. First of all, you'll already be used to the game being really fast from the word go, which is one of the huge transitions players have trouble with when they go up a difficulty level. Second, you'll immediately be used to moving your hands back and forth on the guitar, the other transition players sruggle with. In an hour or two, you'll be as good as the other player, who's been slowly working his way up the difficulty tree for days, even if you haven't beaten a single song. If you ever go to Normal, it'll seem pitifully slow.

And those are the very important things that overachieving does. It prevents players from learning the bad habits (not being able to move your hand up and down the fretboard, being used to the slower speeds) that they have to unlearn as they get better at the game. It also allows you to get used to the game at its most competetive level, instead of having to relearn all the techniques and strategies that you thought were viable but are really entirely useless at higher levels of play.

It gets easier. Seriously.

This is most obvious in games like Guitar Hero, but is true for any competetive game. Take, for example, Starcraft, our stock RTS. If you have a choice between playing someone your level in Starcraft, and someone above your level in Starcraft, then you will always benefit more from picking the person above your level. Similarily, if you have the choice between playing someone your level, and the best Starcraft player in the entire world, you should always play against the best Starcraft player in the world. It seems counter-intuitive, but overachievement has no boundaries. Always play the best you can.

In playing the best player Starcraft player in the world, you will learn the ins and outs of the best strategies, and understand their counters. You will be immediately flung into a fast paced game, where your opponent is clicking ten times a second. So, after you free yourself from the chokehold of fear, you'll be forced to stay on your toes and always play your very best. Go back into that game with that guy who was better than you a few days ago and it'll feel like you're playing in slow motion. Because you are so used to fast paced games where one mistake will lose it, you'll absolutely crush the man who, in comparison to your previous opponent, seems slow and careless.

And that's overachievement. It's hard - you'll have to lose before you win - but it's incredibly rewarding, and you'll be good sooner than you think.