Ok, so yesterday I got into a discussion with some of college group and my bro. One of the common things with smash bros is tournament rules which in general means only sanctioned levels (notably Final Destination and Battlefield) and playing with no items. Now I personally am not a fan of this. I should say from the outset, I am nowhere near skilled enough to play in tournaments. My bro will always hand my butt to me. And so I am not advocating any sort of change to the rules or anything like that. I would like to play with items and on stages that include distractions and that can damage you because I enjoy them. I also think that evens out the playing field (not much) for new players or weaker players.
But one of the reason I like the idea of having items and harder stages is because I believe that’s more a reflection of real life. Part of the reason tourney rules and those that support them say no items and only basically flat or non-damaging levels is that it leaves room only for raw skill (or so the theory goes). It is just the player and the other players. Mano a mano, no extras, no distractions, just a fight to the finish. And we like that kind of idea, perhaps its American? But we like this idea that its just me, my own skill, my own technique, my own abilities. Just me. And I understand the appeal to that. Then we can truly (?) say that “I” won that match.
But I guess that’s what somewhat bothers me. Life isn’t like that. Life does not exist in a vacumm. It is rarely if ever just us and the raw skills we have. Environment plays a huge part in life. And maybe video games are the escape from real life so we like to make it how we want it, so we don’t have to deal with the real world, I can understand that, we all need a little escape, but I guess it gets me thinking about how we view the rest of the world.
I’ll throw out some thoughts. And I don’t want to sound like I’m accusing anyone who prefers tourney rules of any of these, because let’s face it, super smash bros is still just a game. And I’m not saying I don’t do these as well, as assuredly I do and I have.
When something bad that is beyond our control happens, do we get extremely upset about it. Like in Smash, a bomb falls randomly out of the air and you attack right as it hits the ground and get exxploded off the screen. And then we yell, “if that bomb hadn’t dropped out right then, I would have won!” I’ve done that. But then let’s say in real life, traffic or other people or last minute changes come out of no where and we yell and scream that “if that hadn’t happened, everything would have been better”. Sure, I do that too. Ask Kathy, last minute changes throw me off.
Or do we try to play God? Do we alter the the environment around us so we can control it. We like control, its in our nature to want to. But that ultimately can be sin (not saying changing items and stuff is sin of course). But by changing them, we create a world that we want. And of course in smash that’s fine, whatever, if Nintendo didn’t want you to do it, they wouldn’t ahve added the option. But the default is including items and having all stages. Now that can get frustrating, but that’s how it was designed. And the world… well… is designed as well. God is in control and things happen. I’m not going to debate about how much control God has or anything, that isn’t the point right now. But the world has bad things that happen and good things that happen. Life is never in a vacumm. If we try to make it how we want, and oh yes, we do all the time, are we trying to play God and replace him?
Part of real life is of course how we deal with our environment. The Bible is clear that life happens. Things happen all over our world that are fortuitous or disastrous. But how we react to that and how we cope and deal is part of who we are. Are we perhaps denying part of our humanity by wanting a vacumn? We are partially defined by our deisions and reactions to differnt things that happen. All other people are free bodies that can affect what happens in the world. Our character grows by how we deal with those things. And life is rarely just us and our abilities and skills. We can cry “life is unfair!” and “if this had gone that way, I would have succeeded”. But it didn’t. Life happens. And life is unfair. that’s the truth. And again, I’ve done that and I do do that, but its something I want to change about myself.
Can we still be joyous in the face of trouble? Can we still trust God in the face of unfair circumstances? Sure we can complain a bit, but at the end of the day, life happens and it doesn’t revolve around you (sorry america). Can we learn to cope and deal with life as it happens? Or do we simply long to exist in a vacumm where it is just us? Again, keep playing SSB as you want, ultimately not an important thing in life (though I had a fun time playing with everyone yesterday). But those are just my reflections on life in relation to what we were talking about
March 11, 2010 at 2:27 am |
My philosophy in the Smash Bros. games is to target the strongest players to give other players a chance to win. It’s less fun for everyone (not necessarily no fun at all) when Cory or Evan wins every fight. Especially if said good player is cocky and puts the other players down (not Cory but other people). I am not the best player, but I am skilled enough to affect the outcome of the match. So I fight the super-good players and although I’ll get taken out, hopefully another player gets a chance to win. For example, I think the best fight was when Donald won last night. I play as long as I have the ability to affect change in the fight. When I lose that ability, I lose my interest in the game. Increasing parity reduces my impact, and reduces my need to be in the fight. So despite the rest of what I have to say, perhaps the biggest reason I don’t enjoy items as much as you is that it takes away my entire purpose for participating in the fight.
I do find items and intrusive stage designs to be annoying (though actually I’m more on your side when it comes to “sanctioned stages”). If it was the only option, I think the game would be less enjoyable and popular for many people. And because it is a choice, it is a parity we don’t have to live with. It’s like choosing to have a 30% chance of traffic on the way to work every morning when you can set it to 0%. Why in the world would I want 30%? Of course for you, the parity in the Smash Bros. games is good, much unlike the bumper-to-bumper hell of the 5.
I think items are enjoyable in certain contexts. But for general-purpose fighting it’s a detraction from the essence of the fight. It is sport and competition. No one would enjoy a basketball game where 10-point balls are randomly thrown in.
I don’t believe the desire to control parity in Smash Bros. necessarily indicates a desire to control parity in life and control our life through our efforts (though it could be). Or maybe it’s not for some, but it is for others who more strongly insist on it. It’s interesting to think about now that you brought it up. For me, there’s enough annoying stuff in real life to choose to deal with it in a video game. That’s why I don’t play yugioh anymore — the game stopped being fun for me and I was getting annoyed.
I’m down for playing with items and crazy stages sometimes. I don’t see any harm in mixing it up to better serve everyone’s tastes and having a more diverse experience.