Why do I suck at Multiplayer Games?

So I don't really mean for this to be a 'thought of the day' post, but recently it's occurred to me that I kind of suck at playing games in multiplayer with other people. And I'm not quite sure why that is.

I play games a lot. I've been into video games since I was a child, and I'm 26 years old now. I've owned many consoles and handhelds, and played games on the computer. Most of that time was spent playing single-player games, though admittedly, I probably haven't beaten as many games as I should have given that time frame - I chalk it up to being to OCD about completing things in games.

But whenever I play video games with other people, it usually doesn't seem to go very well for me.

In FPS games, I often die more than I kill other players. I am frequently coming in last place, or else a low rank. In MMOs I never fared too well, I think the highest level I attained in WOW was maybe 50 or 60, if that.

Whenever I try to play games with friends, it usually starts off alright, but then we end up playing the game for different things, or want to do different things whenever we do play, and usually they end up with a higher rank and level than me and I don't really have much to show for my time with the game.

A little bit ago I was playing some Hearthstone, and I narrowly managed to win one random match, but during the second one I felt like I had all of my dignity pretty much taken away within about eleven turns.

I don't know why I'm not any good at playing games against or with other people. I'm just simply not. I'm happier playing games alone, with a CPU.

Does anyone else feel this way?

I'm not sure why I can't compete, or even have fun playing games with other people.

We are good at different things. It isn't necessarily a bad thing to be "bad" at multi-player games. Maybe you have other treats mate. :)

I love to play games online with my friends, it's the most fun I have when my Xbox One is up and running, but I suck at them all. I remember playing Gears of war 3 online with a friend after completing the single-player story, and he got the better point tally than me every round even though he was a Playstation 3 guy who had never tried Gears III before. He had completed the predecessors with a friend, though, but it was still a harsh reminder of the fact that I always suck at every multiplayer game.

Another time, when I was still all in for PC gaming, I faced off one-on-one with a friend in Pirates, Vikings and Knights. I had enough experience of the game to be expected to win against someone who tried it for the first time in his life, but he kicked my ass. That wasreally humiliating because I can still hear him say 'you will win easily' ahead of the start of our rumble..

But hey, I play for fun.

As to why you suck, I guess we all are good at different things. Simple as that! :)

This

It requires a different skill set. When you're playing games by yourself, your brain automatically sets your pace. When you play online, though, you have quite a bit more to pay attention to. You can also tell the difference between AI and human opposition, so your reaction times and analyzing abilities vary. Plus, there's whole distraction of talking with people.

Practice makes perfect i guess. If you want to become better make a thead with the topic > Make me become better at multiplayer games. Im sure you will get alot of good advice.

Don't know what type of multiplayer game you are playing. But, I can relate to what you are saying. I play a lot of DOTA 2, it's a very team oriented game, 5 vs 5 that takes a lot of cooperation and teamwork. If you have just one selfish player who doesn't want to play their role . Who just try to pad their stats by stealing kills, not buying required items , this can doom the whole team, so you might want to evaluate whether its your game play that's bad or is it the team that your playing with that's making your play bad.

Supposedly human reflexes start to dwindle down after the age of 24.

But I'm also 26 and have no problem competing in multiplayer games, It could be because i've been playing them for awhile (started playing the original counterstrike since I was 14, played the original DotA at 17 and played plenty of reflex demanding FPS and fighting games beteen them). It could just be the lack of experience with them, things like basic movement, positioning, situational and communication are also very important and will only be attained through the player with time. I personally only got better at co-operative multiplayer games 2 years ago after understanding how to communicate and co-ordinate through voice comms and orderly actions.

As for you, try watching how good players play. Or record yourself playing. And try pick up on the basics on how they move and control or try pick up on any bad things you do subconsiously while playing a game.

I've found that a lot of it is your attitude. If you go into a match angry or upset or depressed, chances are you'll do poorly. You shouldn't bother playing when you feel like that. Try just to have fun and learn from your mistakes. Instead of getting mad when someone beats/kills you, just chalk it up to a learning experience.

If you really enjoy something, stick with it, stay emotion-free, and you'll be good at it before you know it. If whatever you're doing only brings you sadness, bitterness and despair, find something else that makes you happy.

I'm not bad but I usually fair better at co-op games than PvP. You have to keep in mind, you are not merely playing with gamers who just want to have fun. You're playing with leaderboard junky, gamers who eat, breathe, shit and sleep multiplayer games.

Most competitive multiplayer gamers nowadays have players who spend so much time playing, they memorize every spawn point on every map, camping spots, flanking traps, bullet drop angles from various distances, all types of perspectives you may never really put much thought into. This is what gives dedicated players the edge over someone just looking to kill time.

Because competing against real people in multiplayer games is a different thing than being good at single player games. And like the vast majority of things, you don't get good at it unless you do it a lot. If you want to good good at multiplayer games, you'll just have to play multiplayer games more often. Practice don't make perfect, but practice usually make better.

That being said, if you don't want to get better at multiplayer games...then don't. Nothing wrong with that. I'm mostly the same way. Multiplayer often entails competition, and I don't really like competition when I'm playing games. These days, I mostly just gravitate towards pure escapism into another story/world. And I think that competition sort of tends to suck me out of that, so I mostly do my gaming alone. I'm not saying that's the best way to game, but once I realize that is what I want out of games, why would I try to get good at games I don't like? Point being...if you admit to being happier playing games alone with a CPU, then what's the big deal? You know what you like, so do what you like. It'd be one thing if you only liked competitive multiplayer games and exclusively played those kinds of games and STILL sucked at them. That'd be awkward. That's like the teacher seeing a student trying his hardest, and still being dumb as shit. I mean, there's not a hell of a lot you can do beyond getting the person to try. But seeing as how you apparently don't even like those kinds of games, the solution seems pretty simple: play something else.

Not to be rude, but because other people are better players than you.

I'm nothing exceptional at MP. When I do play online I usually choose co-op or turn-based strategy games where I can work together or give more thought and consideration to my choices instead of having to be quick on my toes and on the trigger (though I can hold my own/am usually in the top 5 in FPSes for the most part), though it often depends on the game.

A lot of it also has to do with practice. Realize that many that you are playing against are probably kids playing 5+ hours a day or have put significant time in.

There can be a plethora of reasons, many of which have already been mentioned above. Some people find it difficult to perform under pressure. When other people have expectations or when other people are watching, they might freeze up. You see that in a lot of sports aswell. Some people are amazingly talented, but they can't cope with the pressure to perform.

And sometimes people simply aren't very good. I'm bad at most videogames. My greatest strength is my patience, which has little to do with actual skill, of course, but still... it helps when you have the patience to continuously fail until you succeed (I will unlock The Kid in Super Meat Boy some day). ;-) Also, you've got to find out what you're good at. I started playing BF4 a while back and even though my actual fps skills are quite limited, I can use the large maps to flank and ambush other players. I know I'm going to lose any direct one on one encounter (which is why I would never play close quarter shooters like CoD and CS), so I'll try to catch everyone by surprise. I play on maps with 32 players, instead of 64, which makes the maps less crowded. Some might find that dull or weak or whatever, but I couldn't care less about that. I will do what it takes in order to enjoy a videogame. Otherwise I won't bother with it.

And as others have said, if you prefer playing games alone, then there's nothing wrong with that.

THIS.

You have to adapt to them, it took me a while before I got good at them(though I'm flawed in quite a bit of them but can play them).

You really have to learn the game inside and out to be consistently competitive. This means you need to memorize maps in FPS games and be very familiar with build times, common builds, build orders, etc in RTS.

Man, I love people like you, I kill them over and over and over again in FPS, you are not going to believe me but I´ve killed 10 times the same dude in a Halo4 match, in several forms and with several weapons, just to give it more variety, kinda boring doing it all the time with the same weapon.

Now that I come and think about it, maybe it was he the asshole that reported me to XBL as being "unsporstmanlike"

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

I think it must just boil down to multiplayer games appealing to a different kind of gamer than singleplayer games. And I'm sure that people who are really good at these games must play them a lot, and play mostly only those types of games.

I think it's disappointing that the majority of games require or include some form of multiplayer anymore, but that's how the industry gets its hands on more money I guess - appeal to the people who will get their friends to buy a game just because it's what everyone is playing, until next year's version comes along.

Even most of today's 'meaty' singleplayer games feature some sort of tacked-on, half-asses multiplayer feature. At least big singleplayer games are still being made. I think a lot of gamers will lose in games if they all do away with singleplayer. The industry should realize that there can only really be a couple of successful online games at any given time.

Multiplayer adds value to your investment in the game because once you have finished the game ( unless you are obsessive/compulsive like I, I have to play it in all the difficulties and collect all the achievements/trophies ) there isn´t much left to attract your attention.

some people are good, other people suck. That's just life, i usually suck to. Some games i am pretty good at, that's the way it is

@Ovirew: Its simple. Unless you devote an extreme amount of time into these games...you will not be as "talented" as some others are. Its funny if you think about it. Someone might be amazing at one game because they have devoted over 100 years (in one week) to a particular game. But, when given the opportunity to play a whole new games with a different set of rules, they tend to be horrible and probably think the same as you. It happens. Don't beat yourself up over it. Some are just more talented or dedicate more time than you do. This is one of the main reasons why I barely play online games anymore. I'm 29, and have been playing video games since I was 5. Gamers now are different than when we were kids. I just look more towards games that can benefit me for more than two hours.

This. I once tried Black Ops 2 multiplayer and I just couldn't keep up with the rest of the players. But then I played a bit of Titanfall multiplayer and had a decent performance. And I am not a first person shooter guy in general.

Other games I am actually good at(except for some bad days) are L4D2 and Chivalry but I've spent a lot of hours to be considered a reliable player. So yeah practicing can definitely improve your skills.

I used to rock at multiplayer in FPS games. Now whenever I try to get into a new one, I get my behind handed to me. I think it's just my reflexes and competitive adrenaline have slowed down. Sigh.

I still play MOBAs and RTS games, though I'm still hurting in the ones that are all about how many actions/min you have. The ones that actually involve some thinking strategy are what I do ok in.

I find a lot of people don't do well online due to lack of strategic thinking. Take Battlefield 4 for instance. The maps can be very large and very with many ways to get to anyone of your objectives. Too many people just run and gun hoping to do well when they should be popping behind rocks taking the crest of that hill and then flanking right to hit the beach objective before that heli has time to circle and find you. MMO's for instance are all about taking the fastest way to the highest level. Yes you can trade and do all sorts of other shit too but if you want loot and cash and the best materials it's all about finding the fastest route to the final level. Strategy plays a large role in online multiplayer and those who don't think strategically generally die a lot, or fall behind those who started at the same time. RTS games and competitive shooters might have formed this opinion but I can say for certain it's thinking strategically is a game changer.

Well, it depends on how you look at it. And it also depends on your friends. A lot of mp can simply be fun, not necessarily competitive. That's the main reason I play BF4. I play that with two friends while we chat on Skype. We mess around and try out different tactics and we don't really care about our KD ratio. Also, a lot of games have coop nowadays, which focuses more on playing together than on competing. Multiplayer isn't automatically competitive. But well, if your friends are only interested in their stats and how they perform, you might never enjoy mp as much...

skill can improve things, but not always

I try to avoid MP as much as i can, simply because I just don't have the time and dedication to be that good. When I do play MP, it's usually Co-op or with the very few friends on my list. But they're older gamers like myself (37) and even they suck at it nor do they have the dedication and time to invest.

And also this sums it up perfectly.

You can get those higher stats if you got some aim and just play strategically and cheap at all costs. you can stay behind your teammates and use them as bait, you can camp, you can allways play with a clan, you can allways play at daytime because at night time there are pretty much only hardcore players online which will affect your stats and rank in a negative way, flanking is also a good tactic but i don't consider that boring or a cheap way to play. So my point is, if you do all this and get a really high rank and with 5.0 k/d ratio etc.. will it prove that you are a smarter/cheaper player? The answer is yes, will you have as much fun as those runners and gunners? Probably not. And will those stats even matter to anyone? No they wont, only to your self maybe and if it matters that much go ahead and play smart and play cheap at all cost :D Follow these cheap boring tactically advices for 1 month or so and i can promise you your stats and rank will go up. If you are on top of your game though and are seriously good you don't need to play cheap, just more tactical and with god like aiming, headshot headshot headshot:)

this is why i stay away from some multiplayer games cause i know theres a lot of people better than me. Mostly FPS and RTS games i know to stay away from and just play single player. I'm above average in MMOs usually though, but not the best either.

You will never be the best either in online games, its all about practice and repetitive training. Also ping has a lot to do with some games also if you will be able to compete or not.

I think part of the reason why I started this thread is that multiplayer games have become more frustrating for me lately. Before I still had a rough time of it, but I think I had enough fun experiences over a great length of time to make up for the negatives.

Now it's really frustrating whenever I try to play things online. Maybe because I am a few years older now than I was the last time I sat down and played Halo. Maybe I'm losing some of the patience I used to have for it.

In Hearthstone, which I started messing around on for the first time in a few months, things seem kind of hit and miss. A really weird pattern I've noticed I've fallen into is that I'll lose a match, turn around and win the next match pretty smartly, and then get my pants handed to me in the third match. Maybe I do have a problem with thinking strategically, I really don't know, but it seems like other people have a better long plan than I do when they play games. I wonder who has more fun playing for sure, if that's the case?

In Minecraft of all things, I've even had trouble playing with other people before. One time a buddy set up a server for us, and I was really excited about playing it with him - thought about it for a few days. Then we actually started playing, and I was trying really hard to focus on the game, but everything was taking me a long time and I had trouble getting into it. And meanwhile my friend just wanted to talk about goings-on in his life, and I was pre-occupied with giving him good feedback, and somehow while he was talking he was able to simultaneously play the game better than me and mine more stuff! lol.

Over recent years, I think online gaming has taken some portion of my focus away from offline games, but most of my best memories are from single-player games. Last Fall I picked up Dead Rising 3 and I didn't regret that - I had a blast playing through that game. I can see myself going back and playing through it again, on a tougher difficulty, and trying to unlock everything I missed the first time around. I don't know if I'll ever get to fully appreciate the multiplayer expansion, by contrast, since it was essentially made for co-op play.

Dragon Age Origins was one of the most refreshing RPG experiences I've played in years. I still haven't played through the game, but I would like to - probably more than once.I would probably even enjoy DA2 better than most of the population that hated it. I'm enjoying Inquisition a lot. (My feelings are mixed towards its multiplayer, though I like some things about it.) Perhaps I'm just anxious for more lengthy campaigns to come along on the next gen of consoles. These days, there's just too many games made mostly for social play.

@rudeboyrg4: Considering you just bumped a post that is almost 2 years old, it's no surprise why you're so jealous of people who don't suck at games. I bet you're the type who runs in a straight line right down the center of the 'battlefield'. Oh what fun I will have scoping in on that tiny little head of yours and watching you rage quit.

I'm a little older than you and I'm also quite bad in competitive multiplayer games. It just not in me.

But I played some games online ... Star Craft, Unreal, Unreal Tournament 3, Diablo, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Borderlands 2, Bloodborne...

Not all competitive, I wasn't good at Unreal but I loved so much that I kept playing anyway. Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon was way too easy that I just gave up after a while because I always ended up on the top even in the loosing team so.

@Ovirew: Playing with other people is a unique experience. Completely separate from playing NPCs offline.

Players online can think for themselves unlike computer programmed "AI". Which cannot deviate from their pre-programmed actions.

Players often know where the exploits are and what works best. In COD there is a reason why 90% of players are all using the same gun after the first couple of weeks. It is because it is the best in terms of fire rate, power and accuracy.

Not only that some people spend literally their entire waking lives playing online. Or at least every spare second of their day. So their reactions will simply be better.

All of which coupled with elements of game design such as Activision's insistence of dumbing down and casualising COD every damn year. This means the games are shallow and easy to master. As opposed to a GOOD game which is simple but hard to master.

The last COD I played was Advanced Warfare and the amount of health you have in that game is fucking PATHETIC. It is literally one shot kill with any weapon. Most of the time you die before you've even had chance to react to the hit. So that means to get on top you either need to anticipate where everyone is going to be before they get there, camp in corners or be ultra lucky to get kills.

Then you also have the borderling conspiracy stuff such as developers deliberately making everyone lag in the game in order to even out everyone's score and make the little kids feel better about the fact they suck, by making them think they don't.

I don't enjoy online games anymore for this reason. Even in games which are fair there are always aspects beyond your control that **** you over. Connectivity, cheaters, game imbalances etc etc.

All I want is to play a game and be challenged, not screwed over by shitty game design and things outside of my control. A game should not be compromised because someone else in your lobby has shit internet.

I'm surprised to read so many people judging you and saying you suck. Could be that you just don't have the experience that the others have. Almost everyone isn't great at something the first time they touch it. It takes time to get good at online multiplayer games.

I'm also surprised to read that these so-called great players aren't being called out for being no lifers, and instead are praised for some reason. Obsession isn't good for anyone, and becoming good because of it while being rewarded with praise sends the wrong message.

Well, as someone else pointed out here, this is an old thread. Old, but still very much so valid, I'd say. I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since I wrote it.

On a related note, I recently had two coworkers bugging me to play League of Legends. I never have, and I doubt I am going to like the game. And it seems like my computer is having trouble downloading it anyway, idk. To me, I just feel like a lot of these more modern games are geared towards a newer generation of gamers.

The last "new" game I played and was enjoying was Persona 4 Golden. But even then, I eventually got a bit bogged down by repetition while searching for the girl in the strip-club dungeon. Still, it was good to play a game that was more down my alley. Maybe one of these days I'll pick it back up again. Maybe I just don't have the attention span for video games the way I did when I was a teenager?

@Ovirew: The game really is quite cool after Kujikawa Rise joint the group. After that you are either in for the good/perfect ending or you take the road to the bad ending.

Any truly competitive multiplayer (i.e. that which requires player skill and/or teamwork to succeed, which would rule out things like Call of Duty) requires tons and tons of practice in order to do well in.

In games like Counter Strike, there are so many sub-surface "systems" at play that only several hundred hours of play will reveal them to you.

tl;dr version:

@suicidesn0wman: I don't rage quit. The game would have to be important enough to me to matter enough. I go back to something that you may have a difficult time understanding. It's called a life and family. You have my pitty.

@suicidesn0wman: Actually I apologize. I really shouldn't have replied to you. I Just realized that the problem with ignorant people is that they're typically ignorant of their own ignorance. I don't expect you to understand that for obvious reasons stated above. But perhaps in the future you can attempt to be more cognizant of your own behavior when interacting with others online and in other social circumstances. I am sure it was you who flagged my original post for defending the topic creator from the "bully" who thought it was acceptable to call him an asshole and gloat at the prospect of harassing him over a stupid game that no normal person actually cares about. I know it is difficult for you to understand again, because of my first sentence, but most people don't care about this or other similar stupid games. They are pretty meaningless and most intelligent and diverse people have better things to do with their lives. However, your behavior and others like yours are incorrigible and only help to perpetuate a toxic environment in not only an online community but an overall community as a whole. Again, I don't expect you to understand any of this due to my first sentence because of who you are. But perhaps someone else will.

@rudeboyrg4: I didn't flag your post. I would also suggest you ponder the meaning of your first sentence as well.

If I responded in that manner, there was a reason for it. The fact your post got flagged by others AND removed after being reviewed by the mods only supports that theory. Add to that the multiple responses trying to insult my lifestyle and intelligence and you're just digging yourself an even deeper hole.

I have no apologies for my statement, and I never will.

This sums up me on games

I think when im online i just panic and rush everything and sort of overreact

Or i just suck

But I'm with you buddy!

Every game is different and requires different skills. Some people are better at FPS games than RTS games naturally. I'm better at FPS games than RTS games. For multiplayer games it requires practice because there are people playing who have more hours in the game than you do. If you wanna get good at a certain game just keep practicing and reading online strategies eventually you will get good.

Also some games have much better players than others. For example Rainbow Six: Siege has a higher skill level of players than Teamfortress 2. It is much easier to get a frag in Teamfortress 2 than it is on Rainbow Six: Siege.

The important thing is to ask yourself if you're having fun. Just keep having fun and practice, try not to take losing as a bad thing, learn from it and you will get better. Try to think why you lost and how you can fix it. If you can watch a replay of your loss you will become a better player. Warcraft 3 has a great replay system.

Probably you haven't put in the time and effort to 'git gud'.

I'm in the same boat; I usually don't care about being good at MP games, so I am not.

I am especially bad at fighting games, which is why I don't like fighting games.

When I really want to win a match in a fps game I usally have no fun at all. To much focus, but I do win.

Use a headset, put music in the game on off, put your sound on the highest you can bare, in most fps games yo uare able to use footstep sounds alot, and ofc focus on your game, if you have radars in your game try to look at it radar alot, most people don't mind using silencers, and when they do you'll be able to hear them anyway by the footsteps.

If it's something like Battlefield then I suggest... camp, how stupid it sounds. Camp and work your way forward. Patients :)

Other then that, I suck at any other genre ahha.

Also playing with friends is just distracting (imo) if I play with friend I try to say positions of enemies, and that's bad cus I have to remember saying that while focussing to get an enemy.

Your thinking oh not roblox again! But seriously its a fun game for me. There are many multiplayer games on there one of which is the fps genre. I dont even bother with this. I can barely reach the kdr 0.68 or something. I suck at them. I do myself enjoy mmos and I can be good at other sorts of games on that platform. If you really suck at them, try something a bit more casual like an rpg that allows you to decide your characters role and stuff, or a chat and party sort of thing.

Quite interested in this thread.

I am exactly in a similar pickle.

I've been playing games a lot my entire life but suck when it comes to anything competitive.

I reach my skill ceiling asap while normal people keep improving.

Regardless of how much I spend time in any genre of game, I only get better to a certain point and never improve compared to others.

IMO it's simply the casual chain; nature and nurture. Genetics plays a bigger part and that is YOU, that is US.

I do hope you have the mental fortitude to get "past" this if you're really like me who just can't advance reflex wise or quick thinking-wise like shrugging it off and moving to a more fun endeavor or keeping at it while still having fun.

GL (to us)!

The biggest point that people tend to miss when trying to be "Good" or even a top player when playing a video game is... Just playing. It sounds weird at first but if you sit and play a game for hours on end and lose a game and you say mentally to yourself "He's better than me, nothing I can do". That's the complete opposite of what you should be doing if you're trying to better at the game at hand. Observe how he is beating you, for example, a popular FPS right now is CSGO (Counter Strike: Global Offensive). You're playing against players that are obviously more experienced, if you get in a head to head 1v1 with someone, observe what he is doing and mimic it the next time you spawn; once you're put in the same or similar situation. You'll notice that if you consistently do this, you'll slowly but surely become better, because every time you run into that better player, you mimic his plays and eventually outplay him. And that's just a sliver of what you can do to better yourself as a player, you can do other things such as watching people who are already pro in the game, asking people in their livestream what they recommend to do in certain situations, among other things. You have to keep in mind that players who are actually "Good" or top, don't put a just few hundred hours in a game and get to that level, there's no such thing as a natural talent, its all hard work and dedication that got a person to their position (In terms of gaming), these players put THOUSANDS of hours into games. spend all day on the game, or if they have school/work, get on it IMMEDIATELY and play all day until bed. I myself am an Ex semi professional CSGO player, ex semi pro Dota 2 player, ex PRO Rainbow Six: Siege player, and a current PRO PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds player. I know what it takes to get to the level of professionals, I've been and still am in their shoes.

Two words: performance anxiety.