have you played games specifically to get better at them

i play a ****load of games

but i rarely ever play JUST to get better at them

with the exception of lumines live (back be4 i could get all the achievements with one hand tied behind my back) and contra (and after i got the "beat the game withoutcontinuing" achievement, i never played it again) on xbla

and currently ikaruga

now i played farcry instincts predator, splinter cell chaos theory, and COD4 so much that i eventually became "leet", but i never played to get better.

have you? (not saying its bad either way, just asking)

Definitely Rock Band.

Other than that, getting better is a sideproduct of playing the game, not the reason.

Some games become so difficult, that that's what it feels like sometimes. >_>

Geometry Wars. When the Xbox 360 first came out, I'd play for at least an hour a day trying to get better and climb the leaderboards.

I used to play Tetris (NES) alot to improve my score...and some online sports games(mostly NBA2K, and Madden)I would play to get better and dominate people...but most other games, if I played enough to be a master at it, I already beat it, or got bored with it, or most likely both....there are very few games that I could play thru a second time to be a master at it without getting bored with it.....fighting games (offline) I can play to get better for a while anyway...online sports, I can play the whole season till the next year game comes out..

Yes I have. Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Call of Duty 5; I play them all to get better.

I bought Super Mario World to get better at platformers.

I knew it would at least help, but I was surprised how much better I got after playing the trickier zones. It was really night/day on my playing ability.

A friend of mine still hates me for wiping out all of his top scores in Star Fox 64 with my own.

I also make an effort to play Ikaruga at least once a week. Chaining is tough.

I only play games to get better at them with fighters.

devil may cry 4 because jump/attack cancelling weapon/style switching mid combo is actually so difficult but once you get it down it looks amazing.

Ninja gaiden black. The game whooped my ass at first but once I got into the groove I really started to appreciate the combat.

I most definitely what you would call a recreational gamer, bought soul caliber iv and started playing on line after about 3nights of getting my arse kicked, I started to play the game solo to improve my game .... didnt help still crap and sill getting arse kicked everytime I log on :P. Except for that most games I buy because they look fun or interestin to play by the time you would say I am good at the game is usually the closing cut scene. My problem is a short attention span, I buy so many games get about half way through and then buy another one and get hooked on that without finishing the last

I used to do that in Guitar Hero, but I came to the conclusion that it was just a colossal waste of time. Now I just aim for enjoyment. :P

Street Fighter 4. I'm so bad. :(

Just about every fighting game I was into.

Getting better and getting "leet" is kind of different lol. I think almost everyone plays games to get "better", in the full sense of the word. With any sort of game, unless it's a braindead-jump-in-have-fun kind of game, you get general practice as with anything in life. If I just started COH, I wouldn't destroy anybody if I didn't know what I was doing. After a few games, you have already gotten better than when you first started.

Plus, it's no fun to suck at a game, everytime you play not getting better :P

Now, the only time I have "trained" is in Halo: CE. Back then, you had to bring it all to the LANs. This was when I had a lot of freetime, so I actually sat down in front of my TV, plug in an extra controller, and mess around with damage, weapon combos, map locations... I think it paid off. But I hardly have time to game competitively nowadays :(

For games that I like and that have good multi, yeah I try to get better. It's fun being good at games.