"Competitive" gamers who impede development of a game...

[Stormcaller3801]

Winning at all costs is an interesting idea, because it raises some questions about ethics in gaming. After all, 'at all costs' suggests that cheating is acceptable. So is doing something that's blatantly not intended by the developers, but possible if you exploit the code or rules. It's something that deserves a long and thoughtful discussion, focusing not only on whether it's ethical in and of itself, but also on why we game and how this hypercompetitive attitude may ultimately affect those goals. It should probably also involve terms like 'social contracts' and who actually determines how a game is to be played- the developers or the playerbase.

I think it also deserves to be discussed by someone who is more awake than I am.

As for Sirlin, I find it rather hard to respect anyone who feels it necessary to assign derogatory and insulting nicknames to a group of people because they don't do things the way he prefers them to be done. It's an innately hostile worldview and one that by its very nature is going to accomplish little save make that hostility contagious.

[JimmyChopblock]

[JoesCrabShack]

[Stormcaller3801]

[JoesCrabShack]

[Stormcaller3801]

See, I don't see a difference. It's determined through tournament play- but that's basically a group of people deciding that the character is cheap, and thus making a rule that he won't be used.

Let's say I have a group of 30 friends, and we all play Soul Calibur. And we decide a particular character is broken and agree not to use that character. Then someone else comes along and plays the character and wins. We call that cheap. According to the descriptions, we're scrubs.

Now let's say that I have a tournament of 30 people playing Soul Calibur. And at the end of the tournament, someone wins because they're using a character who nobody else can beat. So we all decide the character's broken and agree not to use that character. Then someone else comes along and plays the character and wins. We call that cheap. According to what's been stated, we're not scrubs, because we determined this in tournament play.

The only difference there is entirely subjective, and it depends upon people deciding tournament play is somehow superior, and more acceptable than normal play.

[JoesCrabShack]

[CrashFu]

[Stormcaller3801]

[JoesCrabShack]