I’ve mentioned this a couple of times on the site, but there are a handful of genres that are complete weak points for me — I’ve never really been sucked into an MMO or an RTS for example. But what are your gaming weak points? What genres have you sort of avoided, or are scared to try?
Sometimes games can feel a little intimidating. Particularly if its a genre that expects you to come in with a series of understandings. When I play RTS games I understand why my parents are completely put off games. It makes assumptions about what you know and don’t know, things most gamers simply take for granted.
Have you ever felt intimidated by an entire genre or series? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments
55 responses to “Tell Us Dammit: Your Gaming Weak Points”
Games that require me to not be terrible at them are my kryptonite.
Tasty, tasty kryptonite.
I am completely shit at: accuracy based competitive FPS (CS etc), MOBAs and competitive RTS.
Pretty much any MP game that requires quick reflexes or remembering excessive shortcuts/processes.
RTS (Star Craft), and whatever you want to call LoL or DOTA2. I know they are great games, but I just suck at them because I’ve just never picked them up and now they are advanced to a point where I don’t have the time to commit to getting better at them. Besides, I could be playing Dark Souls instead…
If you accept that you’re going to lose a lot and just focus on working out how to play, you can dive into those games and become competitive fairly quickly.
There are a lot of terrible Starcraft players in bronze league.
Unfortunately, it is a time commitment and if you’d prefer to spend that time doing something else, then that’s all there is to it. Even as someone that regularly watches Starcraft and Dota 2 streams, I still don’t put in the time to not be terrible at those games.
Competitive multiplayer, including e-sports and the like. Not a fan. (Don’t mind coop though.)
Yeah I guess thats what I was getting at, anything under the category eSport.
+1
I would have to say FPS… i totally suck at them. even more so if i am trying to play on a console, i always end up shooting the sky or my feet..
I’m in fear that I will lose my life if I ever start playing an MMORPG, I’ve got too much stuff to do to get sucked into something I know will probably be very very fun, but ultimately lead to nothing.
I feel the same except I think that an MMO will probably only be just fun enough to keep playing.
That’s how they get you!
Sports games hold no interest to me. I’m also not a fan of isometric and top down games. Whether it be an RTS, MOBA, RPG etc, if it’s played zoomed out and at an isometric or top down angle, my interest in it plummets to near zero.
Most FPS games and pretty much RTS games. Don’t have the reflexes nor the ability to micro-manage.
Because of that I mostly stick to easy games like Half-Life for FPS and the Spell Force series for RTS.
JRPG’s… I attempted to get in on the FFVII hype train back on the PSone days and even a second attempt with FFVIII later on… Really just not a fan of the turn based gameplay.
Turn based- what about things like Civ?
Pretty much the same, I’ve always been a console gamer, so I guess I’ve just associated JRPG to this type of game as it was kinda my first real exposure to it.
Just found that it was just a little slow for me, I can appreciate the tactics and planning behind it, but yeah… Though I probably could stomach Civ and XCOM, as they still chug along, JRPG’s are generally bloated and drag along.
Fair enough- JRPGs are an acquired taste (and I’ve not played one for years)
I’m with you and the RPGs (not restricted to the J variety). I think it’s an attention span issue.
Not all JRPG’s use a turn-based battle system. Have a go at what they call “Action RPG’s” (even though I hate that term). Go old school and track down Secret of Mana on the Virtual Console, or go more modern and check out something like Tales of Graces or Star Ocean 4. Also, you could probably consider Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls JRPGs too.
Also, a lot of modern JRPG’s don’t use a “traditional” turn-based battle system like you see in something like Final Fantasy VII, but create interesting hybrids between turn based and real time. Have a look at Tales of Symphonia and Xenoblade Chronicles for examples.
I’ve never been a dudebro/twitch shooter. Reflexes and accuracy aren’t good enough. Prefer FPS with a slower pace/other mechanics (DX:HR, Dishonoured, Borderlands)
Online multiplayer with randoms. Deathmatch isn’t so bad, I might spend the majority of my time waiting to respawn but I only have to look out for myself. Playing any sort of team/coop with randoms is terrible though because I end up playing with people who live and breathe the game while I’m mostly useless and get abused. It reminds me of playing sport in school…
I have always sucked at Sports and Fighting games, although I have never really had any interest in them. Also, despite playing RTS games when I was young (Dune one the SNES, original C&C and original Red Alert on PC) I am still terrible at RTS games.
In general, I believe I’ve played and enjoyed pretty much all game genres at some stage in the past. I grew distant from one genre as I grew older though. I absolutely suck at fighting games. I used to play em quite a bit but the more I realised I just wasn’t getting any better, the more I avoided them because I hated losing. I’ve never totally agreed with the mantra that practice makes perfect. There will always be some things in life that a person can’t become awesome at despite all the practice – fighting games is one of those things for me. My brain just doesn’t comprehend what to do. Button mashing and down foward+punch is pretty much the limit to what I can do.
Getting slaughered by opponents over and over again is a pretty big reason why I avoid something. Another genre that fits into that category are MOBA type games. I’m not actually too horrendous with MOBAs but there are a lot of people out there who can still destroy me repeatedly and for that reason I just can’t get into the groove of things.
There are literally no games that I am actually good at anymore. Thinking, reflexes, spatial awareness… I was so much better at all this stuff when I was a kid. The only thing I can do better now is process more information more quickly… but oddly, I suck worse at RTS now than I did then. Le sigh 😛
Thank god games these days aren’t very demanding 😛
I suck at all games, however I especially suck at sports and racing games, and those generes don’t motivate me to perservere.
I don’t like turn-based RPG’s, you attack and then you have to just stand there while they attack you. Sorry, but I just don’t see the fun in that, it’s just frustrating.
I’ve never liked RTS games either, that is until I tried Pikmin a few weeks ago.
Also don’t like anything online, I just don’t like playing with people that I don’t know in real life.
I like pretty much anything else.
Only one genre I can’t stand; flight sim/dog fighting. I’m 100% rubbish at those games. My time on the Apache demo will forever haunt me.
most driving games can’t do turns properly or stay straight for that matter. anything that requires a quick reaction or the objective is just kill each other
RTS games. Call me unskilled, buy if I can’t grind so that I’m fifty levels above the next boss and kill him with a flick of my wrist, I’m not interested.
I’ve avoided playing any kind of MMORPG. The genre just doesn’t really interest me. I don’t mind a good single player RPG, but the MMO variety does nothing for me.
I’ve also avoided playing Minecraft…not because I think it’s bad, but because I’m afraid of the amount of my life that will be wasted away playing it if I start 😛
Sports games, MOBAs, Most sim/life sim games (with the exclusion of stuff like DCS flight sims), visual novels, Strategy games with economy/macro sort of things like Crusader Kings or Civilization – although I’m giving them my best shot and starting to get it.
Never touched an MMO yet and have no plans to. Just doesnt sound like a good time.
Amen to that
Realistic racing games. When I have to drive 2 hours every day I don’t want to sit behind the wheel of a virtual car when I get home. Love me some Mario Kart though. Flight sims, I can’t even pilot the helicopter or jet in Battlefield 3 properly and I bought a joystick to help. Never played a Madden or other american football game ever and have no desire to.
That damn heli in battlefield… to this day I have no idea how to control the bastard. Good thing I stopped playing bf!
Rts, mmo and pc fps. I just suck.
Not really a genre, but I have no interest in general, public multiplayer games. I play DOTA 2 weekly with friends, but if they’re not online I’ll just stick with the AI.
The few times I’ve tried public multiplayer games they’ve been fairly hostile, so I’m over them.
Anything that requires an insanely high degree of precision and micromanagement. Like, I can play an RTS, but not one where I have to be constantly tweaking shit and making groups and using advanced battlefield tactics.
Games like Ninja Gaiden baffle me because it’s like you have to do everything perfectly and you can never stop moving and it just does my head in. Same with fighting games when played competitively. Using combos and stuff, sure, but some people learn to juggle you and completely exploit OP characters and I just can’t be bothered. I’m just not that kind of gamer.
Juggles suck. I love Tekken, and I’m reasonably good at it, but there is nothing that annoys me more than a feature that allows the opponent to completely destroy me without my input having any effect for the duration of their combo.
Anything that requires a subscription can lick me where I poo.
RTS’s and MOBA’s, dont have the interest to micromanage in RTS’s, and with MOBA’s i dont understand teh whole, click in circles till the enemy is weak, then gank them… seems completly wrong to me, and not at all fun.
Spectrum only games.
Anything that considers good gameplay sufficient (ie. the be-all and end-all). A game needs to be more than good mechanics in order to interest me. This covers competitive multiplayer (with the added affliction of empathising with the losing team/player), and anything “designed for multiplayer” (which is a cop out for bad game design, imo – watching paint dry is “more fun with friends”, that’s why they’re your friends). That said, I’m trying Borderlands 2 again…
And anything that demands an inordinate amount of time to become passably good, because (a) these games tend to be extremely mechanics-focused, and (b) I don’t have that amount of time anymore.
Bioshock is my weakness. I’m probably the only one but no matter how hard I try I just can’t get my head around the various “spells” and fail a trying to play just like a normal twitch FPS. I get lost in the menus and equipping system easily and just quit.
Multiplayer fighting games and RTS games. Single player I’m fine with going up against the PC, but if I have to bring my skills to online lobbies, I’d hold the record for fastest loser – I am that bad.
Mainly because I have bad reflexes.
I’m far from an expert, but I think anyone who relies on reflexes is generally going to be out-played by someone who plans ahead and anticipates their opponent’s next move.
Multiplayer FPS’s that have no choke points. I can’t deal with CoD, but I’ve racked up my fair share of double headshots in CS.
Anything based on reaction time or rhythm. This includes (but not limited to) schmups, fighting games, endless runners and SMB style and twitch shooters like cs.
Turn based role playing
Point and Click adventures
Anything where you have to cast spells
Sports games
Any MMO!!!! I hate them. I also hate anything with loot! Sorting through endless items just drives me nuts. I do like having items to collect and customize though, so I don’t mind softer RPG’s like the Mass Effect series.
Also RTS, I am a perfectionist, not a speed demon. So I love the base building aspect but constantly get slammed by players who can seemingly do in 5 minutes what it takes me 2 hours to do. Happens a lot in Star Craft.
realistic racing and flight sims
MMOs cos I don’t got time for that
PC point and clicks (I distinguish this between stuff like Layton and Ace Attorney on DS which I bloody adore)
Realistic drivers (how the hell do I drift D: ???)
Realistic spots games (prefer arcade/stylised sports game)
Any other game I can play with a high amount of interest and ability. That said I will admit side scrollers bore me very easily (despite the fact sonic and mario were my first games like most kids my age) though I’d rather play a side scroller than one of the above.
I don’t like simulators of any form, sports games, mobas or rts. I don’t mind rts at lans though.
I never play sports games, just have no interest in them. Until recently I also thought I didn’t like turn-based strategy games, but I gave XCOM a go, played it through to the end, it’s fantastic!
Shooting, I can’t aim for crap and it seems every game is a shooter now 🙁