I have skills. You have skills. Everyone has skills. Skill is a measure of how good one is at a given activity. In video games, versus modes are always designed around some level of skill. The sum of your skills defines you as a gamer. This is why fighting or battling in games is so exciting. Instead of fighting in real life, or participating in some sort of physical activity, we clash safely and in the comfort of our own homes by playing games.
Now for the question. How do we measure skill? Does a professional Baseball player have more skills than a professional Basketball player? Does a a professional Table Tennis player have more skills than the world leader of professional Star Craft? Honestly, it’s hard to say. Some would like to automatically assume that established sports require more from people than a video game ever could. I’m not so quick to judge.<!--more-->
In order to shed any light on this issue, we have to be able to compare skill from one activity to another. This is assuming that Skills, or a significant element of skill, is universal. Regardless of what you’re skilled in, I’ve come up five elementary categories to describe any kind of skill.
<strong>Dexterity</strong>: refers to the physical manipulation involved in the activity. Sports involve moving the body. Video games involve inputs whether from a controller, bongos, a steering wheel, a guitar, or any other type of controller. The faster and more accurately you can use the controller, the more dexterity you have. Stamina is also a factor. The player who can go all out on DDR for an hour, has more dexterity than the person who burns out on one song.
<a href="http://typingtest.com/default.asp" title="Test Your Dexterity">Test Your Dexterity </a>
Competitive Smash has quite a high level of dexterity compared to other video games. The triggers, control stick, and C-stick are analog. This means that they take various amounts of pressure that affect the game in various ways. It’s much harder to achieve some levels of pressure quickly on an analog input device. All the rest of the buttons are digital. This means there’s only one way to activate the button. You’re either pressing it, or you’re not. It’s either on of off. If you of a keyboard as a game controller, it’s easy to see where the dexterity overlaps. My wpm averages around 97 with peaks at 120.
<strong>Timing: </strong>refers to coordination actions and events in real time. Catching a Baseball out of the air requires timing to catch the ball properly. Gravity is one of the most important factors for timing in real life. Gravity is always present affecting all objects and people equally. In games timing can involve “gravity” too. Timing jumps in Mario involves the game’s gravity. In music/rhythm games timing is obviously essential.
<a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/FFR_the_Game.php" title="Test Your Timing">Test Your Timing</a>
In Melee, everything takes time. Because the game runs in 60 frames per second, we describe timing in 1/60 second units called frames. Some attacks take1 frame. It takes some characters 3 frame just to jump off the ground. But even if you don’t think about timing in frames, you’re still aware of timing. Example. “FALCON” you know when you hear this that you have a small window of time to roll, shield, or attack before the “PUNCH!!!!!!!” The falcon punch is the same every time Falcon uses it. Just hearing the attack coming tells you how much time you have before things get dangerous. This is timing.
<strong>Knowledge:</strong> refers to any and all information, data, facts, theories, or ideas about a particular activity. In all sports involving balls, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli%27s_principle" title="Bernoulli's Principle">Bernoulli’s Principle</a> comes in handy. You might look at the math involved with this principle and become dizzy or faint just thinking about it, but there are other ways to understand its ideas. Table Tennis is a great example. By hitting the ball different ways, spin and direction can be added to the balls trajectory. Also, sports involve the human body which is a very complex machine. The more you know about how your body works, the better you can make adjustments to become a more efficient player. This is why some professional sports players have personal coaches, food/diet coaches, and fitness coaches. It’s all part of the game.
<a href="http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/video_games/super_smash_brothers_games/super_smash_bros_melee*.html" title="Test Your Smash Knowledge">Test Your Smash Knowledge </a>
With Smash, the body isn’t as dynamic or as important of a factor. Video games are mostly internal or mental activities. But, if you’ve been reading the daily smashbrawl blogs, you know that there is a lot to understand about this game. Each character, item, and stage has pages and pages of data to learn. Beyond that, there’s situational data, styles, strategies, trends, and theories that can be studied. The more you know, the better player you are. Knowledge is power.
<strong>Reflex:</strong> refers to how quickly a player can react to a condition or event. Hockey players have to react quickly and accurately to stop the flying pucks from entering the goal area. Tennis players have to react to their opponents swings and the trajectory of the ball to properly return the play.
<a href="http://www.reflexgame.com/" title="Test Your Reflexes">Test Your Reflexes </a>
Smash is a fast paced game where every sound and minute movement is important. My reflexes are about .177 seconds. Fast reflexes help when trying to powershield projectiles, wave-land, shield, edge-guard, and do just about everything else in the game. Ultimately, to play as or against a character like fox, reflexes are a must.
<strong>Adaptation:</strong> refers to how quickly and effectively a player can adjust to a new situation. Unlike reflexes, adaptation generally takes a much longer time. Gathering and analyzing data in the heat of battle is important. In some sports, it’s up to coaches to analyze the game and come up with plans that adapt to their opponents style of play.
In Smash, everyone has a unique style. No two people play exactly the same. Figuring out your opponents weaknesses and strengths is essential to winning battles.
Between these five elements skill can be measured and compared. Though comparing the skill levels between unlike activities is still complicated, comparing Smash to Smash has become a lot clearer. Stay tuned for <a href="http://smashbrawl.com/2007/07/08/skillz-part-2/"><em>Skillz: Part 2</em></a> where I’ll break down and explain the all powerful “mind game.”
Now for the question. How do we measure skill? Does a professional Baseball player have more skills than a professional Basketball player? Does a a professional Table Tennis player have more skills than the world leader of professional Star Craft? Honestly, it’s hard to say. Some would like to automatically assume that established sports require more from people than a video game ever could. I’m not so quick to judge.<!--more-->
In order to shed any light on this issue, we have to be able to compare skill from one activity to another. This is assuming that Skills, or a significant element of skill, is universal. Regardless of what you’re skilled in, I’ve come up five elementary categories to describe any kind of skill.
<strong>Dexterity</strong>: refers to the physical manipulation involved in the activity. Sports involve moving the body. Video games involve inputs whether from a controller, bongos, a steering wheel, a guitar, or any other type of controller. The faster and more accurately you can use the controller, the more dexterity you have. Stamina is also a factor. The player who can go all out on DDR for an hour, has more dexterity than the person who burns out on one song.
<a href="http://typingtest.com/default.asp" title="Test Your Dexterity">Test Your Dexterity </a>
Competitive Smash has quite a high level of dexterity compared to other video games. The triggers, control stick, and C-stick are analog. This means that they take various amounts of pressure that affect the game in various ways. It’s much harder to achieve some levels of pressure quickly on an analog input device. All the rest of the buttons are digital. This means there’s only one way to activate the button. You’re either pressing it, or you’re not. It’s either on of off. If you of a keyboard as a game controller, it’s easy to see where the dexterity overlaps. My wpm averages around 97 with peaks at 120.
<strong>Timing: </strong>refers to coordination actions and events in real time. Catching a Baseball out of the air requires timing to catch the ball properly. Gravity is one of the most important factors for timing in real life. Gravity is always present affecting all objects and people equally. In games timing can involve “gravity” too. Timing jumps in Mario involves the game’s gravity. In music/rhythm games timing is obviously essential.
<a href="http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/FFR_the_Game.php" title="Test Your Timing">Test Your Timing</a>
In Melee, everything takes time. Because the game runs in 60 frames per second, we describe timing in 1/60 second units called frames. Some attacks take1 frame. It takes some characters 3 frame just to jump off the ground. But even if you don’t think about timing in frames, you’re still aware of timing. Example. “FALCON” you know when you hear this that you have a small window of time to roll, shield, or attack before the “PUNCH!!!!!!!” The falcon punch is the same every time Falcon uses it. Just hearing the attack coming tells you how much time you have before things get dangerous. This is timing.
<strong>Knowledge:</strong> refers to any and all information, data, facts, theories, or ideas about a particular activity. In all sports involving balls, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli%27s_principle" title="Bernoulli's Principle">Bernoulli’s Principle</a> comes in handy. You might look at the math involved with this principle and become dizzy or faint just thinking about it, but there are other ways to understand its ideas. Table Tennis is a great example. By hitting the ball different ways, spin and direction can be added to the balls trajectory. Also, sports involve the human body which is a very complex machine. The more you know about how your body works, the better you can make adjustments to become a more efficient player. This is why some professional sports players have personal coaches, food/diet coaches, and fitness coaches. It’s all part of the game.
<a href="http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/video_games/super_smash_brothers_games/super_smash_bros_melee*.html" title="Test Your Smash Knowledge">Test Your Smash Knowledge </a>
With Smash, the body isn’t as dynamic or as important of a factor. Video games are mostly internal or mental activities. But, if you’ve been reading the daily smashbrawl blogs, you know that there is a lot to understand about this game. Each character, item, and stage has pages and pages of data to learn. Beyond that, there’s situational data, styles, strategies, trends, and theories that can be studied. The more you know, the better player you are. Knowledge is power.
<strong>Reflex:</strong> refers to how quickly a player can react to a condition or event. Hockey players have to react quickly and accurately to stop the flying pucks from entering the goal area. Tennis players have to react to their opponents swings and the trajectory of the ball to properly return the play.
<a href="http://www.reflexgame.com/" title="Test Your Reflexes">Test Your Reflexes </a>
Smash is a fast paced game where every sound and minute movement is important. My reflexes are about .177 seconds. Fast reflexes help when trying to powershield projectiles, wave-land, shield, edge-guard, and do just about everything else in the game. Ultimately, to play as or against a character like fox, reflexes are a must.
<strong>Adaptation:</strong> refers to how quickly and effectively a player can adjust to a new situation. Unlike reflexes, adaptation generally takes a much longer time. Gathering and analyzing data in the heat of battle is important. In some sports, it’s up to coaches to analyze the game and come up with plans that adapt to their opponents style of play.
In Smash, everyone has a unique style. No two people play exactly the same. Figuring out your opponents weaknesses and strengths is essential to winning battles.
Between these five elements skill can be measured and compared. Though comparing the skill levels between unlike activities is still complicated, comparing Smash to Smash has become a lot clearer. Stay tuned for <a href="http://smashbrawl.com/2007/07/08/skillz-part-2/"><em>Skillz: Part 2</em></a> where I’ll break down and explain the all powerful “mind game.”
So hurry up with part 2, I want to learn this “mind game”.
Anyways, I think I got the adaptation part down down, AT down, but everything else I have it pretty much down. Also, knowing how to handle yourself under pressure and in close situations is important=that is where I shine.