Levelling Up – A Local Uprising

Welcome back to Levelling Up, the one stop shop to find some knowledge diamonds in amongst the rough journey to being a better player. This time we are asking the question: what is competition without competitors? Be it with a friend, at a local gaming cafe, or even starting your own scene, it’s important to push yourself and find a rivalry with others to be a better player. It doesn’t have to be an aggressive rivalry but one you should aim for either way. It’s the best way to gauge how far you’ve come along.

It’s easy to assume you’re the best there is when you play with nobody.

You’ve probably never lost to the training dummy, but it’s venturing out of your comfort zone that will teach you a good lesson or two. If you can stomach some of the horrendous netcodes in some of our most beloved titles, you might notice that you weren’t quite as good as you thought. I assure you, this is a good thing. Over time, even when you are losing, you learn the match-ups at a basic level and get to blame lag every now and then from some unexplained bullshit that totally wasn’t your fault. But fighting underwater will only last so long and I normally have a guilty after-thought that the match was fine for me so I must be the laggy bastard bringing everyone down.

The next logical step would be to have friends over, or maybe you already do. If so, that’s great, and it is definitely a step in the right direction. Playing locally offline is one of the best ways to get better. When something unexplained happens, or when you lose when you thought you had the upper hand, the opponent is sitting right next to you.  Unlike online his response won’t be “suck it noob u mad sux”. Depending on your circle of friends you might only get a good few games with three or four people who will have their own play-style and character. After a while it won’t hold up because you all know each other inside and out and will eventually have very little new to bring to the table.

This is where your local scene becomes vital. It’s not your friends and they certainly don’t know every move you are going to do. It’s where the winners become heroes and the losers go home. Nobody will pull punches, but it is not out of malice. In the beginning of going to a regular event, intentions are usually to be social and to be the best. No one is there to teach you everything but people will help where they can. Their advice might be your make or break opportunity. The toughest part about finding a scene can either be finding one or building up the courage to show up. But once you do, it will be one of the best experiences you can have.

And for those of you proclaiming that there are no local scenes: look further afield. Hell, start your own! Maybe your local scene doesn’t quite play your game but they have probably given it a shot and could just be waiting for more like-minded players willing to play another title. So why not take your game with you when you go and try to find a few people to play with? If that doesn’t work start your own. It might be hard at first but given enough time or notice you could set something up in a local Gamerbase, or something similar, and play games there with friends at set times. Maybe even hold your own tournament. There are a good few people up in Scotland who perpetuate the stereotype further and meet up in bars to play Super Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Find a venue, set a time, and watch it grow. Spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr at school or university, wherever you can. You aren’t the only person playing the game even if it does sometimes feel that way.