Fighting gamers hold a special place in my heart, you know, that part that everyone thinks is really obnoxious. Well the worst thing about fighting gamers are how they claim to be the "best" at every single fighting game. Everyone who I have ever met who claims to be the "best" at a particular game has about a 90% chance of sucking so hard that light can't escape. The other 10% are Korean and God himself can't match their inhuman capabilities. I try not to be elitist, but the next person I bump into who says they are "unbeatable" in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and selects three Cables just deserves the beating about the head and neck which invariably follows.
I'll never forget the time I went to a gaming "party" (I wish that quotes could be stronger, because calling it a party is somewhat of a stretch). The "party" revolved around fighting games, which are some of my favorite games for the free-wheeling unapologizing friendship destroying tendencies. No other type of game literally has a "Warning: May Destroy Friendships" sticker right on the front (check next time, its true!), except for maybe World of Warcraft. Anyway, on to the party. It was a small cadre of pale, greasy "gamers" who believed themselves to the god's gift to Capcom. They licked their lips and wrung their sweaty hands as they selected Shotokans over and over. If you criticized them for their lack of variety, they were quick to point out the fine differences between Ken and Ryu which almost makes them different characters, (you know, the hair gives Ken a slightly larger hit frame, It's true I read it in GamePro!). God forbid someone pick a character which diddn't wear a Gi. Overall, during the approximately five hours of the party, a non-shotokan was picked a total of three times. Twice were Chun-Li and the third was Zangief which I believe was by mistake.
The ultimate irony of this party was really, how horrible these kids were. One of their strategies was to throw fireballs over and over again, and what is worst, that was actually an effective tactic. One would think that picking the same character over and over would somehow enable that person to learn the ins and outs and perhaps get good to some degree, but not these guys. I somehow managed to sit the entire time with a pained look of disdain on my face and watched the entire time. Once or twice I was challenged and picked Dhalsim and won mostly to the roaring of "cheapness" or whatnot.
I'm not trying to come off as being elitist, but I think if you want to call yourself a hardcore gamer then you should at least back it up with a skill, diversification and at least some degree of humility.
Or is that too much to ask?
