Being good at shooting doesn't make you good at games

[beemoh]

http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2008/02/unreal-means-ju.html

Former Marine fails at Unreal Tournament.

Or: Games don't make you good at paintball.

[Twin-Skies]

http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2008/02/unreal-means-ju.html

Former Marine fails at Unreal Tournament.

Or: Games don't make you good at paintball.

Now that I think about it, all those years I've had as a kid playing FPS didn't teach my anything about how to aim with iron sights, stabilizing the gun, or handling the recoil. In short, the minute my dad taught me how to use a rifle, I shot like a drunk.

On the reverse of that, however, learning how to use an air rifle back in college taught me tons about how to play a sniper in an FPS. :D

[Thefremen]

Yeah, I've said it a few times, I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with a .22 at 20 yards in spite of years of playing FPS games.

BTW, UT at the pro level requires you to do a variety of acrobatic moves which are unique to the series.

[georox]

I dunno... I'm pretty good with a Nerf Nitefinder...

[steelcobra]

There is one case, however, where it crosses over:
http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product1725.html
Which uses a joystick/screen system so the gunner is inside the vehicle.

[MUTANT SPUD]

Now that I think about it, all those years I've had as a kid playing FPS didn't teach my anything about how to aim with iron sights, stabilizing the gun, or handling the recoil. In short, the minute my dad taught me how to use a rifle, I shot like a drunk.

On the reverse of that, however, learning how to use an air rifle back in college taught me tons about how to play a sniper in an FPS. :D Video games in general teach us nothing about the real world because they are not realistic, at best they are simulations and even the best simulator is no preparation for the real experience. Using firearms in real life is nothing like FPS just like playing golf is nothing like Tiger Woods 08.

[ezacharyk]

I am a pretty good shot. I have always done well in scouts and any casual shooting I have done since then. I have yet to go hunting though.

The sad thing is I suck at FPS games. Those twitchy games that require you to run around and shoot other people who are running around. Yeah, I can't hit the broad side of a barn in those games.

But real life shooting. I am pretty good. So long as I can wear my glasses and target with my left eye.

I tried paitballing once and had to borrow a mask. The mask did fit around my glasses so I had to take them off and I couldn't shoot anyone. Boy did that suck.

[steelcobra]

I am a pretty good shot. I have always done well in scouts and any casual shooting I have done since then. I have yet to go hunting though.

The sad thing is I suck at FPS games. Those twitchy games that require you to run around and shoot other people who are running around. Yeah, I can't hit the broad side of a barn in those games.

But real life shooting. I am pretty good. So long as I can wear my glasses and target with my left eye.

I tried paitballing once and had to borrow a mask. The mask did fit around my glasses so I had to take them off and I couldn't shoot anyone. Boy did that suck.

You must have huge glasses then...

[ezacharyk]

You must have huge glasses then...

No. My glasses aren't that big. It was mostly a problem with the mask. The guy I borrowed the mask from doesn't wear glasses, so he got one to fit his face. If I were to buy or rent one, I would get one to fit around my glasses.

[mopman411]

This can be said as with most anything, just because you think you know how to do something doesn't mean you really know.

For instance, I went with some guys to play paintball, the first time I went I watched and was offered a chance to get in the field with them. I sucked big time, but with practice I got better. I tried to relate paintball to CS:S, but they were nothing alike.

In the gaming world, I don't know, most every game where you aim a mouse is pretty much the same. It trains you to make a split second decision and react with a click, press a button to reload, pull out your knife and run faster then you could with the AK as you find another ot kill.

The preparation of the body can never be experienced from a game, maybe a little know how on things but even thats far stretched as games are, for the most part, linear and the world is far from answers that are "knowns".

[MUTANT SPUD]

This can be said as with most anything, just because you think you know how to do something doesn't mean you really know.

For instance, I went with some guys to play paintball, the first time I went I watched and was offered a chance to get in the field with them. I sucked big time, but with practice I got better. I tried to relate paintball to CS:S, but they were nothing alike.

In the gaming world, I don't know, most every game where you aim a mouse is pretty much the same. It trains you to make a split second decision and react with a click, press a button to reload, pull out your knife and run faster then you could with the AK as you find another ot kill.

The preparation of the body can never be experienced from a game, maybe a little know how on things but even thats far stretched as games are, for the most part, linear and the world is far from answers that are "knowns". I've got one of those fantasy Race days booked in May, my family gave it to me as a birthday present. I wonder if all those hours of Forza and TOCA Race Driver will help me pilot a V8 Falcon racing car for 5 laps...I suspect not :D

[ConstantNeophyte]

I've got one of those fantasy Race days booked in May, my family gave it to me as a birthday present. I wonder if all those hours of Forza and TOCA Race Driver will help me pilot a V8 Falcon racing car for 5 laps...I suspect not :D

After agreeing that shooting ability in a game and in real life have very little to do with each other I must say that NFS Underground 2 actually helped me understand braking around corners in real life a lot better... go figure.

[MUTANT SPUD]

After agreeing that shooting ability in a game and in real life have very little to do with each other I must say that NFS Underground 2 actually helped me understand braking around corners in real life a lot better... go figure. True, from playing driving games I have a better understanding of the correct line to take through a corner but we'll see how I put it to use at 200kmh...I remember Jeremy Clarkson from Top gear trying to emulate his GTA4 race on the real Laguna Seca....Observe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wlrNrfXDKo

[ConstantNeophyte]

True, from playing driving games I have a better understanding of the correct line to take through a corner but we'll see how I put it to use at 200kmh...I remember Jeremy Clarkson from Top gear trying to emulate his GTA4 race on the real Laguna Seca....Observe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wlrNrfXDKo

No need, I've watched the episode. I remember him scaring himself in the NSX.

All very well trying to do 200 kph round a right angle corner when you can use a wall to steer like I do in NFS :D but I'd rather not find out how hard it is to do in real life...

[mopman411]

No, I don't see video games helping in any way. They cannot capture the full aspect of the G's effect on the body, the torque from high rpm pushing the car up off the road to float on air, to thrill and shrill of taking a corner at 90mph hoping that your tires hug the road. There is no game that can help with that. You feel the heat coming from the engine, the smell of the breaks, the bitter choking plum of smoke from tires screeching across asphalt. nothing can prepare a person, in a video game or in person. Each time is different, no aspect of any road course/race/drift/burn out, anything, is ever the same. Preperation is only as good as knowing the car your driving, the rpm range that responds to the road the best for you, the rubber on the ground and the enviroment around you.

I speak from driving a 97 Z28 with mods that topped at 193-200 flat, depending on conditions(ie: temp, wind direction, uphill/downhill, fuel load, passangers, traffic, ect ect) The only thing that is best is pratice pratice pratice with your own equipment. ----SOOO OT THERE

[ConstantNeophyte]

Blah, blah, blah; I speak from driving a 97 Z28 with mods that topped at 193-200 flat, depending on conditions(ie: temp, wind direction, uphill/downhill, fuel load, passangers, traffic, ect ect) The only thing that is best is pratice pratice pratice with your own equipment. ----SOOO OT THERE

All I was saying is that games like NFS speed gave me a better understanding of good corner techniques (and the difference between RWD and FWD). Not taught me what cornering at 150kph was like (had to find that out on my own :D).

[MUTANT SPUD]

All I was saying is that games like NFS speed gave me a better understanding of good corner techniques (and the difference between RWD and FWD). Not taught me what cornering at 150kph was like (had to find that out on my own :D).
I agree, like all simulations (NFS would be a simulation of how to drive like a lunatic) driving games or flight sims can only give you an idea of how to approach the task at hand. I for one would chicken out at that speed on the road, We'll see how I do on the track with a roll cage around me and a 5 point harness, a good simulation can take you into the fantasy of a race, and for the most part I'm satisfied with that. Some things, like war you dont really want to get close to if you can help it, but an effective and realistic sim can reveal to you, in part at least, what is required of a soldier.