Can You Game In Front Of People?

deathrider

The reason I ask is because I'm currently living with a few of my mates. In order to play online, I have to bring the Xbox downstairs and hijack the sitting room for a few hours. I don't mind doing this, and my housemates don't mind either. What gets me though, is that I can't seem to play very well when the others are in the room. Even though they are paying no attention to me or the game on the screen, I kinda feel like I'm being watched, and this totally throws me off my game. Now if I'm gaming with a few mates where we are all playing against each other or in turns, I have no problems. It's just when there are people simply hanging out around me.

Does this happen to anyone else?

krudler

depends on the game tbh, online games are different as you can have your off days, something I've played loads before no problem. I remember playing stuff like Street Fighter 2 and not noticing a crowd until you get to the last 4 bosses, then its all pressure when the screen goes black and you notice a half dozen people reflected in the cabinet screen lol

RobertFoster

I've noticed my typing suffer sometimes if people are watching me. As for gaming, not really. It's more likely someone will come talk to me when I'm concentrating on a game, leave again, and then a few minutes later I'll realise what they said or I'll wonder if they were actually there.

I think I feel more pressure if I'm the last player alive on a multiplayer team. I know the rest of my team are watching exactly what I'm doing; I'll either mess up badly (stupid miss/suicide) or win really well. Either way the tension can be high.

Daemos

Back in the PS1 days I kicked a$$ playing WCW Mayhem, being told over and over again that I'd lose. I showed them :cool:

Now though, any time someone says something I have to pause it so I don't lose concentration

ShadowHearth

Hmmm I would just suggest you to buy your own telly. They are cheap now.

As for someone watching. I love it! Funny enough when I play online shooters my misses allways watching me play. She constantly spotting enemies that I miss. She saved my arse 100 times already lol. My friend accuses me of cheating all the time lol.

Agricola

I had a weird habit back in the day of improving massively while playing PES when people were watching or just talking to me.
I was often locked in a heated 1-1 with a friend of mine and then someone would walk in the room and start talking to me. Id somehow manage to run rings around the opposition and score. This used to drive my mate nuts and made the win all the sweeter!

Emmm, maybe the person talking distracted my opponent? Oh well, I still won, thats all that matters!

tonydude

Doesnt bother me as long as there quite, i feel the pressure though when im playing cod and im last on my team and my teammate send '' your going to die'' messages.

Mikeyt086

I beat the defending FIFA Interactive World Cup champion in London in 2005 in front of about 250 people. But I had headphones on and had my back to them. Still felt creepy though, having a near miss and hearing people go "Oooooh!".

Grayditch

Nah I love showing off.

However, without fail, when I say, "Oh, check this out", whatever I wanted to happen ... won't.


...and the game will freeze.

And I'll look like a pleb.

Creamy Goodness

is this the super nerd version of cubicle stage fright?

Glico Man

Only when I play in front of the opposite gender does my gaming skills go awol... understandable to be honest.

I can remember a BFBC2 game where I was learning the ropes flying a helicopter. When one of the lads walked in I was a master of the skies taking down everyone, but when one of the girls walked in I was colliding with buildings, flipped upside down and committed several squad kills

Don't mind playing in front of a lot of people though. Played in a PES tournament a few years ago at the Emirates and it was the same as Mikeyt086 though when you can hear a large crowd of people going 'oooh' at shots, its quite unnerving tbh...

Magill

Nope, years of playing competitive cs online and on lan helps.

Mr.Saturn

I can, and I'm fine. Of course, 'til it all goes wrong and then I'm a nightmare to be around. Like earlier, I was having issues with my 3rd party Dreamcast controller whilst playing Street Fighter III: Double Impact i.e. wonky d-pad/wonkier input and then woosh, my flatmate was getting accussed of being an anti-semite who drowns babies for sport. Equally as unpalatable when I do beat the game too, but that's another story altogether.

deathrider

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Hmmm I would just suggest you to buy your own telly. They are cheap now.

I've got one in the room (I wouldn't mind, but it's bigger than the one in the sitting room, lol), I just can't run my Xbox online from there. I need to pick up one of those wireless jobbies.

Hmm, seems that nobody (or at least very few people) suffer from this. It never bothered me back in the arcade days, I used to love having a crowd and the bit of attention that came with it. I must be just getting old

Harps

Dont like playing certain games like slow moving rpg games, I always feel the need to be doing something meaningful if someone's watching instead of just randomly messing around and immersing myself in the game.

On the other hand games like FIFA, PES etc I have no problem with, I've played countless tournaments in front of a lot of people and always just play my own style of football

ShadowHearth

deathrider wrote: »

I've got one in the room (I wouldn't mind, but it's bigger than the one in the sitting room, lol), I just can't run my Xbox online from there. I need to pick up one of those wireless jobbies.

Hmm, seems that nobody (or at least very few people) suffer from this. It never bothered me back in the arcade days, I used to love having a crowd and the bit of attention that came with it. I must be just getting old

Adapters are 45 quid now. Droped in price alot!

I presume it's a pain in a ring to disasemble and put it up all together everydingle time when you have an urge to kill or kick ball around...

AnCapaillMor

Its not a question of can i play, its more of a question can people put up with being ignored.

v3ttel

When I'm playing FIFA and someone walks in the room and starts talking to me about something unrelated, I'll instantly concede a goal.

But if someone walks in and just watches the game, I'll be fine.

jamezy

I've never given it much thought but i have to say I'm a private gamer. Don't do MMO stuff, Don't do multiplayer and definitely don't play in front of people.

Other people ruin the ambiance! Guess im just a loner!

deathrider

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Adapters are 45 quid now. Droped in price alot!

I presume it's a pain in a ring to disasemble and put it up all together everydingle time when you have an urge to kill or kick ball around...

It's a right pain. So, I've just been spending most of my time playing single player games, and just occasionally going Live. Clocking up a meesly two or three hours per week Live.

jamezy wrote: »

I've never given it much thought but i have to say I'm a private gamer. Don't do MMO stuff, Don't do multiplayer and definitely don't play in front of people.

Other people ruin the ambiance! Guess im just a loner!

I agree and disagree with you there, dude. I think it completely depends on the game in question. Left 4 Dead (for example) has little or not atmosphere when played alone. The fun behind that game is working as a team with you friends- Helping each other out, watching each other's backs, and so on. Fighting games are tons more fun when fighting against human opponents than against the computer. However, there are plenty of games where humans suck all the feeling out of it too. I honestly can't imagine what kinda multiplayer element was thrown into Dead Space 2 for example. I've only played the first one, but surely it wouldn't have the same effect of isolation and fear if there were others there with you.

Potential-Monke

deathrider wrote: »

I've got one in the room (I wouldn't mind, but it's bigger than the one in the sitting room, lol), I just can't run my Xbox online from there. I need to pick up one of those wireless jobbies.

You need to get yourself a Homeplug, stick one plug into a socket (not an extension lead) and plug the router into it, and the other plug beside your xbox and ethernet to it! Simples.

Jazzy

yeah. once i was kicking ppls ass at street fighter 2 on a 30 foot projector above a bar on south william street

jaykhunter

my game def gets worse with people watching than playing alone, just being conscious of 'performing'! usually i can't game seriously when people are around since i generally only play single player games and want to pay attention; which means cutting myself off from everyone else in the room. So i'd just faff about not really doing missions.

Twilightning

Never really had problems playing in front of people, in fact I quite enjoy it sometimes. Kicking people's arses on a huge plasma TV at Tekken 6 at Eirtacon last year was quite satisfying, and at the same place I played drums on Rock Band in front of a small crowd. "Are ye a real a drummer or wha'?" (I am) I used to play this game at the Leisureplex when they still had it when I was around 13-14 and I pretty much mastered it and I'd always have crowds watching me. I haven't played it in years though, nowhere has it.

Doctor DooM

You should pick up competitive gaming if you're having that trouble, earlier this year I was on the main stage of the WGC in Cannes playing in the top 8 of Marvel vs Capcom 3 and although there were several thousand people there and a stream being watched worldwide soon as the game started there was just me and the screen.

K.O.Kiki

Do what everyone sane does: blame online lag.

LOUDLY.

Doctor DooM

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Do what everyone sane does: blame online lag.

LOUDLY.

THIS TV IS LAGGING!!1!!

K.O.Kiki

Doctor DooM wrote: »

THIS TV IS LAGGING!!1!!

It totally was!

deathrider

Doctor DooM wrote: »

You should pick up competitive gaming if you're having that trouble, earlier this year I was on the main stage of the WGC in Cannes playing in the top 8 of Marvel vs Capcom 3 and although there were several thousand people there and a stream being watched worldwide soon as the game started there was just me and the screen.

I reckon I'd have to be a lot more skilled than I actually am at games to indulge in the likes of that. But fair play on not missing a chance to brag there :P

shannon_tek

Yes for few seconds still the controller vibrates then amazingly the world disapears. literally ppl could be having a conversation with me and i dont notice.so its mixed. startled more if anything.

Flojo

I barely got to play my Xbox in the last year. My TV was always made the main TV in every gaff... there was always tonnes of people in our sittingroom watching TV. I just felt it would be rude of me to take over the TV and start blasting away. I'm never making that mistake again!

K.O.Kiki

deathrider wrote: »

I reckon I'd have to be a lot more skilled than I actually am at games to indulge in the likes of that. But fair play on not missing a chance to brag there :P

The funny thing is, Doom was actually rubbish -- he just didn't get stage fright like the other guy

deathrider

shannon_tek wrote: »

Yes for few seconds still the controller vibrates then amazingly the world disapears. literally ppl could be having a conversation with me and i dont notice.so its mixed. startled more if anything.

Strange thing is, if it's one of my mates that's a gamer himself, I could have a full blown and incredibly indepth conversation with him while not missing a single beat in the game. But when the people in the room are not gamers, I'm swiftly reduced to being a sh1te player

elekid

Possibly because you're more concerned about what non-gamers will think of the game, or what they'll think of you for playing it, so you become more self-conscious and end up making mistakes as a result?? It's interesting!

ShadowHearth

elekid wrote: »

Possibly because you're more concerned about what non-gamers will think of the game, or what they'll think of you for playing it, so you become more self-conscious and end up making mistakes as a result?? It's interesting!

That's actuolly a great point. I loved playing bayonetta, but I was allways praying that misses would not walk in to room and see me playing it.. Damn I prefer get cought watching porn then bayonneta. Good game thought

Doctor DooM

deathrider wrote: »

I reckon I'd have to be a lot more skilled than I actually am at games to indulge in the likes of that. But fair play on not missing a chance to brag there :P

That's the biggest misconception people have about gaming competitively.

There's a full range of skill levels at these things, from the worst to the best.

Playing competitively of course is about trying to get better, but there's no bottom level to playing in tournaments- in fact, if you did want to play competitively you should hit one up early on, because what they do do is show you what level you're on and what you should do next.

It's not about how skilled you are now, it's about enjoying competition and camaraderie.

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

The funny thing is, Doom was actually rubbish -- he just didn't get stage fright like the other guy

Lol I have never claimed otherwise, I learned 3 day one tactics and delibrately trolled the crap out of the tournament But yeah, I did well against alot of people because they were losing their heads.

Robert ninja

Some games I need to be alone with and others I'm normal with even if people are watching. I can usually play pretty well on DMC4 even if people are watchin' me and oddly GTA5 for whatever reason.

It all comes down to my mood though, really. People watching me will throw me off if I'm simply in the mood to be playing on my own and if I'm feeling very social while playing a game I can actually hold meaningful conversations while gaming fairly well.