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>Game designers often deploy a technique called “dynamic difficulty adjustment”. In many games, the software assesses a player’s skill and rebalances various at

by xor1 10y ago

>Game designers often deploy a technique called “dynamic difficulty adjustment”. In many games, the software assesses a player’s skill and rebalances various attributes of the game accordingly, to keep the game fun and manageable for those of less ability. Gamers early in their careers, or who are simply struggling to pick up the skills necessary to succeed, are given a helping hand; their world might be more generously strewn with useful power-ups, for instance. As players advance, these helping hands are withdrawn. This sounds really silly, but I honestly consider being thrown into the deep-end when learning how to play Tribes 1 (I started playing in 1999) and DOTA (started 2004) as a child greatly benefited my overall mindset and attitude as I grew older. I think I qualify as a videogame addict. I've probably spent more than 1/3 of my waking hours since I was nine years old gaming. I'm approaching 5000 hours on DOTA2 alone since 2011, though I've played significantly less games in general within the past three years due to finally being employed. Programming feels just as good, and I get paid on top of it. I think my social development was stunted, but I feel like I'm mostly normal now as an adult. I really don't have any regrets, and I plan to give my kids completely unrestricted access to their own computer and the internet as soon as they want it, barring any laws or regulations that prevent me from doing so legally.

deleted 10y ago
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captain_crabs 10y ago
I have pretty much the exact same experience with Dota. I think there's one thing it teaches better than any other game that's exemplified in your post. If you want to get good at Dota, you have to accept responsibility for yourself and the decisions you've made to get you to where you're at. At first in the small setting of the game, but as this gets drilled in over and over through all the hours of play, the habit grows outside the game. It's proven a surprisingly good barometer for me on how I'm doing in my life. When I'm taking care of myself and actually growing elsewhere, even losses are fun. But when I'm running from something, the wins feel empty. I also notice that when I meet a 5k+ mmr player in real life, we're immediate friends, simply because they've accepted responsibility for themselves and have interesting theories on the world as a result.

by xor1 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

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captain_crabs 10y ago

I have pretty much the exact same experience with Dota. I think there's one thing it teaches better than any other game that's exemplified in your post. If you want to get good at Dota, you have to accept responsibility for yourself and the decisions you've made to get you to where you're at. At first in the small setting of the game, but as this gets drilled in over and over through all the hours of play, the habit grows outside the game. It's proven a surprisingly good barometer for me on how I'm doing in my life. When I'm taking care of myself and actually growing elsewhere, even losses are fun. But when I'm running from something, the wins feel empty. I also notice that when I meet a 5k+ mmr player in real life, we're immediate friends, simply because they've accepted responsibility for themselves and have interesting theories on the world as a result.