Friday, July 7, 2006

Gaming and sexual orientation?
So, I was playing Halo the other day with one of my roommates, who likes the alias Daisuke, and his friend. I haven't played Halo sober and clean in so long, that I had almost forgotten why I didn't actually like that game. Then, this incident reminded me–it's not that good. Superficially, it looks all right, until you realize how bland everything really is. The game play isn't quite as engaging as other FPSs, like Far Cry or Half Life, and there's a serious lack of strategy that just makes it so hard to enjoy for extended period of times. [/tangent/review]

Anyway, that isn't what really bothered me about this incident. I lost, and the almost stranger looked to my roommate and said, "This is why fags shouldn't play games." I glared at that guy, and I probably would have done something regrettable, had Daisuke not stepped up.

Daisuke at that point, very quickly turned off Halo, and said, "Let's play something else. I'm in the mood for Guilty Gear." I pretty much understood what he was doing, since he despises that game (thanks to me). I watched Daisuke and his friend play a little, so I could get a feel for the friend's style. He played as Chipp Zanuff and abused the teleport–how predictible is that?

After watching three or four fights, I finally stepped up, and all the while the idiot was taunting me. I chose to play as Zappa, and I started off the fight by powering up for the instant kill. It's not that I had any intention of using it (since it's a little hard for 6' 1" Zappa/S-ko to hit the midget Chipp Zanuff); I just wanted to waste my overdrive bar (I had something to prove to this guy). Well, I attempted the move just to get it out of the way, and the idiot ran into S-ko's hand! He wasn't amused, but I was. I actually got that move off on a human opponent!

I offered him a rematch, with the same characters. I skipped trying to not use my overdrive. He still didn't like me much, since I managed to get Zappa and the dog to flank him. I only changed mukade once in that fight. After that, he left, abrubtly, and at that point, Daisuke was laughing pretty hard.

The lesson here? Sexual orientation doesn't matter in gaming. Hell, it doesn't matter in anything, if you think about it. (And hey, at least I'm not as angry as I was before. Two years ago, I probably would have punched the guy in the jaw without thinking about the consequences.)

Rihito


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