# Friend thinks he's the "best gamer"



## R2DJ (Feb 27, 2012)

I've known my friend, who is 21, for about 6 years now. I've always known him as a very down-to-earth humble guy who is very awesome to hang out with. That's him IRL. In the gaming world (Xbox Live), he seems to be an arrogant douche who thinks he's better than everyone, raging when the game doesn't favor him and throws out taunts like "I'm gonna report this guy! He keeps on beating me!" We played Assassin's Creed one time and he had this winning streak on being the first placer for about 5 matches, and I'm always second. Straight after I broke his "winning streak", he starts being a douche by constantly taunting me and even went low with "Hey, you know Internet bullying right?" I just left, not because I was affected, but I just got sick of his immaturity. 

We just managed to get a sesh on the same game again after a month of being busy with uni work and now he claims that he is "awesome" at everything and brags about how I am so enthusiastic with playing with him, then I end up quitting because I can't compete with him. 

So here's my theory: Do you think that he is acting like that because he's actually a gaming newbie. By that, I mean he has never owned any video game system because his parents never bought him one. The Xbox 360 is his first console. What I think is he's still going through the phase of "gaming maturity", if that makes sense. What I think is that since he hasn't had the chance to experience gaming when he was a kid, he's in that child-like phase. 

Have you had any friends who are completely fresh in the video game scene and acting the same way as my friend? Is there such things as a phase like the one I described? If there is, I would say that I've completed since I've been gaming for 10 years and I just play for fun. Don't care about competition, but if you rub it in, I'll complete with you.


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## jimmyemunoz (Feb 27, 2012)

Your friend is just extremely competitive at this point in his life. No need to psycho-analyze the situation. If anything set a boundary with him, telling him what you expect from him when you play together...and let him know the consequences if he doesn't abide by your boundaries. You can only do this if you are fully prepared to enforce the consequences....which could mean possibly losing a friend, if his immaturity were to transfer to his personal relationships. Good luck.


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## Rydian (Feb 27, 2012)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone


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## Hells Malice (Feb 27, 2012)

I had a friend worse than that, but he was actually good at FPS. He was the funniest person to play with because one minute he'd be getting tons of killing and he'd be pumping out insults en masse, and as soon as he dies he flies into a blind rage of how the person is lagging, the game mechanics are broken, the person is cheating, or some other thing. I have some hearing problems now and i'm pretty sure it's from listening to him yell into his mic. While hilarious...it wasn't pleasant to the ears, ahaha.

It might be a phase. It's possible, but i'd say it's more likely that that's just who he is. He's an incredibly competitive person. A very loud competitive person.


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## ShadowSoldier (Feb 27, 2012)

R2DJ said:


> I've known my friend, who is 21, for about 6 years now. I've always known him as a very down-to-earth humble guy who is very awesome to hang out with. That's him IRL. In the gaming world (Xbox Live), he seems to be an arrogant douche who thinks he's better than everyone, raging when the game doesn't favor him and throws out taunts like "I'm gonna report this guy! He keeps on beating me!" We played Assassin's Creed one time and he had this winning streak on being the first placer for about 5 matches, and I'm always second. Straight after I broke his "winning streak", he starts being a douche by constantly taunting me and even went low with "Hey, you know Internet bullying right?" I just left, not because I was affected, but I just got sick of his immaturity.
> 
> We just managed to get a sesh on the same game again after a month of being busy with uni work and now he claims that he is "awesome" at everything and brags about how I am so enthusiastic with playing with him, then I end up quitting because I can't compete with him.
> 
> ...



liek lolol! liek i'd luv 2 liek c him pleh like call of duty.


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## Depravo (Feb 27, 2012)

Sounds like the textbook definition of a 'sore loser'.


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## AlanJohn (Feb 27, 2012)

This is the internet.
Everybody here is hardcore and a n00b.


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 27, 2012)

Hells Malice said:


> He's an incredibly competitive person. A very loud competitive person.



Sounds familiar.

I'd just say he's a douchebag. If you enjoy gaming then how good you are is completely irrelevant. A lot of people enjoy basketball but they can't play in the NBA for shit.


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## DiscostewSM (Feb 27, 2012)

Anyone who thinks they are the best gamer probably isn't.


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## Zetta_x (Feb 27, 2012)

He's probably an unknowingly sociopath. The reason why you haven't seen that side of him after 6 years is because he can manipulate how you see him during general activities. However, when he is caught up into gaming, the illusion he maintains for the general public wears off revealing who he really is. Just the fact you think he is a down-to-earth guy hints that he puts on a mask when he is in public. Also, the fact that he tries to convince you of his ideas further hints of sociopathic ways. Although, he's not a true sociopath because it seems that his unwillingly manipulation skills are rather weak.


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## Rydian (Feb 28, 2012)

For that theory, I'd say "not practiced" instead of "not true".


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## Cyan (Feb 28, 2012)

He thinks he is the best gamer (only) because he can compare to other users.

Let him play solo games instead of multiplayer.
He should face himself (RPG, Tactical, strategic games, actions, shoot'em up, etc.) and play for himself and not to show how great he is to others.


There are still sore looser who will think "the computer is cheating !" instead of facing they played badly.
And there are people who are just looking for pride to feel superior.


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## FireGrey (Feb 28, 2012)

My friend is like that, he started at PS2.
The best thing you can do is just be normal with it, have fun by rubbing their faces in it when you win.


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## Rydian (Feb 28, 2012)

Cyan said:


> There are still sore looser who will think "the computer is cheating !" instead of facing they played badly.


Well to be fair a lot of the time the computer does cheat.

Hell, Nintendo _patented it_ for mario kart.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=aT-pAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false


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## Veho (Feb 28, 2012)

Rydian said:


> Well to be fair a lot of the time the computer does cheat.
> 
> Hell, Nintendo _patented it_ for mario kart.
> http://www.google.com/patents?id=aT-pAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false



 


I _knew_ it


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## Cyan (Feb 28, 2012)

They even patented mario kart algorithm?  


Well, sometime the computer cheats too: In fighting games, it can chains multiple hard_to_make_with_a_controller movements without delay or difficulty.


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## Nah3DS (Feb 28, 2012)

If I had an 360 with XBLA I could show your friend that his not the best gamer beating his ass at Street Fighter II (that's only game that im good at )
really.... I suck at everything besides Street Fighter II... I guess that's because I only play RPGs

wow the mario kart algorithm!


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## Sterling (Feb 28, 2012)

Hells Malice said:


> I had a friend worse than that, but he was actually good at FPS. He was the funniest person to play with because one minute he'd be getting tons of killing and he'd be pumping out insults en masse, and as soon as he dies he flies into a blind rage of how the person is lagging, the game mechanics are broken, the person is cheating, or some other thing. I have some hearing problems now and i'm pretty sure it's from listening to him yell into his mic. While hilarious...it wasn't pleasant to the ears, ahaha.
> 
> It might be a phase. It's possible, but i'd say it's more likely that that's just who he is. He's an incredibly competitive person. A very loud competitive person.


We totally have the same friend. He yells into the mike at kill cams because he wants the other person to hear his cursing. I don't know where he gets some of the words lol.


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## Taleweaver (Mar 1, 2012)

Rydian said:


> Cyan said:
> 
> 
> > There are still sore looser who will think "the computer is cheating !" instead of facing they played badly.
> ...


To be technically correct: a computer opponent _always _cheats in some way (it's the way they are coded: they usually have to be programmed for things like human errors).

It's not what you mean, though. You're probably refering to AI's literally being granted the right to break the physical boundaries within the gaming world (eg.: it's not cheating to path a computerized racing car driver to drive perfectly. However, it would be cheating to allow him/her to get speeds the real players will never reach no matter what they do).



EDIT: as for the thread...I don't have much experience with gaming with RL-friends. It sometimes happens on board games too, though. I wouldn't say it's their deeper self. Rather a part of him/her that is triggered that way. Same with driving a car: you sometimes have people who are nice and friendly, until they get behind the wheel...and start swearing, tailgating, flipping people off and do things like that.


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## Presto99 (Mar 1, 2012)

@[member='R2DJ'], is this the same friend that took your $8? If so, he sounds especially like a butt. I'm not sure which course of action is better though: ignoring him or telling him to stop...


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## R2DJ (Mar 1, 2012)

Presto99 said:


> @[member='R2DJ'], is this the same friend that took your $8? If so, he sounds especially like a butt. I'm not sure which course of action is better though: ignoring him or telling him to stop...


Nope, a different one. That money fiasco has been solved BTW, with him paying the full amount.


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## Wizerzak (Mar 1, 2012)

Simple answer: beat him. If he accuses you of cheating just go round to his house and play on his terms with no lag and beat him again - soon he'll learn who the "best" gamer.

Also, slightly irrelevant but; if anyone's lagging it's probably him, seeing as the internet here in the UK is pretty crap in general.


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## R2DJ (Mar 1, 2012)

Wizerzak said:


> Simple answer: beat him. If he accuses you of cheating just go round to his house and play on his terms with no lag and beat him again - soon he'll learn who the "best" gamer.
> 
> Also, slightly irrelevant but; if anyone's lagging it's probably him, seeing as the internet here in the UK is pretty crap in general.


I'm gonna bring up some things that might help with the story.

Although he says he's awesome and he's the best, I can sometimes make him ticked off when I beat him. I'd say we have the same gaming skills (good at Assassin's Creed, FPS noobs, racing beasts). I remember him inviting me to play Need For Speed Hot Pursuit and he was way ahead of me (I was Rank 1, practically just started the game at that time). Weeks later, we played again and he was still on the same rank and I have actually finished the career mode and maxed out the levels. He had this losing streak where he kept crashing, "bitch-busted" and getting wrecked by other players which led him to giving up the game, ranting on how unrealistic Need For Speed is and how Forza is much much better. 

I also remember that one time (forgot the game that we played) when I got a much, much higher score than him and he was second place, he said "I see you have a higher score than me... I don't like that." The moment he said that, I just laughed it off. Straight after that, I have done a very high scored kill on him and he _raged. _He went RAAAGGHHHHH over the mic, went silent, and quietly laughed. Me and my friends just laughed at him.

Lastly, he might think that he is the best gamer because back when we started playing together (when he started having Xbox Live), he kept on going on about how he was at the Top 10 of the leaderboards on AC Brotherhood for about 2 weeks. Remembering that, it made me think that since he got the next game after Brotherhood (which is Revelations), he hasn't really made it to the top of the leaderboards. I'm guessing that's why he's a bit ticked off that he can't show to people that he's "the best"? 

Maybe I'm over-analyzing. Why not?


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## thiefb0ss (Mar 1, 2012)

Guild McCommunist said:


> Hells Malice said:
> 
> 
> > He's an incredibly competitive person. A very loud competitive person.
> ...


I agree I play Team Fortress 2 and may other FPS games. Eve though I'm always at the bottom half of the scoreboard I still have fun and keep coming back.


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