Friend thinks he's the "best gamer"

[R2DJ]

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.

 

[jimmyemunoz]

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.

 

[Rydian]

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

 

[Hells Malice]

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.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

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.

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

 

[Depravo]

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

 

[AlanJohn]

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

 

[Guild McCommunist]

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.

 

[DiscostewSM]

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

 

[Zetta_x]

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.

 

[Rydian]

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

 

[Cyan]

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.

 

[FireGrey]

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.

 

[Rydian]

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

 

[Veho]

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

 

[Cyan]

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.

 

[PolloDiablo]

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!

 

[Sterling]

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.

 

[Taleweaver]

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.

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.

 

[Presto99]

@[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...