Sean Sands: The Achievement Gap
Sean Sands over at Gamers with Jobs posted this fantastic piece in his Maximum Verbosity column regarding a subject I have thought a lot about in recent days.
“…Much as I may long to engage in a game like Demigod, Halo Reach or Team Fortress 2, even the most cursory effort to dip a toe into the multiplayer spaces reveals the hideous truth that a substantial population have, in my absence, dedicated themselves to the glory of the game in ways usually reserved for religious rituals. To attempt to breach their holy sanctums of online space is like trying to talk theology with the Pope by continuously referencing Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a Christ figure. Not only are you going to get beat, but you’re probably going to be asked to leave.
…For even the well trained, much less the best, playing me in one of these games apparently has the same effect as drinking a cup of warm milk and cuddling under a blanket on the couch.
For fragile egos like mine, this is not a desired outcome.”
I think my complete lack of Left 4 Dead 2 and Halo 3 play can be attributed to exactly the reason’s Sands discusses. It’s also, I suspect, the main reason I have little to no interest in Reach.
Good reading for any day of the week, let alone a Friday. Check it out.
