So…who really has the skills?

12.14.04  Hello again everyone! I’m back after another long delay. Things have been pretty hectic for me lately, I’ve just finished Final Exams at UCF and I’m off for a month so I have some time on my hands lol. Today’s article will be quite different from my usual run of the mill deck type discussions. I’m going to be discussing the increasingly controversial topic of assessing the skill level of any given player. Okay, I know what you’re thinking…who the heck does this guy think he is? Who says he knows how skillful a player really is? These questions are so common among many players of any TCG. So you’re not the only ones with your egos acting up lol. This also paves the way for me to discuss another increasingly common problem in YuGiOh, and that is a player’s ego.

First I’m going to start off with a quote that I always use and picked up in my experience playing this game: “No matter how skilled you think you are, there will always be someone as skilled as or more skilled than you are.” Now at this point if you have gotten offended or can’t accept this statement, STOP READING and just move on to something else. You are wasting your time reading this by being offended and not keeping an open mind. Plus you will be wasting my time and your time emailing me and telling me how much you dislike this statement. The problem with most players in YuGiOh is that they are very egocentric. Sadly, many players of this game cannot accept that quote because they think they are on top of the world. With all of their tournament wins or small victories they have gained, they use that to promote themselves as being “better” than you in this game or even go as low as belittling you; uttering the most immature of all statements anyone can make “You Suck.” Believe or not these are the players that take it the hardest when they lose to someone who has more skill than they do and they take it personally. They take it as an attack to their self worth or something of that nature and get upset.

What I have just mentioned is what we call “sore losers.” This is common everywhere in this game especially since it is relatively easy to pick up and develop some kind of skill quickly in it. All of you must realize that skill is something that can diminish over time for many reasons. Perhaps you don’t play as much anymore, or your life doesn’t allow for much hobby gaming, or losing interest in the game, etc. Those are reasons that are often times out of your control.  But what I have found to be the most decisive factors in the diminishing of skill is complacency, cockiness, arrogance, and having TOO much fun. Yes, there is such a thing as too much fun because that leads to laziness and that leads to not taking a certain situation seriously when needed. That also leads to making the wrong moves that will cost you many games, but you had “fun” doing them. There is a fine line between enjoying this game and having fun in this game. And I apologize for my misuse of the word “fun” in my previous articles, as I meant for you to enjoy the game as much as possible but still take it seriously when need be.

Now I’m to address the effects and causes of complacency, cockiness, and arrogance. Complacency refers to a player becoming “lazy” with their game. What I mean is that most players that are successful in this game often let their egos take over and allow themselves to think that they do not need practice and that they are unbeatable. So they being to not try as hard as they used to or they may not make the “right” moves but instead make dumb moves and expect the opponent not to catch them. The problem with this frame of mind is that the minute your opponent figures out and takes advantage of the fact that you made a dumb move; it will already be too late for you to recover from your mistake. This frame of mind is very prevalent in the YuGiOh community because this game is so simple that it allows for many mistakes to be made and the opponent not being able to capitalize on that mistake since the games are not as tight as other TCGs.

Matches in YuGiOh are often not decided on one false move like in Magic: The Gathering, or Marvel. One mistake in those games can cost you an entire match before it even gets past the first turn. The competition is so fierce that this is something that is known by all players of those games and separates the better players from the average ones. I know to some of you this may sound ridiculous and completely absurd, but I assure you that this does exist and is more common than you realize. An even more interesting fact is that while you are reading this you may realize that you are one these complacent players who are slowly losing their skill as the days go by.

Cockiness is also another concept that is largely present in the YuGiOh community. This concept is closely intertwined with arrogance. Most people don’t realize that cockiness is NOT confidence. Cockiness is arrogance and they have dual meanings. Cockiness only falls short of arrogance because cocky players know they are good and use that to make others feel insecure about their skill. However, the subtle difference is that arrogant players actually say this and express this verbally, cocky players use their body language and in game plays to make you feel this way.

Confidence, on the other hand, is self knowing or self awareness of your skill, but…you do not carry yourself in a way that makes other feel insecure. Confident players are the ones that retain their skill and help their opponents enjoy the game rather than make them suffer. Confident players are the ones that don’t have to show or say they have a lot of skill, you just pick it up and you just know just by looking at them.  It is very important that many players try to understand this. These subtleties are recognized and occur so quickly that most players do not even realize that it happening.

Confident players have a lack of insecurity in their game. You can tell that win or lose, these certain players will not get angry or make any excuses for why they lost or won; they simply just accept it and move on. These players don’t let arbitrary things like winning or losing determine their skill level or let the opinions of other immature commentators affect them. They know that they are good and have nothing to prove to anyone but themselves. This paves the way to another problem with 95% of players in this game.

A lot of players always think they have something to prove to someone else and not themselves. Many players love to seek the approval of others by winning, talking about winning and just plain being arrogant about their skill. What most people don’t realize is that this shows that you are an insecure person and you need someone else to tell you how good you are or you need praise to make yourself feel better about yourself. This concept also leads to a positive attitude about your game play. Are you starting to see how this all links together?

Being more positive about your game play ands skills will largely improve your own skill. This is something that is lacking in this gaming community since everyone is always trying to get others to approve of them and their skills. The key thing to remember is that you DO NOT need others to make you feel good about yourself. You have all that you need right in your own head. You just need to learn how to kind of think outside the box and get your positive attitude from knowing that you are a good player and maybe you need more practice or may need a little help with your deck. There is NOTHING wrong with needing some help since no deck is perfect and can always improve. So think about it for a moment, at the end of the day…what really matters to you most? What other people think about you? Or what you think about yourself and your abilities as a player?

What I am trying to bring out the open is awareness. We must all be aware that there are players out there who use their skill to put others down and make them feel bad. Some do it without even realizing it. When it really comes down to it, we really know who has the most skill and those are the players who don’t even mention it and are just generally confident about their game play. They make others feel good about their skill and help them realize that they can always improve because perfection is a hopeless dream with no end. The best way to get into this frame of mind is to really understand that no matter how good you think you are, there is always someone out there who can be or is better at the game. We all must take losing and winning as learning experiences and not take them as boosts or downers in our confidence. Because when you take every situation as a learning experience, there is no limit to what you can do as a player and as a person.

Well that’s it for me; I would like to ask all of you readers to email me with your feedback and opinions about this topic. I would love to hear what you have to say about this topic and your experiences on the road to becoming a great player. Here’s my email address: deathjester86@yahoo.com  See you next time! Remember, be confident in your game and just enjoy it. In other words, have a little fun with it and just relax.

P.S. I apologize to all of those who have emailed me and I haven’t responded to. I’m now on winter break so I will be able to answer your emails quicker this time around.