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Is it just me?
For the past couple of months, I've noticed a trend. I'm not sure if it says more about me or the people that I'm observing. I never noticed it before, but games like Guitar Hero (GH) and Rock Band (RB)are really making it noticeable.
I enjoy playing GH and RB a lot. It's less about the competition of it and more that I just like the way the games play. It's just fun. Because of this I have a tendency to gravitate to the displays of them in stores. I like to watch other people play and if it's not busy I like to show off a bit.
What I've noticed is everybody elses complete lack of ability to play these games. I'm not the best of players, but I understand the concept behind Guitar Hero; you pick up the control, fret the note and strum to make it play. I've seen guitarists in my life, so even if I didn't play a little bit of real guitar I would instantly grasp the concept. I have yet to see somebody that has never played the game pick it up and start playing correctly. I'm not talking playing well, I'm talking people can't even grasp the concept of fretting the notes and strumming at the same time.
I've seen people strum without fretting. I've seen people fret without strumming. Have these people never seen a guitar. No concerts? No music videos? No friends or family who plays? No music education in school? It's not advanced concepts we are talking it's the very basics. How can somebody be so clueless to not even understand the concept even once it is explained to them?
What brings this to mind now is that it is Thanksgiving, and that means my family was over and they played Rock Band with me. But first let's go back to Easter when Guitar Hero 2 was out for the 360. My cousin, a fairly good guitar player tried to play and didn't understand the concepts. These people aren't gamers, but I figured a guitar player would understand he had to fret the note and strum to play. I can allow a bit of learning and figuring out WHEN to strum based on the note chart scrolling, but not even getting the concept? Dubya Tea Eff?
The drums caused them no end of troubles tonight, but I can allow for that. The drums are the hardest part of RB to get started with. There is no limited note charts for lower difficulty, you use all the pads and the kick pedal even on Easy. BUT, they did understand the whole drum concept (actually having any rhythm whatsoever is another story altogether) so I know they are familiar with music of some type. So why is the guitar part so hard to get?
Is it just me? I jumped right in and started playing. Sharon can verify, she was there the first time I played GH1. She saw me pass the first song I ever played. I hit clinkers and failed my share of songs when I was getting started, but I inherently knew to fret the note and strum the bar. I even understood the concept of WHEN to strum the notes. I knew what to do and all I had to do was get better at it. Why do others have a terribly hard time understanding this concept. More people would probably love the games if they could understand the mechanics of it, but they get frustrated and self conscious in front of a display demo and then walk away without a clue of how fun it actually is.
So my question to you, readers and fellow gamers. Is it just me? If you have played either game, did you you struggle with the basic concepts? I have a tendency to overestimate peoples abilities based on my own, and I really want to know if I'm doing it again because I just can't believe the human race is as clueless as it looks to me most of the time. (It's not just GH and RB either, there are many reason why I feel this way.)
I enjoy playing GH and RB a lot. It's less about the competition of it and more that I just like the way the games play. It's just fun. Because of this I have a tendency to gravitate to the displays of them in stores. I like to watch other people play and if it's not busy I like to show off a bit.
What I've noticed is everybody elses complete lack of ability to play these games. I'm not the best of players, but I understand the concept behind Guitar Hero; you pick up the control, fret the note and strum to make it play. I've seen guitarists in my life, so even if I didn't play a little bit of real guitar I would instantly grasp the concept. I have yet to see somebody that has never played the game pick it up and start playing correctly. I'm not talking playing well, I'm talking people can't even grasp the concept of fretting the notes and strumming at the same time.
I've seen people strum without fretting. I've seen people fret without strumming. Have these people never seen a guitar. No concerts? No music videos? No friends or family who plays? No music education in school? It's not advanced concepts we are talking it's the very basics. How can somebody be so clueless to not even understand the concept even once it is explained to them?
What brings this to mind now is that it is Thanksgiving, and that means my family was over and they played Rock Band with me. But first let's go back to Easter when Guitar Hero 2 was out for the 360. My cousin, a fairly good guitar player tried to play and didn't understand the concepts. These people aren't gamers, but I figured a guitar player would understand he had to fret the note and strum to play. I can allow a bit of learning and figuring out WHEN to strum based on the note chart scrolling, but not even getting the concept? Dubya Tea Eff?
The drums caused them no end of troubles tonight, but I can allow for that. The drums are the hardest part of RB to get started with. There is no limited note charts for lower difficulty, you use all the pads and the kick pedal even on Easy. BUT, they did understand the whole drum concept (actually having any rhythm whatsoever is another story altogether) so I know they are familiar with music of some type. So why is the guitar part so hard to get?
Is it just me? I jumped right in and started playing. Sharon can verify, she was there the first time I played GH1. She saw me pass the first song I ever played. I hit clinkers and failed my share of songs when I was getting started, but I inherently knew to fret the note and strum the bar. I even understood the concept of WHEN to strum the notes. I knew what to do and all I had to do was get better at it. Why do others have a terribly hard time understanding this concept. More people would probably love the games if they could understand the mechanics of it, but they get frustrated and self conscious in front of a display demo and then walk away without a clue of how fun it actually is.
So my question to you, readers and fellow gamers. Is it just me? If you have played either game, did you you struggle with the basic concepts? I have a tendency to overestimate peoples abilities based on my own, and I really want to know if I'm doing it again because I just can't believe the human race is as clueless as it looks to me most of the time. (It's not just GH and RB either, there are many reason why I feel this way.)
It's not just you. I've noticed it, too. Now, I'm not the most coordinated gamer but even I got it just by watching. The kids, too.
I also notice it when I'm teaching adults computer skills, though. Teaching kids, I can tell them walk them through complicated processes fairly easily ... they will just do what I tell them and they get it intuitively.
Adults, on the other hand, have ingrained negative habits (fears?) that prevent them from being open to just do and react quickly enough to be successful right away. It takes them more practice and hand-holding and reminders to build their confidence. It's almost as though they have convinced themselves before even trying that, after a certain age, they can not learn.
Is it fear of failure? Fear of making a fool of themselves? I'm not sure. I do know that most adults will allow negative self-talk to take over and hold them back from trying new things.
Sad that we can't all be as open to new experiences as children are. Life would be much more fun.
I've been playing the bass for about 8.5 years now and I have a serious beef with the game.
NOW I'M NOT SAYING THAT IT'S NOT FUN...
But when I see kids on TV at gamespot that are winning titles and championships cause of how well they play guitar hero, couldn't they have spent that same amount of time and actually played/made real music?
I'm a musician first and have a musician's bias whenever i see these games. I just can't wait until harmonix starts to implement some sort of tutorial in their games which can teach players how to read / play / make chords, patterns arpeggios etc.
As for kids trying to play guitar hero...some of them are just n3wbs. :)
Who says the kids winning titles can't play a real guitar? Why is being good at Guitar Hero and playing an instrument mutually exclusive by default? And why do they HAVE to? Why can't someone just play a game to have fun? Just because the controller looks like a guitar doesn't mean everyone who plays the game actually wants to play a real guitar. You play COD4, does that mean you actually WANT to go into combat and get shot at? Assassins Creed, looking to getting into the contract killing business? It's a game. It's only a game.
As for kids being newbs at the game, I allow kids a fair amount of slack. It's adults who have been on this earth long enough to have a passing knowledge of how a guitar works that I get don't understand.