A few days ago I got off the red line and was on my way home when some strange desire came over me to stop in for a game. Actually, I just recently got back into Marvel vs. Capcom 2 because of my cousin and was hoping to find some competition. You would not believe my surprise as I walk into the place to find it ghetto packed. Hmm... 5:30 PM on a weekday. Who knew? I suppose it made sense, most of the people in there had obviously just gotten off work or school.

So I change a dollar and am pleasantly surprised to see 8 tokens come out of the machine. 4 games for a dollar... nice. I stick my coin up on the dash and wait for my turn. Damn, its been a while. Eventually it's my turn and I put my token in and play. Beat the first guy and then got stomped (quite literally) by the next challenger. Damn, it felt good though. Competition in an arcade. It's a great feeling.

$3nt|n3|_ 0wNz j00!!!

I then turn my attention to Tekken Tag. Now here's a game almost at the (if not already at the) end of it's competitive arcade life. Especially with Tekken 4 literally only a week away. I plug in my tokens and 5 seconds into the match get challenged by someone. The next half-hour was very nostalgic for me as I proceeded to rack up a 20+ game win streak. Granted I was using probably the two most powerful characters in the game (Jin and Kaz), but the competition was good. I felt very satisfied. Actually, I felt great. There was a great sense of comradery and respect for fellow players. Compliments were given, people shook hands, and there was even a little playful trash talk. This was probably one of the greatest American arcade experiences I ever had. I left Dennis' that day for the first time in a long time feeling very satisfied with my visit.

Seeing as how that visit went so well, I decided to stop in again after work yesterday. There were a lot of people there again. Even more people on Marvel vs. Capcom 2 this time. I put my coin up and wait a little for my turn. I put up a fight, but get my ass smoked. MvC2 is a very weird game. It plays nothing like most fighting games and the strategies involved are very obscure. I still had fun trying though except for the fact that my only chance to win was screwed up by the fact the stick was kinda wack and I couldn't pull off my Magneto combos and rushdown.

Not too far off from the truth actually.

I shrugged it off and started playing some Tekken Tag. Almost same scenario as last time, got challenged seconds later and started racking up a win streak. However, there was a new player there who I hadn't seen the other day. He was taking his losses pretty bad and was getting visibly pissed off. The 3rd time he played me he started complaining that I wasn't giving him enough arm room. Since I'm not one to argue and risk getting into a fight (read: pussy), I comply and move off to the side a little. The Mishimas, while powerful, do require fairly good command input to play well. Being about 50 degrees off axis does effect your ability to input commands correctly, but I was still winning. Half way through the match this guy realizes I'm kicking his ass even with the handicap of playing off to the side and try's to save face by complaining about how his moves are not coming out. He starts bitching at me how the game is "bullshit" and there's no way that move should beat that... etc. Disheartened, I lost my will to fight and more or less gave him the match. I picked up my stuff right afterwards and stormed out of the arcade. Unlike the previous day, I left Dennis' pretty pissed off.

After cooling off I got kinda depressed as I was walking home. I mean, just the other day I had a great time at the same place. What was wrong? Two things actually. Firstly, the sticks either had problems or were too close and secondly, the people there suck.

Regarding the sticks... there is just no excuse for that bullshit. It's like a movie theatre trying to show you a movie on a broke ass projector or some shit. Some of the newer machines are more consciouce about the spacing issue, but sticks still can and will break. The employees should at least know enough to do something about that.

Regarding the people... there is just no excuse for that bullshit either. Still, if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that people fucking suck. Fighting games are fun as hell and great games, but they suffer from one problem: You must rely on the competition provided by other players to really enjoy them to the fullest extent. So why is that a problem? Referring back to my previous statement... people fucking suck. Generally, people have no regard for the other person's feelings or enjoyment. Especially scrubs. The whole scrub mentality is what kills the entire arcade experience for me. If you are beating a scrub's ass, then in their mind you are either cheap as all fuck or the game is a broke ass piece of shit. Heaven forbid they actually consider the fact that they suck and can't play the game to save their miserable lives. Seth Killian has written a very good article on the scrub mentality which can be found over at SRK.com.

Which brings me to my next point... Japanese arcades own. Simply because they do not suffer from the same problems mentioned about. The arcades are clean and well maintained. Spacing is not an issue since every player has their own side and set of controls. On top of that you even get stools to sit down on. Maintenance is top notch and sticks that break are literally fixed right on the spot. Something you would never see here in the states in all but the best of arcades (and usually only during important events such as tournaments). The players are, from what I could tell, very respectful towards each other. Scrubs know their place and do not over step their bounds and veteran players, while competitive, act in a very humble manner despite their great skillz.

"My one flaw is that I'm just too damn straight."

Is there a solution? I can't think of one. I feel bad for openly complaining about something and not being able to come up with any kind of solution to the problem, but you can't change the way people think that easily. A scrub could read all this, agree, and then still go on to complain whenever he loses at the arcade. Eventually the scrub just has some kind of revelation as he makes the transition from beginner to intermediate/advanced player, but it's a long and painful process for anyone else who has to play against him.

I guess the "quick and easy" solution would be to just pack my bags and head over to Japan. *sigh* I really am living in the wrong country.

- Haro