How Gaming Makes Me a Better Graduate Student: Moveset

x-posted at Scientopia

What better way to celebrate my return to verbal diarrhea than another ‘How Gaming Makes Me a Better Graduate Student’ (HGMMBGS \ hug-mmm-ba-gus \) post. Today we shall speak of Teh Moveset.

What the fuck is a moveset? You may ask. The illustrious Urban Dictionary defines it as such “The group of all attacks which can be used by a particular character or thing in a fighting game.” Examples of well known ‘moves’ in a moveset are Ryu’s Hadouken or Chun-Li’s power kick.

Now it is/was not uncommon to walk into an arcade (are there arcades anymore? I haz the oldz) and see the Street Fighter box with someone playing as Chun-Li, backed into a corner, spamming a powerkick to keep their opponent away. These people usually ignored their ability to jump, punch, parry, or block an incoming opponent. They would just throw their most ‘dangerous’ skill at the wall and hope it lead to a victory. These were also the people who insisted I had to ‘beat them’ to get to play. I spent a lot of time on the Street Fighter boxes when Soul Edge was down for maintenance.

Figure 1: It was also a pita when you were next to the SF players because Ryu said 'Hadouken' every mfing time he played the skill. Gaaah!

Poor use of a moveset not only limits the damage someone can output, but it also makes them predictable. It is somewhat understandable, it gives the person a feeling of safety, they are on the mountain raining down destruction on anyone who dares come closer. But in reality all I had to do was block and then close distance in between attacks, and next thing you know I had them backed into a corner with no way out (and, depending on the game, probably a special attack ready).

A real-life example of this thought process are people who consistently lose Survivor because they try to ‘outplay’ but not ‘outwit’ and are therefore ‘outlasted’*. They are very frustrated because they do not respect that aspect of the game and are angry that it caused their downfall. But that is not how the game works, and it is not how life works, you cannot win by using only 1/3^rd or ½ of the moveset available to you. You must use everything at 100% of your ability to clinch victory.

A very famous gaming example of this is Daigo Umehara versus Justin Wong in the 2004 Evolution Championship Series. Daigo was literally at his last pixel of health, while his opponent was sitting pretty with over a quarter health. Did he stand in the corner and spam Hadouken? Of course not, Daigo used his moveset to jump, bob, and weave Justin Wong, ultimately getting into position to parry a 15 hit special move and counterattack for the KO. I am sure I will offend many Starcraft aficionados when I say this is maybe the greatest comeback in competitive gaming ever.

So learn your moveset for real life. Assess the situation and take the smartest approach. And then Hadouken your problem when it’s least expecting it. Now go forth and be epicsauce, little minions!

*The motto of the reality show Survivor (where people voluntarily put themselves on a deserted island to starve and occasionally perform games like lab rats for viewer amusement) is ‘outwit, outgame, outlast’.