Let It Out

It's not a KONMAI thing, though.

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I don't mean to start a wildfire here, but I think I've reached my boiling point with the rhythm game community. I've seen cynicism in levels like I've never seen before over the years with DDR and how they've reacted to FEFEMZ being the first person in the world to pass Ace for Aces on Expert is pratically unforgivable. I can see how you hate the chart, hate how Konami has handled the unlocking system, etc....but I think we're beyond that now. I can't even read what is criticism anymore because of how snarky and bitchy everyone acts over practically everything.

I could be reacting to not knowing if a specific Stepmania chart I made was ruined by just one long slowdown (which I still don't know to this day). I could also be reacting to an incident in another rhythm game community in Discord, but it's more or less the same thing. If something is not made the exact same way YOU want it to in a rhythm game, they should die...and yes, I have seen someone actually say that (not to me but to someone making a rhythm game via GameMaker).

I shouldn't expect much good from any nerd community anyway. Being in a Klonoa group for a few years only to get backstabbed can do that to you. But I just don't understand what is going on with the rhythm game community anymore. It probably was a long way coming when people considered ITG as this messianic pathway to the future of dancing games as we know it. Naturally people still do, which is fine just as long as you take a few moments to shut up about how any dance game not ITG/PIU related is a spawn of Satan.

I don't know...I don't think I was ever actually close to anyone in the rhythm game community. The only actual person I know IRL is a well-known ITG elitist which certainly "helps" my perceptions. I just feel like I need to speak up about what's been going on as of late. I know that I've said my nasty things regarding Bemani/Konami in the past, but I like to think that I know better than to drag people down with me whenever I'm not impressed with their directions. I don't know why it's so hard for rhythm game enthusiasts around social media to do the same, but again we're dealing with the sad reality that community/fandom cancer spreads with zero exceptions.

I'm sure this kind of topic was discussed here before, but it's probably high time that we resurrect it here. I seriously can't imagine that many people even wanting to chat here in Z-I-v and I'm pretty sure the reason for this is right there in front of us...

There is a discord group where ziv people migrated to for chatting (never been to it). Heh.

Rhythm games are great, but the people who play them are not that amazing online entirely in terms of personality and how they express themselves. You'll find some nice people once in a blue moon though. Good luck.

@Foxytail Understandable frustration.

I dislike two things. The unlock criterias in DDR A that are bullshit and are setup solely to get as much longevity and money out of the game as possible (which, bravo, it's working wonderfully. I mean, i'm certainly not willing to spend a small fortune to play a song, fail, then be forced to do it all over again, then eons down the road, when i've spent every form of currency known to life in the milky way and finally passed that song, discovered another song and failed that too, and have to do it all over again), and the song quality, which is decent at best, too many crossovers and a severe lack of originals that i'm meant to care about. Overall i'm indifferent about the charts, I think for the most part they are good, certainly better than what had come out before, though some charts are questionable (初音ミクの消失 comes to mind). If not for the excessive crossovers and those abhorrent unlock criterias for RINON'S ADVENTURE, i'd have next to no complaints about this mix, solid songlist.

I'll agree that the community is quick to say charts are bad for one part, one slowdown, one note(don't even say that's not true people, y'all have absolutely given the cold shoulder to charts for one damn note feeling off). People also hate gimmicks which is infuriating to me, honestly if all you want is a DDR game where the songs have no gimmicks and everything is nice and simple go play something like 2ndMIX and stop whining about gimmicks in a rhythm game. You're just as bad as the people who think everything after EXTREME is inferior or that we should bring back all the old songs so they can sit in the song list and never get played because nobody wants to play those songs anymore. I liked 4thMIX too, those are nice songs, I have very little desire to play the charts.

Unfortunate that it's gotten to that point where you feel this way with the community, hope I haven't been a part of that negative aspect (though I do give KONAMI a hard time quite a bit 🤔).

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Gimmicks are fun.

Excessive gimmicks or gimmicks made simply to piss you off are not fun.

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While I agree that people do need to stop being so fucking abrasive and stop being so god damn negative, I also think people should not just settle for bullshit gimmicks. And forcing people to shell out a shit ton of money just to possibly play 2 songs one time each is most certainly a bullshit gimmick.

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It's almost as if a forum about a video game will get opinions posted on it.

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It's the way that some opinions are worded that make them not worth reading.

Today on "old memes I've somehow completely avoided until very recently": Galo Sengen

I love old memes that are bizarre enough to avoid mainstream popularity and never go stale in a 24 time span like everything else today. This is a treasure.

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My collegemates have an actual bet on how long it takes for the DO YOU NO DE WEY meme to die.

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it's already dead unfortunately, social media called it racist and that's enough to kill any momentum a joke has in modern society. god forbid people in VRChat have something fun to mess around with amongst the myriad of genuinely gross shit going on in the game, but no, the silly knnuckles brigade is the problem.

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Not really, the last few years so many things have been erroneously called racist that word almost don’t mean shit anymore.

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okay that video just fueled my nightmares.

Appended 1/13/18 and cross posted from the Pokemon Thread



It's about time.

Appended 1/17/18

I got DDR Party Collection in the mail yesterday!!!

(weird venting about the DDR community ahead)

I consider myself a casual DDR player, but also a longtime DDR fan. When I play I'm not trying to challenge myself, I just want to choose fun music and dance and exercise. A couple of days ago I went to the only DDR A machine in the SF Bay Area (at D&B) after not going for almost a year, hoping to just play and have fun, but when I got there there was a large crowd of super competitive players surrounding it, doing challenge song after challenge song (OT"P", Maxx Unlimited, etc). They were in full workout regalia, complete with hand bandages for gripping the support bar (I'm just in street clothes). I left after 10 minutes because it's just a really uncomfortable situation for me to be in.

They kind of create this atmosphere of competition/nerd machismo that's really unpleasant, especially when I just want to just play for fun and choose pop/dance songs. It's not like they muscled me out or anything, but I think they probably prefer the company of people who are there for the same reason as them and want to choose the same songs/difficulties. I really wish there were more DDR A machines in my area but it's the only one, so hardcore players flock to it. Is this something that bothers other casual players on here or am I being crazy?

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@hollandaze
From what I read, I take it that you and these super competitive players never actually interacted and do not know each other. Please do correct me if that is not the case.

But if I understood your situation correctly, I do not believe that other players in your area would think oddly of you for not playing like them. I personally think you should at least get to know the players creating that atmosphere before you decide it's too uncomfortable for you. More likely than not, they may support you for being yourself and having fun, just as they are there to have fun, although your definition of fun may be different from theirs. At least in my experience, even the most hardcore players were nice to me as long as I treated them like my friends rather than people to avoid. So why not give that crowd a chance?

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I don't consider myself a competitive DDR player, but I'm sure I fit in the same category as those guys mentioned above, only at a lower level. But honestly, when I do challenging songs, I do it for my own enjoyment. I pack for the occasion, bringing close-fitting shoes (Although to be fair, it's hard to even run in my normal shoes without them falling off), quick-dry clothing, and a pack towel, but that's so that I don't feel uncomfortable after 10 minutes of pushing myself. I'm an elite in my area, but not an elitist. Even if you're struggling on a chart, I'll see you as a skilled player as long as you don't step on the center panel after every note. I enjoy playing against people, whether they're better or worse than I am. I'm fine playing against people better against me, seeing that I'm just a biggish fish in a tiny pond. Whenever I'm playing DDR A, I'm out of my small town and in a big city, so almost everyone is better than I am. And I enjoy watching lower-level players play. I was at their level once. And besides, I feel DDR is a game more people should enjoy. I have never met an elitist DDR player, even on this forum.

In short, they likely aren't judging you. In fact, they might enjoy having another player up there. I'm sure you'll be fine and won't be judged as long as you don't center-step, in which case we have another issue altogether.

As a side note, I might need to consider something similar to those hand bandages. I'm sure it'll help me hold onto the bar whenever I play MAX 300.

The amount of times I've actually encountered any sort of asshole elite players is countable on one hand. More often than not, those sorts of people have actually been super nice. I do understand your anxiety about the whole thing because I've been there before, but dance game players are usually super laid back regardless of their skill level. I have just as many friends who are way better than me as people who play at a lower level than me.

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I have two such experiences when I was still studying. One time, I just finished Saturday class and I said to my friends that I would be going to the mall for some DDR. When I got there, a pack of people were hogging the machine because they were loading it up with edits (uncreative, streamy edits). I awkwardly tried to go with the flow because I knew one of them, but I just said "fuck this!" after an hour and a half because every two people kept dropping credits on the machine (they were playing Versus and there was no Joint Premium, but 15 or so credits per pair?) and I was too shy to drop my two credits like the sticker on the cab says ("Only two credits per player at a time. Please give chances to other players."). And then on a Friday, after my class (which ended on 11:30 AM), there was this guy who was obviously been playing for quite a while. I discreetly put my credits in and after he got done with a song, looked at the credits and said, "Dude, where did all deez credits come from?", and I had to meekly say that they were mine because he was either angry or too confused and tired.

And then there was this other guy. He came in full workout gear, even had a body spray and used a duffel bag like he was going to a gym. He would input loads of credits (like more than 10 at a time), play Solo and didn't even know what Training/Chicken mode when I asked if I could tag with him (I was literally wasting my life regardless), and played songs in Expert difficulty which would've unlocked Kimono Princess, but then cock-block me by choosing something like Quickening for Extra Stage (Kimono Princess was one of my fave songs at the time, he would also post something about cholos doing the choreography for it while he plays on a pet peeve topic in an FB group). One time he almost fell over after doing a set and I just said to myself, "I ain't catching you if you pass out again.". There's just something about workout people and score freaks that suck the fun out from people who want to play DDR just to enjoy and not worry about the letter ranks or the score.

Not a major thing, but there were those people who would play, choose mostly SN1 or SN2 songs, play Sunkiss Drop as their final song and show off by doing the turns and the spins, especially on the bridge part.

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I'm not saying there aren't players who ruin the game for others (I admit they exist every now and then), but you're more likely to win a lottery than to run into an entire crowd of such players in a public arcade. Or, at least in this forum, here's a casual reminder of what happens to people who come off as elitists. It doesn't matter how good or bad they are, people will call out on them.

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