Major League Gaming has worked with Bungie to create its own playlist in Halo 3. I think competitive gaming is fine. I wouldn’t say it’s cool or anything, but I respect it, and if I was good enough at a game to enter to a gaming league, I sure as hell would. With that said, I think the mind set and opinions of the players in MLG, and players similar to them, greatly damaged my experience in Halo 2, and fear it is now poisoning Halo 3.

When battle rifle starts debuted in Halo 2, it pretty much cut my enjoyment of the game down to a fraction of what it was when there were SMG starts. Cries about the skill required to use the battle rifle, and real players used the BR were abundant. The same thing is happening in Halo 3 now. The MLG playlist alters maps, equipment, weapons, radar, etc. Good for them. I don’t have to play in that playlist if I don’t want to. I just don’t want that shit spilling over into the other playlists. “I challenge you to play me in a game of Halo. Oh, by the way, we’re playing by my rules, with my weapons, and in maps I altered.” Sure, dickweed.

“The BR takes skill and accuracy.” Sure, it does. “The AR is just spray and pray so the noobs can get kills.” Bullshit. Just because you prefer the BR doesn’t mean you need to take the guns I prefer completely out of the game. Some people like playing at a distance; I hate it. I like to play up close and personal, stalk my prey though corridors and cut them off inside buildings. Using a BR and sniper takes accuracy, but using other weapons takes skill too, just different skills. The AR for example has a limited clip and maximizing that ammo and keeping it in mind and combining it with other offense is just as great a skill. Close encounters tactics is a skill. Putting your cross-hairs on a guys head across the map and killing him before he sees you is the not only skill in this game assholes. Reading and using the radar to your advantage is a skill, just as much as keeping your eyes open and your back watched without it. Acquiring and using equipment effectively, as well as dealing with enemy equipment is a skill.

Turning off everything you dislike and cannot handle is not a skill. It’s cowardice. Turning off short range weapons does not level the playing field, it skews towards players the prefer the BR and fucks players that dislike it. You play the game as it is and deal with factors that affect play. It’s like when I hear about how people play Smash Bros competitively, turning all items off and only playing certain levels. That’s bullshit. Part of the overall skill in a game is dealing with all the shit that the game throws at you. If the smashball appears near your enemy, deal with it. I don’t care if cash is on the line, that’s the way the cookie fucking crumbles.

I’m going to try to use a sports analogy. This will kill me a little inside. Ironic in a way that I am discussing competitive gaming, the closest analog to sports in the gaming world. Imagine the Green Bay Packers, who probably play more games in snow than any other team in the NFL (I don’t know if that is true, just deal with it), would only play games against other teams when it is snowing. They go so far as to create a snowing machine and take it on their away games. When they play a game in Texas, it’s fucking snowing and freezing because of their machine. And on top of that, since Green Bay is a rushing team (no fucking clue), only running plays are allowed, passing is taken out of the game, despite the Cowboys being a passing team (again, probably wrong, but work with me for the analogy’s sake). And one more thing, the Packers dislike helmets, so those are gone too. That’s what’s it like to play Halo by MLG rules, and I really hope that shit doesn’t taint my game any more that it already has.

Take a stand!

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