Comment by TGJ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by TGJ | Hacker News Reader

When I am in the zone playing COD for instance, I can run into a room, see three people and determine an optimum shooting strategy in under a second. For instance, if one guy is turned I can shoot him last and instead shoot the closest then the second determine the best place to duck to reload if needed. All the while, I process sound from everywhere else, keep a running map in my head (I'm very good with spatial orientation) and can check off where explosions have taken place or possible spawn points coming up.

I can also tell the difference between a player with an 80ms ping and a 30ms ping.

This all comes with a caveat. I have been playing for ~8 years off and on so I have experience and confidence in my abilities. Also, to achieve such a state to determine split second actions, my heart rate is well above a sedentary resting state. Once I figured this out, I stopped playing as much as I can only assume that the adrenaline rushes from gaming while sitting can only be bad for my health.

Two cents..

From my years of top-level competitive FPS gaming I eventually determined the same thing.

A high level of play is greatly facilitated by a high heart rate and an adrenaline rush.

The best gamers, by far, are the ones who combine years of practice with amphetamines.

It works for the airforce and it works for gaming.

I decided that the constant self-induced adrenaline rushes were bad for my health and so I stopped playing those kinds of games.

I used to get distracted in tense Quake 3 duels because I would become aware of my heart racing.

I play driving games. In my case I should be more relaxed, and much more consistent than I currently am.

It could work for you.

My personal zone generally starts with a round or two of F-Zero or Unreal Tournament at 130-150%. Once I get accustomed to those speeds, I've been kicked for aimbotting because I tend to enjoy weapons like the lightning gun, and am reasonably accurate on even bad days. It's like playing Halo instead of UT - people just float around, comparatively. Keeping track of a handful of people in a firefight becomes easy.

I wish I could switch it on and off as needed, but it definitely drains you more quickly, and gets harder to achieve after the first round or two. But it's exhilarating.

Yes. That's why I liked Quake 3 much more than the original Unreal Tournament. It was just so much faster paced.

How do you play a FPS without a mouse?

I got used to controller after about 40 hours of gameplay. However, the first 10 hours were quite damaging to my self esteem. You have to be mentally strong, just keep grinding, it can be done.

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