Press Play to Start: How competitive games make practice fun

Since the start of this heat wave, I have felt bogged down a lot more than usual, with most of my energy drained by the time I get home. Even the sheer act of getting up from bed and turning on the PlayStation4 feels like a colossal achievement. 

Thankfully, I was introduced to something powerful enough to break the lethargy: rhythm games. Yes, I know, it doesn’t sound like it would work — even for an avid gamer like me. As the name suggests, this genre consists of games where you must press keys to the rhythm of whatever song is playing. And, while I have dabbled in them occasionally (I mean, who hasn’t tried out “Dance Dance Revolution” only to fall face first on the floor?), I never considered myself a fan. I thought their mechanics were too simple to enjoy. Why bother trying if all great players can do is press some notes faster than the average person?

Turns out, for someone who was deeply burnt out, that sort of simple gameplay was exactly what I needed. If it was just clicking buttons to match the song, I could even enjoy it in the comfort of my bed. So, despite my lethargy, I dove head first into this new genre, expecting the video game equivalent of comfort food — and hey, maybe even come out with some leaderboard titles. How hard could pressing notes on time be?

Well, really really hard.

While the main mechanic is straightforward, developers have put in incredible effort to make their creations more complex for users of all skill levels. Different types of notes require different actions (click, hold, flip, etc.), notes are displayed at varying speeds and the highest difficulty levels feel more like “bullet hell” games than rhythm ones. 

Needless to say, my experience was akin to a baptism by fire rather than the comfort I wanted. But novelty fueled curiosity and my daily life was finally energized. 

Now, some readers may be expecting me to talk about rhythm games in esports. Sorry to disappoint, but this isn’t what I have planned. No, this column isn’t in fact about rhythm games specifically, but rather what they made me do: seriously compete for leaderboard titles.

In other words, the true purpose of this column is to understand what it takes to become a pro gamer.

That’s right. After writing this column for over two years, I’ve observed countless angles when it came to esports, but I never thought to sit in the pro gamer’s chair myself. And, while I certainly couldn’t think of doing that with games like “League of Legends” or “Valorant,” I finally found a genre where the barrier to entry was low enough to give me hope. While it won’t directly apply to the experience of signed athletes that play strategy-focused titles, I thought I’d try to understand a bit more about their routines and mentality by devoting myself to a competitive game for the first time ever. Because rhythm games have public leaderboards, it felt like the perfect genre to try and increase my skill. 

Like I said before, while the genre’s principles are easy to understand, they become increasingly complex. The scoring system encourages challenges through higher rewards at harder levels. There were days when I instantly failed a song on a hard level after originally acing the easier difficulty. But, while that may be a cause of frustration initially, it becomes rewarding once you manage to clear them. Unlike most other games, competitive games allow you to track your skill increasing the more you play them, which motivates you to continue. 

I found that to be one of the most enjoyable elements of the game, and it seems like the developers are also aware of it. They give you special titles if you click every note in perfect sync, which serve as a point of pride that you can display, showing other players just how advanced your skills are. The otherwise repetitive element of always playing the same songs gains novelty, as you try to improve your score. Much like a mountain climber always practicing with one specific route, the repetitiveness gives you familiarity with the obstacle you are ultimately trying to overcome. 

All of this, of course, dialogues directly with the biggest element of being a professional gamer: the sheer amount of practice required to succeed. Regardless of the genre you play, you will need countless hours of practice to even scrape the surface of that professional world. Many athletes have spoken about their inhuman routines, where they spend most of their day playing the game. Before starting this personal challenge, while I always respected their dedication, I could never understand how someone could spend thousands of hours playing the same game to exhaustion.

This was the greatest takeaway I received from attempting to go pro in rhythm games. The reason why gamers can spend so much time playing the same game countless times isn’t only because of the high skill ceiling or complex mechanics. Rather, it is that these games have, inherently, a way to make hours of grinding more enjoyable. Those aiming to become competitive staples of the esports industry often have titles or ranks to encourage players. But it is rather what these things represent, the gradual increase in skill level, that retains gamers. Eventually, even if you reach the top of the leaderboards, you will likely continue practicing, not because of any title, but because you enjoy getting better in a game that perfectly accommodates that.

Regardless of the time I devoted, I could not ascend to pro-gamer level in such a short time span. While this investigation has come to a close, my desire to keep improving remains. As a final note, if any of the readers also enjoy rhythm games, please take a break whenever you see someone with the username “gui” underneath you in the leaderboards. While I certainly appreciate the dedication that athletes put to their craft, I am not too prideful to accept some charity. After all, those leaderboard titles look too pretty to not have.

Guilherme Guerreiro is a senior writing about esports. His column, “Press Start to Play,” runs every other Monday (except for this week).