TF2's Socialization

There's new players,

and new gamers...

     As with all games, there are new players. Those players learn how to play the game and over time become better at the game, thus hopefully having more fun in the game. But, there are those moments where you see someone so, "bad," that you wonder how the player is doing so bad. What if that player is not only new the game, but games in general. This is one of the places in which Team Fortress Two shines.

      New gamers a lot of the time are not yelled at or despised in Team Fortress Two. They are allowed to learn what to do, even at their pace, with the biggest threat being the enemy team. Sometimes, the enemy team will barely be a threat. You can find examples in the videos of the YouTube channel, SoundSmith.

Link to SoundSmith's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0Eqb484X8EiNrFLSUQVsaA

       I feel that I can safely say that the development of a new gamer, especially in Team Fortress 2, can be compared to the sociologist, Jean Piaget's, Cognitive Theory of Development. Here's how the stages could be used for new gamers:

1. Sensorimotor: The new gamer is learning what controls are. Learning the actual game along with it can get overwhelming.
2. Preoperational: The gamer knows the controls and grasps/is grasping the game.
3. Concrete Operational: The gamer is no longer a noob. He/She knows how to do things, and uses the knowledge to complete the objective, and sometimes just have fun.
4. Formal Operational: The gamer procures ways of having fun, which sometimes can intertwine with doing the objective. Examples include:

     The best part about new gamers starting out in Team Fortress Two is that since the gamer is given the knowledge on how to play games from playing the game, the gamer can apply this knowledge to other games. Whether it be just the concept of movement controls and that an objective exists, or being able to think creatively, new gamers become just gamers and become new players in different games. I can tell you from personal experience that I have much less stress in TF2 than in Overwatch due to the fact that my gameplay in TF2 matches isn't as impactful as in Overwatch matches, but my hours in TF2 had allowed me to handle the stress of Overwatch matches because I knew what I was doing. Overwatch may be a different game with different physics and characters, but there is a similarity between Overwatch and TF2 that is also shared with so many other games, first and third person shooters alike: there is movement, objectives, and hitboxes! Thanks to TF2, I was a new player in Overwatch, and by the way, I still play both games, I like both games, but if the existence of this blog hasn't already showed you, TF2 and it's environment have a special place in my heart.

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