Gaming My Way

Welcome to the July 2011 edition of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers.

Mr. Kermz presents Portal 2 Review PS3 posted at The Cynic Reviewer, saying, “Did my first video game review with Portal 2. Hope you like it.” We have a very nice first review here from Mr. Kermz, keep up the good work.

GameNinjaX presents E3 and Video Games Live posted at GameNinja. GameNinjaX shares his experience at E3 with us. Video Games Live sounds pretty sweet, I’m always a sucker for good game music.

Taylor Stein presents What We Hope RAGE Will Be posted at Gaming Precision. Taylor shares his thoughts on what he’s hoping RAGE will be like. Sounds like he has some high hopes, but they’re likely well founded with id at the helm. If it turns out well, I just may have to give it a test drive on my shiny new computer while I’m waiting on Skyrim.

John M presents Odd Spotting: A Fun Spot the Odd One Out Game for the iPad | iPhone Experience posted at iPhone Experience, saying, “A fantastic iPad based Spot the Odd One Out game for all the family. My wife is addicted ” John has some thoughts on Odd Spotting, which sounds like it could be an amusing diversion. Definitely a game for the casual crowd, but it sounds like a nice take on an old concept.

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Video Game Bloggers. Join us next month for more great gaming info. You can use the carnival submission form to submit posts for next month’s carnival. Be sure to check out some of the posts of other submitters and perhaps leave a friendly comment or two if you like their work.

So, you find yourself trucking along in League of Legends when you hear that awful phrase: “A summoner has disconnected.” Your first thought is that this person has just blown the game for you. Well, lose that thought right away. Yes, you are now at a disadvantage, and assuming the opposing team is equal in skill to your team, they will now win. So what? There’s nothing you can do to change the fact you’re now playing a 4v5 match.

So play the game. Seriously, don’t complain about it, just play as well as you possibly can. Learn how to deal with suboptimal situations better. It may not win the game for you now, but it will make you a better player in the long run, when you realize how you can turn the tables on a team in a 5v5 game when they get the jump on you.

Alternatively, if it’s early enough, try that wacky new build you’ve been meaning to test out, see if it works. If you’re most likely going to lose anyway, why not test it out and see how well it works? If it works really well, now’s the time for it, and if it doesn’t, well, you weren’t really planning on winning anyway, so no big deal, right?

Don’t worry about if your team wins the game or not (though continue trying to do so, of course.) Worry about your personal performance, and what you can improve or do better. Expand your ability to play the game well. There’s nothing like a handicap to teach you new skills in a game. Now’s the time to learn how to hold off and press an enemy team when one of your allies has been downed and you have to 4v5 for the next minute. If you can do it an entire match, you can do it for one minute when it comes up in an even match.

Perhaps rethink your strategy. Maybe (if you have the team composition for it) you can try all solo lanes with a jungler or roamer to take care of ganking, covering lanes, and all that fun stuff. Then capitalize on your level advantage while you can. Would this work? I have no idea, I’m not really that good at the game yet. But it’s better than just accepting defeat. Maybe you can come up with a better, less generic idea. If so, try that. You don’t have a whole lot to lose by trying something new.

Also, please, don’t continually complain about our team being shorthanded. I know we’re shorthanded already, and listening to the whole team whine about it doesn’t really help us do any better. Go ahead and vent for a minute or so if you must, but after that, just play and work with those of us who are still around.

As an alternative to all of this, if your whole team is on board, just goof around the rest of the match. Dance your way through a four person push, gang up on one opponent while the other four crush your lanes, hang out in the bushes chatting with the other team, whatever makes you happy and salvages some fun if you don’t really care about taking things too seriously. Sometimes, people will enjoy the break anyway, even if they didn’t realize it before the match.

Above all, remember this is a game. Yes, a competitive game, but still a game. Don’t get too worked up about it. Play and have fun, and worry about improving your own game, because, unless you play premades, you can’t control who your teammates are or what they do anyway.