This week I was drawn to a post on Battlefield V’s subreddit concerning DICE’s Florian Le Bihan, the man responsible for the Core Gameplay Design on Battlefield V. Florian was banned from playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 this week as the anti-cheat systems detected him as a cheat.
However, Florian wasn’t, and he’s uploaded gameplay clips as proof. Suffice to say, Florian is just good. Very good. Like, monstrously good. He used to be a pro eSports player and a member of the Battlefield 4 Fnatic team, winning several tournaments. He’s just so damned good that COD: Black Ops 4 automatically detects him as a cheat.
Just see the clip below for a look at Florian in action. The kill at 1:34, in particular, is just sublime. If you’re like me then you probably couldn’t even tell what the heck happened, but use the ‘’ controls on your keyboard and you can take a frame by frame look at what he’s doing.
There’s nothing quite so humbling as watching someone who’s really damned good at something you think you might be decent at. Some people are just playing on another level. Once he starts piloting mechs in World War 3, it’s going to be time to start worrying.
But it got me thinking about just how good we all think we are at first-person shooters. Or, I guess, at games in general. Typically, games are designed from the ground up to make us feel like we’re good at it. Logically though, for any one player to be above mediocre, over half the player base has to be worse. For every person having a great time popping off headshots in CSGO, there needs to be a counterpoint who is getting blazed down in a hail of gunfire each and every round.
Before online gaming became so mainstream, it was definitely much easier to feel like you were good at a game. There weren’t endless streams of YouTube vids with insane trick shots or killstreaks. Provided you sat near the top of the leaderboard in any given match, it felt safe to assume you were pretty good. This isn’t the case anymore though, and the far easier access to online games means there are pools of players playing very few games but getting very good at them. They are setting the new precedent.
So as a matter of interest, I thought it would be intriguing to see what would happen if we all rated our skills ourselves. If we can accurately gauge our abilities, the average score should be about 5 or 6 out of 10, but I have a feeling we all intuitively believe we’re better than we are.
Get voting and share why below, but feel free to keep your score hidden if you don’t want other folks to know.
I’ll get started though, and I’d probably have to plump for a 6 or a 7, but I’m leaning towards a 6. I’ve definitely got worse with age, peaking around a decade ago when I made it to the semi-finals in a Battlefield Vietnam eSports tournament at EA’s HQ. Since then the decline has been very real though. How I long for those reaction speeds. I can just about scrape a Plat ranking in Siege, although I’m constantly hovering between Gold and Plat. This is making me think I’m probably on a decline to a definite 6 soon enough. Fingers crossed they invent age-gated OAP servers soon.
So, get voting in the blind poll and then let us know how and why you rated your skill in the comments section below!
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PC Specs
4 for me because I suck in gaming in general expecialy in fps so maby something like doom or some other game that don't require good reflexes as mine are like dead
PC Specs
Dunning-Kruger effect... :)
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Not for me bud, I got stats behind my back and I don't think I'm better than the stats I got XD
I rated myself a 6 btw.
PC Specs
lol, I'd guess it should be slightly above average due to being an enthusiast site but not entirely sure. I went for 6 but there sure are a lot of sevens... at least they can all detect their own faults though, they're not 10's lol
PC Specs
All I know is that when I'm trying, I'm bad at it. Biggest mp kill streak was 7 I think, and that was 10 years ago on bad company 2 :D So now I play just for the immersion. Sounds visuals and team play ^^
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look at my name, this isn't a game
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I would have to say between a 4 and 5, but because I only play with a controller for fun anymore. If I gave a crap and was really trying I probably would be a 7 or 8 with KB&M. I rated myself as a 4 on the survey.
PC Specs
When it comes to M/K and controller then I am just not very good at FPS games, I play for fun and KD just isn't important to me but VR is where I have found my style. Onward with Oculus and 3 sensor setup and I am pretty good, nowhere near competition or tournament good but good enough to feel satisfied.
PC Specs
i have more than 4k hours in csgo, reached global in few accounts so im good at it from all aspects and im usually good in other fps where there is no bullet drop off and no bullet lead because in csgo there is none, now in games such as bf or pubg im probably average just because the mechanics are far different.
PC Specs
Depends on what kind of FPS you talking about. I'm a 10/10 in Quake Live because I was bloody 359th back when there was ELO in QL. CS GO I'm supreme, so a niner. Never played COD or BF because it's a "Realistic bunny hop shooter". Was really good in UT 2004 and 3.
In a nutshell, you can't really base FPS on one game. Quake Live players would eat this guy I think, so would CS GO (provided he only plays COD, don't know) because you can't really run and gun, jump and hit.
PC Specs
I know I'm a 5 because I always rank right in the middle.
PC Specs
I'm just crap at fps shooters. I play the campaign and try the mp, but after getting someone else's kd ratio up, I just quit. More of a sp gamer now...
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if i like the game ill be good at it
and if not then biggest noob
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^^This^^
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As a half-noob, I can't understand how can people react so fast.
PC Specs
you have to know in your mind where enemies can come from, when you do, you are already prepared to aim at all the positions/lines of sight they might come from, the other thing is pre-aiming when you are already aiming either hip aiming or ads aiming at a position/line of sight an enemy might come from, then you can sound wh@re, and listen for footsteps and other noises, then some people that try-hard, stay tense none-stop, so they cut on reaction time, but that's too hardcore, IMO you should enjoy yourself and chill, instead of stressing yourself when you play games.
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Global Elite in CS sooooo i am good xD
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I have a friend that is global elite and goes to play tournaments, but in Unreal, CoD, R6 and battlefield he sucks, so go figure. One shooter is not the basis for all.
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mad cuz bad?????????
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am nope... just saying that one shooter isn't a benchmark for all...
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lol douche
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soldierdex you are the biggest douchebag. your rig doesn't even make sense, mobile gpu with desktop cpu. i bet you have a core 2 duo and gt 210 gpu xD
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Yeah, u are right. Every game has a different aspect that makes the game more than just a regular fps in which aim > everything else.
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all of you are noobs XD cs has the hardest mechanics to master and when i play any other fps, i just destroy everyone
PC Specs
I am a sure 10+!!!
But only in single player games... multiplayer shooters are just too distracting (its the other people's fault, I'm sure of it!)
PC Specs
Let's not forget the latency of the server! If you have a good internet connection while the others don't chances are that you'll win so easily without any challenge at all!
PC Specs
I was just trying to be dumb & funny - obviously with the most perfect net connection, I'd still suck at it xD
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I'm still waiting for the day when a publisher allows players to pay to matchmake downwards for skill
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For sports games, technically its already implemented by letting you pay-to-win with high-level roster lootboxes & cards xD
But lets see how far they can push this additionally
PC Specs
OVER 9000!
PC Specs
I played FPS multiplayer games on Xbox 360 years ago, had a lot of fun with Halo 3, COD WaW and MW2. I'm decent on console with a controller but can't keep up with the no-lifers on PC when I use a keyboard and mouse.
Unsurprising that CoD's broken sniping mechanics are still the same, though.
PC Specs
nolifers? i thought 12yo kids on xbox were nolifers
PC Specs
For me it depends on mood, I could suck balls or be hella good. I'd say I was a pro around MW2 all the way to BO2 on ps3. One time in MW3 I had 40 kills and 0 death in a deathmatch. I never played battlefield so I probly would suck though.
PC Specs
Depends, I am ok-ish for singleplayer. Mostly terrible in multiplayer. I do play FPS games, especially singleplayer. But for multiplayer, not really, my reflexes and reaction time leave quite a bit to be desired. Which is why I tend to stick to games like Team Fortress 2, where I can at least help with support classes.
PC Specs
'Just about scrape' platinum in Siege? Dude. Platinum 3 is top 5-6% of the player base. You rock. A lot of Siege players have a bad mindset, thinking anything below plat is embarrassing. Absolutely not the case. Also Siege is far from your regular FPS, there's a whole lot more to it other than reflexes and great aim.
PC Specs
i am a very bad at pc gaming.
my speed is very slow.
cannot even open my computer.