How do you explain ffr/sm to friends who literally never think about rhythm gaming?

[Shadowcliff]

I never bring it up, except when things have been getting heated in this tournament. And when I do, they either say "that's cool" or ask me to show them, and anyone I show sits through only one song and then they've had their fill, so I think I'm doing something wrong. I wish more people would get excited about a game where the skill cap is ridiculously high or even nonexistent. How???

[choof]

"i play music games"

[pedolad]

I hit arrows with my fingers, kind of like that game you play with your feet, but y'know, "cooler".

[choof]

I don't even say that, I just say "it's a music game" and whatever game comes to mind for them I just bounce off of that
tends to be guitar hero or rock band

[Fantasticone]

I hit arrows to bad music, wanna play?

[inDheart]

i call these all arrowgames, except for LR2, which is a bargame

[leonid]

I actively try to hide it

[hi19hi19]

Originally Posted by choof

I don't even say that, I just say "it's a music game" and whatever game comes to mind for them I just bounce off of that
tends to be guitar hero or rock band

This.

Everyone has some reference for combining music and gaming - even my 92 year old grandmother has heard of Guitar Hero.
Then you just explain it from there.

If people get bored watching after 1 or 2 songs you're not doing something wrong, your audience probably just doesn't find it very interesting. Whatever, go do something else.

[hi19hi19]

If you want to be entertaining, you have to explain how the game works as you play.
My go-to song is Etude for the Sinners, because you can explain during the intro that 1 arrow = 1 tap and everyone can follow it.
Then it gives you one jump to show that there can be 2 arrows at once.

Then it gives you the fucking wall of arrows JS (that's actually really easy to hit) and everyone's mind gets blown.
Having that kind of progression keeps things interesting. Also Etude for the Sinners is a nice song, nobody wants to hear fucking Serious Shit or whatever other buzz noise song you play.

The other obvious suggestion is to get good so that you can keep your combo.
Since nobody watching for the first time can follow any of the arrows, they tend to focus on the combo number which is the only thing on the screen not moving 9000 miles an hour.
Seeing combo go up = PogChamp
Breaking combo = ok not interested anymore

Watching someone full combo Etude for the Sinners is a whole lot more interesting than watching someone flail their way through RATO, even though RATO is harder and the score you get might be more impressive to an FFR player.

Similarly nobody has any concept of difficulty beyond "what you can combo" and "what you can't"
Thus whatever you play should be smooth JS charts because that's the highest "NPS to ease of comboing" pattern = most likely to be interesting



Also finally you have to not act & sound like a neckbearded ****** when you play. Even if you spend 9 hours a day every day playing arrow games and are super proud of how high the skillcap is in this game, try to curb your desire to talk about that and instead let people as you questions about the music and the community and stuff. That makes it more accessible.
You will hopefully get questions like "whats da hardest song" and stuff like that, then you can go play RATO.
Also people tend to ask if "Is XYZ popular artist in the game" and you can be like "no Kendrick Lamar is not in FFR, but I have this other similar game..." and then you can open up Stepmania and play bad pop music dumpfiles. A natural progression.

[drizzleRomanceGirl]

FFR is a computer game where you press keys to the beat of a song; it's really fun
you can play all types of songs while trying to stay on rhythm with the keys

you get a higher score when you hit the keys exactly to the beat of the song

[igotrhythm]

Originally Posted by hi19hi19

If you want to be entertaining, you have to explain how the game works as you play.
My go-to song is Etude for the Sinners, because you can explain during the intro that 1 arrow = 1 tap and everyone can follow it.
Then it gives you one jump to show that there can be 2 arrows at once.

Then it gives you the fucking wall of arrows JS (that's actually really easy to hit) and everyone's mind gets blown.
Having that kind of progression keeps things interesting. Also Etude for the Sinners is a nice song, nobody wants to hear fucking Serious Shit or whatever other buzz noise song you play.

The other obvious suggestion is to get good so that you can keep your combo.
Since nobody watching for the first time can follow any of the arrows, they tend to focus on the combo number which is the only thing on the screen not moving 9000 miles an hour.
Seeing combo go up = PogChamp
Breaking combo = ok not interested anymore

Watching someone full combo Etude for the Sinners is a whole lot more interesting than watching someone flail their way through RATO, even though RATO is harder and the score you get might be more impressive to an FFR player.

Similarly nobody has any concept of difficulty beyond "what you can combo" and "what you can't"
Thus whatever you play should be smooth JS charts because that's the highest "NPS to ease of comboing" pattern = most likely to be interesting



Also finally you have to not act & sound like a neckbearded ****** when you play. Even if you spend 9 hours a day every day playing arrow games and are super proud of how high the skillcap is in this game, try to curb your desire to talk about that and instead let people as you questions about the music and the community and stuff. That makes it more accessible.
You will hopefully get questions like "whats da hardest song" and stuff like that, then you can go play RATO.
Also people tend to ask if "Is XYZ popular artist in the game" and you can be like "no Kendrick Lamar is not in FFR, but I have this other similar game..." and then you can open up Stepmania and play bad pop music dumpfiles. A natural progression.

the hell

not even I can fc etude for the sinners

I get to maybe 1400 on a good run but I just run out of stamina

[hi19hi19]

I'm saying that from the point of view of back when I could easily FC Etude for the Sinners lol

Just play whatever JS file is comfortable for you. VS Boss Battle is a good candidate, for example, though it doesn't have the nice intro that lets you explain the game.

[sickufully]

I just say it's an extreme version of DDR but for computer. hi19 summed it up pretty accurately though.

[Dynam0]

Originally Posted by leonid

I actively try to hide it

This. It's such a random niche thing that most people can only equate to DDR which is the closest equivalent they would know of. The attitude to skilled players in most every rhythm game starts out as shock and then quickly changes to snickering "that's sad, get a life".

Even with close friends I don't go in depth as that is akin to discussing the intricacies of washing machine motors.

[TheThong]

I always say ' it's like ddr but you use your hands instead of your feet'. But if they don't get rhythm gaming at all, I just show them

[Charu]

Pretty much

I don't show it to others that often. If only because as a spectator, SM/Osumania/FFR/MusicGameHere is just not interesting to watch as it is to perform.

[TheThong]

Originally Posted by Charu

Pretty much

I don't show it to others that often. If only because as a spectator, SM/Osumania/FFR/MusicGameHere is just not interesting to watch as it is to perform.

It's funny you say that. I probably only know three other people who play where I am, and when I show people ffr/sm and play, they have a try and are shocked at how 'good' I am. (I know I'm not great, but you guys get me!).

[Contrapasso]

i used to say "ddr for your fingers" but now that i play with more than 4 notes, it's more accurate to just say "music game for keyboard"

[HeZe]

The first thing to do is to make them play a couple of songs themselves and then they understand the skill level required to play some nice stuff.

The main thing is that you don't force anyone to watch more than one play (ideally short). They'll ask for more if they want to

E: Don't show ffr to girls, they start hating you

[IILUCKEYII]

I just started playing again and I've been telling my friends (who are all playing Overwatch) that it's a very very difficult rhythm game. I usually get better responses out of people if I emphasize how hard something is.