Any way to not feel this way?

[bmah]

Hi Doug, I'd like to address some of your statements:

1. I really did ignore posters. If I'm in a different plane than them, it's best to only focus on the posters I might have a decent chance to actually make friends with.

In a game like FFR, people have varying skill sets. It's not a linear progression where you'd only benefit from hanging out with guys at your level. So what I'm saying is that you can benefit from conversing with all sorts of users on this site as they have different strengths and weaknesses (e.g. jacks, trills, rolls, etc.) and can provide you tips on your own weaknesses.

And of course, it only makes sense to be encompassing of as many people as you can because most people would enjoy the social connections. That's universal.

2. You guys seem to be under the impression that not only have they all worked harder and played more than me, but also that I can somehow get as good as them. If you count all of accounts and time playing StepMania, I've probably played more than almost everyone. And yet, a lot of people are still a lot better than I am. They've gotten rewards for naturally being better than me, not simply by working harder.

First of all, take a look at this thread regarding a similar question of varying skills on rhythm games: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=131015
(take a look at Reach's posts especially)
Some people may just have more myelin in their brain than others. Some things may be biologically out of your control. But that also applies for so many other activities in life.

Secondly, I disagree with your last statement there. As I mentioned before, people have different strengths and weaknesses. There's no even plane. So yes, some people DO have to work harder to reach the same level as others, or may not even reach that level. But remember, FFR is a rhythm game, and rhythm is what it's all about. People will good rhythm and pattern recognition will naturally tend to excel and gain those rewards.

Even so, there ARE tokens that reward you solely based on effort, such as getting a high enough grandtotal in one day. So not all achievements are even based on skill alone.

4. I'm not a completionist and I don't want to AAA every file of FFR. But when it comes to games, I'm a completionist in terms of at least unlocking everything, then I like to mess around with all the stuff a game has to offer after I've unlocked everything. With this game, it really doesn't seem like that's an option.

Well not that it's impossible, but you do have to work really hard for it. Similarly, many other video games have achievements that are extremely hard to accomplish without a lot of (sometimes mindless) dedication.
example of luck: I'm playing Animal Crossing as of late, for instance, and there are almost 4000 items in the game. Some items are only offered randomly through luck.
example of extreme skill: And then there are racing games with rewards that can only be unlocked after completing extremely tight time trials.

Take a look at FFR: it's no different.

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As a side note Doug, it's perfectly fine to make your thread even with some mistaken judgment, and we're happy to show our opinions to tell you otherwise. However, I would appreciate if you didn't try to find someone else to blame for your shortcomings, namely the staff.

The thread does bring out the occasional argument that I can agree with, such as some ridiculous requirements for some tokens. But a good majority of your issues will have to be dealt with yourself.

If you can't find yourself enjoying this game, then there are other ways to enjoy yourself within the community. I create a lot of files for this game, for instance. Other people usual their visual expertise to create profiles for users. Some are even musicians who would happily contribute to this game.

Alternatively, you may quit.