Small Accomplishments

While I love DDR, there’s always been a small “something” about it that frustrated me, and I could never place it.  Tonight, I finally figured out what it is.
I’m a balls to the wall sorta guy – when I take on a new game, it rarely takes me long to go from first time player to damned near a master of the game.  Sure, I’ll never play against the best of the best, and some games just never managed to motivate me enough to really care (Halo 2 is a prime example of that – I could give a shit less if I’m hardcore at it, ’cause it just doesn’t excite me like Half-Life 2 Deathmatch or Unreal Tournament does in the First Person Shooter arena.  And it’s more than just the controls that turn me off, it’s a large part of the multi-player gameplay), but I can usually whoop the ass of just about anyone that comes along.
DDR on the other hand, doesn’t allow for that.  You can’t “master it” instantly – I don’t think the human body is designed for that   Instead of mastering broad strokes of the game (for instance, the quirks of the rocketlauncher in an FPS means you’ve ) it’s all a series of small accomplishments.  One you figure out how a small part works (the “gallop” in Cowgirl on heavy) that doesn’t really mean you’ve mastered any larger portion of the steps that game presents.  
Suddenly it’s a lot less frustrating to not be able to do an entire song, just as long as I managed to walk away from it with a small accomplishment, I’m happy. 
With that in mind, I’ve been playing quite a few things on Heavy (I played with CERB for a while, then with Twitch, then by myself totaling about an hour and a half) just to pick up some of the more advanced steps – if I fail the song, so what? 
Now I’m in trouble, ’cause I’m having even more fun with it.  Great – I’m probably going to end up having to build up two complete DDR / Stepmania setups just so I’ll be able to play whenever I want to   (The rules at GZ are always that customers get to dominate the machines, not the owners or employees 
Tomarrow one of the “New guys” opens the store, and I get to go run around and get biz done.  First on the agenda is to get ourselves in a commercial for the Delano district – yep, that’s right, our first TV commercial.  Granted, it’s on like channel 44 or something like that, and it’s joint commercial for a lot of the Delano businesses, and costs a whopping $30.  But, 200 advertisements on TV is still a good thing for business.  
A couple of other things on the agenda (like getting the store restocked) then I get to start on the new pads 
For anyone reading this wondering where GamerZone is:  817 West Douglass, Second Floor.  That Second Floor part has been a problem for people – there’s no sign above the door for GZ (Agents has to be tired of people asking them where GZ is   While I love being in the Delano District, there are some downsides – one of them is signage laws.  OMFG.  It’s very restrictive.  In about three weeks, I’ll throw in our sign permit request with the Delano Somethingorother Association (I’m a memeber of the Delano Business Association, but that has nothing to do with controlling appearance rules :-/ )  But until then, there’s a sign that’s semi-illuminated at night now:
Well, it’s not great, but it’s something   At least now people can see we’re in here!  We’ll have to survive with that for almost 2 months – it takes a month between commission meetings, then getting the city to approve it, etc.  Sheesh.  And even then – there are restrictions on what font I can use!  I have an incredibly cool stylish font that I want (I created it  for Gamer Zone, and I can’t bloody well use it on a sign.  heh.  I’ll draft it up anyway, and see if it goes through with the font style I want first, then revise if nessisary.
So no one has an excuse that they can’t find the place anymore 
One more thing I did figure out about DDR.  I work about 15 – 16 hours a day.  I’m going to need to bring 2 shirts, and a can of AXE with me everyday now, so if I DDR I don’t smell like I do now.  Yeeks.
Davis, Gamer Zone
Nice signs   XD Very much needed too. Smelly=bad but I’m glad to hear you’re working on it, and your DDR skillz. Btw, when I passed Cowgirl heavy, I was so proud that I could do the gallops. =D That is definately my song (since I used to play it 90238490238 times a day)
Posted 4/20/2006 2:52 PM by Aur0raXXBorealis – reply
Hey if you need help building the pads I will help you cause I really want to learn how to make those types of pads so I could make some for home… But yeah… I guess I will talk to you bout it the next time I am at Gamerzone…
Posted 4/20/2006 5:12 PM by Lord_Yukuu – reply
I need to roll up to Gamerzone sometime to check out how their SM machine is. Eh, definitely got potential, and atleast it seems like they’re giving special attention to DDR people, so that’s always a good sign.
Posted 4/20/2006 9:39 PM by ShalashaskaTheGreat – reply
Okay, here’s the link to the forum thread on that pad I was talking about –>http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=106816
I’ve looked a a few different designs, and this one looks to be among the best. Unfortunately the plans are still pending release. But hopefully they’ll be out soon. 
Call to DDR gamers: If you know any plans for home DDR pads that you think are better, please post them here to give GamerZone as many options as possible. Thanks.
Posted 4/21/2006 12:21 AM by wizitchizit – reply

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