DDR Etiquette

I was at the movie theatre the other day where they have a DDR Max2 7th Mix machine and I wanted to catch a few games after my movie was over. The problem was that there were three people camped out on the machine with water bottles and plenty of singles to feed the machine and they were rotating onto the machine and not letting anyone else play. I was tempted to talk to theatre management but thought maybe there might be some unwritten etiquette issue that was at reason for them not letting me get in and play. Their reasoning was that they had the machine first and when they were finished I was welcome to play. I waited about an hour for them to finish and gave up.

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Bob Hansen

Operation Wicked Twister
Goal: Lose enough weight (50lbs) to ride Wicked Twister in 2K3
Progress: 25 pounds since 1-1-2003

No, that's not an issue of etiquette - it's just rude.

Here, as with any other popular game, we put a token or marker up onto the machine to mark our place in the rotation.

Or, you could be like me, with no life . . . I play midday on weekdays when everyone's at school. :)

I encountered this at DisneyQuest last week-it's even worse there because all the games are free once you pay the entrance fee. I had to tap a lot of people on the shoulder and ask them to stop playing. I wouldn't have minded so much if they were actually good-they were failing three footers.

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SRM 2003-Look for the guy with my name on his chest

Yeah, that's b.s. When this happens to me, what I do is, I put my tokens on the machine while they are playing. Then as soon as their last song is over, I walk up and put my tokens in the machine. If they say anything, I tell them my tokens were up there, so tough shizz-nit for them.

The thing I hate is when there's a huge line of people, but everyone wants to play by themselves. I realize you have to agree on the songs, but it's not that hard.

I agree with Chernabog - when I want to play, I go to work early, then take off a little early and play after work before anyone gets to the arcade for the night. Such as this Thursday - wanna meet me there, Mark? :)

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

You bet, Den. Shoot me an e-mail...I'll reply when I get home.

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SRM 2003-Look for the guy with my name on his chest

Yanno, i hear stories like that all the time, where peoplez are being morons, and lil kids messin' up all kindza stuff, but it's never happened to me...ever...O_o. But yeah i do know to put your quarter or marker up there to place your turn, actually...i think i should start putting a marker up there instead of a quarter...so people don't get the idea that they just "found one" and jack mah money..>_>;;

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Rolla coasta lova, and a DDR maniac

Go to DDRfreak's forums and half of the topics are about jerks (either like the ones above or people making fun of players) or little kids. No kidding.

Myself, I've only seen each minimally where I play. The kids are the worst, because they like to run between the screen and the pads while you're playing. And when they play, they stomp as hard as they can and play the same song 3 times in a row. But I can deal with them.

I can also deal with being called "gay" or whatever, because in most cases it's coming from someone who later gives the game a try and sucks. Idiots.

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

What was sad is these people werent kids. It was a guy and a girl. The guy was probably pushing 40 and the girl was early 30 something. It really looked like they were there for their excercise as they were both about my size and had four or five water bottles each. I say join Ballys or get a freakin Playstation!

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Bob Hansen

Operation Wicked Twister
Goal: Lose enough weight (50lbs) to ride Wicked Twister in 2K3
Progress: 25 pounds since 1-1-2003

Hmmph... they probably got kicked out of Ballys for hogging the treadmill or something...

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Well, regardless of age, Bob, they were still jackasses.

I ran into a couple of kids who wigged out on me when I booted them off the stage trying to cut, showing that my coins were up on the machine. Kid was pisssed, but give me a break... dude could beat heavy songs and he never saw a coin row? Please. That practice has been around since before video games, when pinball machines ruled.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM

Jeff, your post reminded me of playing Mortal Kombat II with tokens stacked up along the edges of the game. Then I thought, wouldn't that be cool if the winner of each game of DDR got to keep playing, just like in fighting games? Well, maybe not, but it would it some ways...

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Yanno, i never thought of coin rows that way...what if they we're set up so that winner stays on the stage, but loser leaves? Well that probably would fly if DDR was designed specifically to compete. Alot of people see 'versus' mode as somewhat of 'cooperation' mode where the players dance together, as opposed to out-dancing one another.

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Rolla coasta lova, and a DDR maniac

The problem with that is that some people play songs at different difficulty levels (ie one person will play Maniac/Heavy and the other will play Trick/Standard) so in those cases you can't define a "winner."

It isn't fair to the person who's only been playing for a month or so and can do Trick songs that the person who's been playing for a year and can play 10 foot Maniac songs will be the one who gets to play all the time. It's not such a competitive game (except in tournaments) as something like Mortal Kombat or Capcom vs. SNK.

Wasn't there a 'battle' mode in earlier mixes?

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Tommy Penner - YoYoBaybeeMan

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MiLLeNNiUMRiDeR said:
Wasn't there a 'battle' mode in earlier mixes?

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Tommy Penner - YoYoBaybeeMan

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Yeah 4th mix.

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The thing I hate is when there's a huge line of people, but everyone wants to play by themselves. I realize you have to agree on the songs, but it's not that hard.

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It's hard to PA something with someone scrubbing through a song next to you.

Not if you're good enough to ignore them. Try playing an Oni course at a bowling alley (ton of ambient noise) with the volume really low and little kids jumping on the machine around you then cry about it. (Den knows where I'm talking about!) It's only a game and everyone should get a chance to play. :o)

Also, playing versus is the polite thing to do if there's a long line.

Edit: And if you play in tournaments, you know that you play at the same time as someone else there, so you better be used to someone playing next to you!
*** This post was edited by Natalie 4/4/2003 12:15:39 PM ***

Yes, even here in New Zealand, we have the problem with hoggers and little kids.

Call me Sad but do you think I can get a game where-
(a). People are not standing right next to the pads or leaned against the bar
(b) People dont ask me for advice while I'm playing
(c) where people dont jump on the other pad while I'm playing singles
(d) People ignore the token line on the machine and put them in anyway ....
(e) .... then claim ignorance when told they were behind five others.

Personally, Ive never got the 'gay' call as most people in our aracades are bemani players (Beatmania, drummania, guitar freaks, dancemaniax) so they recognize the skills.

At my local arcade, which has only had it DDR MAX2 for 2 weeks, many players are still playing light so a heavy player like myself spend a significant time teaching and advising but its fun.

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If Lifes a Rollercoaster, I want a Flawless

There are a lot of kids that play the DDR Max 2 machine at my place of employment. I don't mind, nor do the people that are regulars. What I DO mind though, are those who are either - a) impatient, b) ego - maniacs who don't think their **** stinks, or c) those who make fun of little kids / first time players.

I suppose that etiquette and manners flew out the window because no one seems to use it / them. In this case, I just force people to leave.

Oh my friend from England took to calling me the "DDR sensai" because of all of the little kids I helped out when we were at the arcade. I think my favorite thing to do is help people who've never played before.