A K/D ratio of 0.18 is normal right? ... Right?

I took a week off from the Metal Gear Solid series this week to play some Rayman Origins on my vita and play Battlefield 3 on the PC. Rayman is still as good looking as it was last year and it a blast to play on the Vita. The controls are also really tight and satisfyingly floaty at the same time, and that along with the animations make you feel like you a badass at games. That game can get really challenging by the end especially if you are trying to collect every thing you can and when you finally nail a whole level flawlessly after you have been trying for a half hour you you feel like you accomplished something. The S rank I got in Origins is high on my list of S ranks I am most proud of.

However the main game I want to talk about is Battlefield 3 and its less so because of the game and more of my experience with it. Battlefield 3 is a perfectly competent game and if you're a fan of good shooters Battlefield 3 is definitely an excellent shooter but it does nothing to really innovate and bring in people who might have grown tired of the genre. What made it so interesting to me was that it is the first shooter I have seriously tried to play on the PC. I used to be above average in Call of Duty and Battlefield Bad Company on consoles and have been using a controller for games for the better part of 12 years, a controller is like a part of my body at this point. Long gone are the days of having to look at my hands to figure out where the button I need to press is. On top of that the shooter genre has become accustomed to standards control wise. So much so that if placed in front of most any shooter I, like most any gaming enthusiast, would be able to pick it up and be decent in very little time.

The main reason why I don’t play shooters on the PC is because of this change in control mechanism away from my comfort zone. It’s like someone who all of a sudden is forced to brush their teeth with their foot. It’s probably possible but they’re not gonna be very efficient or comfortable while doing it. At the same time, though I feel like it is important somehow to learn how a large segment of shooter fans prefer to play them instead of just writing the PC off as inferior. And I tell you it is an extremely humbling experience. I started off playing some of the campaign just to get a sense for how bad I was going to be and wow am I bad. Those days of having to look at my fingers are back even though I use a keyboard more than I use a controller using it to control a virtual set of hands is completely different than writing an article or typing in a web address.

I then tried some multiplayer and it took me 30 minutes to even get one kill and the only thing I could really do was laugh. On a console when I was good if I were to ever even go close to a negative K/D ratio I’d just quit and even now a days since I play to many different games to devote the time to continuing to stay that good if I have a string of like 5 matches where I go negative I’ll take a break but even then forcing myself to play almost 3 full matches without even killing one person is not something I ever thought I would be able to handle temper wise. The strange thing is I never really got mad the first kill was more of a goal or an accomplishment for me that evening.

But as I played more this week I started to get the hang of it. I quickly realised that a lot of the fundamentals from shooters on consoles carry over onto the PC, it is just how you perform those fundamentals that is the difference. You still need to check your corners, understanding the flow of a map is crucial. then understanding what you can see and what is able to see you at any given time, then training your fingers to just instinctively move properly is then just about repetition. At this point I am better than I was a week ago but I still have a long ways to go and I look forward to being able to hold my own and being able to play anything well regardless of platform. Its almost like learning how to drive a manual transmission. It may not be as easy and an automatic may or may not be a better choice in any given situation but being able to make the decision based off of personal experience and being able to drive any car is a nice skill to have if it is necessary.

I took a week off from the Metal Gear Solid series this week to play some Rayman Origins on my vita and play Battlefield 3 on the PC. Rayman is still as good looking as it was last year and it a blast to play on the Vita. The controls are also really tight and satisfyingly floaty at the same time, and that along with the animations make you feel like you a badass at games. That game can get really challenging by the end especially if you are trying to collect every thing you can and when you finally nail a whole level flawlessly after you have been trying for a half hour you you feel like you accomplished something. The S rank I got in Origins is high on my list of S ranks I am most proud of.

However the main game I want to talk about is Battlefield 3 and its less so because of the game and more of my experience with it. Battlefield 3 is a perfectly competent game and if you're a fan of good shooters Battlefield 3 is definitely an excellent shooter but it does nothing to really innovate and bring in people who might have grown tired of the genre. What made it so interesting to me was that it is the first shooter I have seriously tried to play on the PC. I used to be above average in Call of Duty and Battlefield Bad Company on consoles and have been using a controller for games for the better part of 12 years, a controller is like a part of my body at this point. Long gone are the days of having to look at my hands to figure out where the button I need to press is. On top of that the shooter genre has become accustomed to standards control wise. So much so that if placed in front of most any shooter I, like most any gaming enthusiast, would be able to pick it up and be decent in very little time.

The main reason why I don’t play shooters on the PC is because of this change in control mechanism away from my comfort zone. It’s like someone who all of a sudden is forced to brush their teeth with their foot. It’s probably possible but they’re not gonna be very efficient or comfortable while doing it. At the same time, though I feel like it is important somehow to learn how a large segment of shooter fans prefer to play them instead of just writing the PC off as inferior. And I tell you it is an extremely humbling experience. I started off playing some of the campaign just to get a sense for how bad I was going to be and wow am I bad. Those days of having to look at my fingers are back even though I use a keyboard more than I use a controller using it to control a virtual set of hands is completely different than writing an article or typing in a web address.

I then tried some multiplayer and it took me 30 minutes to even get one kill and the only thing I could really do was laugh. On a console when I was good if I were to ever even go close to a negative K/D ratio I’d just quit and even now a days since I play to many different games to devote the time to continuing to stay that good if I have a string of like 5 matches where I go negative I’ll take a break but even then forcing myself to play almost 3 full matches without even killing one person is not something I ever thought I would be able to handle temper wise. The strange thing is I never really got mad the first kill was more of a goal or an accomplishment for me that evening.

But as I played more this week I started to get the hang of it. I quickly realised that a lot of the fundamentals from shooters on consoles carry over onto the PC, it is just how you perform those fundamentals that is the difference. You still need to check your corners, understanding the flow of a map is crucial. then understanding what you can see and what is able to see you at any given time, then training your fingers to just instinctively move properly is then just about repetition. At this point I am better than I was a week ago but I still have a long ways to go and I look forward to being able to hold my own and being able to play anything well regardless of platform. Its almost like learning how to drive a manual transmission. It may not be as easy and an automatic may or may not be a better choice in any given situation but being able to make the decision based off of personal experience and being able to drive any car is a nice skill to have if it is necessary.

In Halo games im always at least 2.50K/D

Most FPSs' i go at least above 1.75KD

I dont really care but then i do,

if your having fun while get killed like crazy then who cares about your KD. When you get a actual kill it is just more satisfying

Interesting read, because while I respect the effort you put in to learn mouse+keyboard, I end up looking at my own control preferences... and I will never, ever willfully use a controller to play an FPS. I almost wonder if it's a one-way leap.

I mean, I used a controller to play classic games like GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. But those were totally different games from a totally different time. These days, I find even the 360 controller atrocious for rapid shooting, looking, and aiming.

Surely it's just a matter of practice. But knowing better, at least from my perspective, I don't think I could ever cross over from the mouse and keyboard.

EDIT: Also, props to BF3. Fantastic game, I still play it as well, and don't be discouraged about KDR... that's not all there is to winning. What makes Battlefield so great is the ability for the guy who supports his team, who captures points, and spots targets to decide the game. My BF3 KDR is around 1.6, but I've played for hundreds of hours.

Most people I've ever seen have 1:1. I've only got to about 0:5 or something like that because I suck.

I think it really depends on the game...

Since I stopped play COD/Halo years ago, I also stopped caring about my kd ratio. When it comes to Battlefield 3, I only care about two things: Winning and having fun. 'Tis much less stressful that way.

As long as you are on the other team then I have no problem with that kd.

I'm around 1.0 to 1.2 on most FPS games I've played. I think it's because I lag.

Hey man, don't sweat it. SOMEONE has to get a low K/D in order for someone to get a high K/D. I usually get around 0.8 to 0.9 in games like Battlefield, and sometimes 1 or slightly higher in games like CoD (but it depends on the maps). The highest I ever got regularly were 1.8s and 2.0s in Killzone 2 Multiplayer, which I was fairly decent at.

Don't worry about your K/D. Just have fun.

I'm rocking a 2.52 K/D right now on Black Ops 2.

And guess what? None of it matters.

Play the game and have fun in your own way.

I like being a little competitive, but I never let it stand in the way of having fun.

if your winning, then it don't matter much... but if your losing then i dunno... it's possible your not pulling your weight :P

Yea I used to have K/D of 1.5 or 1.7 in Call of Duty 4 and the Original Black Ops and I have around a 1.1 in the newer games i think. I agree that K/D ratio isn't always that important but it is definitely a way to tell if some one is competent or not.

The difference between CoD and Battlefield as it relates to K/D are interesting though. CoD is a game that only has the ability to be successful in two ways kills and wins. So usually the amount of kills you get will equal a win or loss. Where as Battlefield has the ability to heal people as a medic or repair vehicles as an engineer and DICE does a good job in making those other classes worth playing and gives you something in return for doing what you want. If you wanna kill people you are going to receive better guns for your efforts if you wanna support people your going to unlock better supporting items.

But yea I'm not feeling bad at all about my skills I will get better just like any thing else it will just take time. But you just wait until I decide to discuss my experiences with a helicopter using the mouse.