Showmanship

[sly rax]

Lately I have been drawing small crowds whenever I play (3-12 people). And when there is a crowd, I always try to do something to impress.

The thing is, I always do better on the song than I ever have when there is a crowd, even though it is always people that will see me do horribly on the previous song and be like "Wow, you are really good." Obviously I don't need to do my best to impress them, but something always happens. At this point my accomplishments still aren't amazing, but I am always shocked at the improvement I get from playing in front of a crowd.

Today: Drop Out - Finally got my A
Other times: Got my near-AAs on Still In My Heart (Momo Mix) and Tsugaru (Apple Mix) in a row. There was the time that I passed Love Love Shine on Extra Stage (cannot read reverse for the life of me!). Also, my A on Witch Doctor and my 1 DP away from A (I was mad) on Waka Laka were while people were watching.

Does anybody else see a slight boost in abilities when they have the spectators?

[SSC]

I'm exactly the opposite for some reason.

It's not that I get nervous, it's that I overstress things when I mess up, then I end up actually getting really pissed and just sucking instead of having fun.

[sly rax]

That sucks. But that will probably change.

I almost forgot about another thing I wanted to bring up: speed. When I watch somebody else playing, I am almost always thinking in my head "Wow, they are moving fast!" Then I realize it is a song I play all the time, and I am just like "Wow, I move that fast." Sometimes I just don't believe it. I want to film myself playing sometime so I can believe it for myself. I mean, it really doesn't feel like you are moving that fast when you are up on the pad.

Anybody else go through this kind of shock?

[SSC]

Okay, again I'll attest to this. This has happened to me several times. I'll see my friend who's okay, but not as good as me , , trying to do some songs and I'll be saying, "dang, he's flying." But then I do it, and realize I'm speeding around also.

I've noticed something --- It doesn't matter whether you do good or bad, but for some reason Xenon impresses basically anyone who doesn't know anything about DDR. I was playing it one day in front of my friends and I did really crappy and got a C, and they went "Whoa!" That's the response I get from anyone playing that song...

[MATS]

I hate crowds, when ever I have one I always just walk right away.

[abrannan]

I odn't play in the arcade, but at home I do play better if someone's watching. I'm less likely to give up on a song if I miss a few steps, too. But most of my records are when I've got an audience.

[DeVryGuy]

I totally agree with this. I think it is just because everyone always seems so impressed that you are able to move like that. When you do a particularly difficult song (at least for you) and manage a A, AA or AAA on it, when your audience cant even comprehend the arrows, it makes you look like a real DDR bad ass.

I loved being at home for Thanksgiving and wowing my entire family AA'ing The Least 100 Seconds.

[psmo290]

my family went wild when i AAA my summer love heavy at home. It was like the 6th time they saw me do it but they're still excited.

[Laura Moncur]

Whenever they have DDR set up at a store (like Best Buy, Fry's, or Circuit City), I like to play because it's usually Playstation and I need to remind myself why I got the Xbox.

Whenever I play, I swear I sell three or four units to grownups. They see a 35 year-old woman booking it on the dance pad and they think, "Hey, I could use that to lose weight. Don't we have one of these Playstation things at home for the kids?" I think when kids play it, grownups think, that's for kids without even conceiving of the idea of playing it themselves.