Scoring: Is constantly checking your score a bad habit?

[Rastan78]

Haven't heard this discussed before, and I'm curious how others think about it. Sometimes when chasing high scores, I think constantly glancing at your score during runs can hold you back and lead to score checking OCD. Is it OK to be constantly aware of your score, or better to focus only on gameplay and not get distracted. The way I see it there are pros and cons.

Pros: Learning scoring milestones can help you confirm if you're hitting the mark and show you where you are dropping points. Especially true with areas where seeing your score tick up by a given amount might be the only sure way to confirm you did a trick correctly.

Cons: Spending half your time glancing at the score counter distracts you from the task at hand.

Becoming aware that you are a bit behind a new PB pace can make you more likely to scrap decent runs or play half assed. This will probably lead to slower improvement overall than giving your best each run in spite of mistakes.

Becoming aware that you are on pace for a really good score can add to increased nerves. Telling yourself, "Wow this could be the run" half way through is often a good way to ensure you're gonna fuck it all up.


So what do you guys think? Is babysitting your score counter a necessary evil of high level play? Or better to just have certain milestones to check pace here and there? Maybe even pay no attention if at all possible? I'd almost be curious to see if I'd score better or worse with a couple of post it notes over the score counter in order to not get distracted/obsessed by the counter mid run.

[SPM]

If you're playing THE run for a new PB, definitely check the score at some important and safe moments (as few of these as possible).

When learning how to score I check it out "constantly" to see what is worth doing and what is not, which sometimes gets me killed. Examining the replay may be better for this, but instant feedback is also important.

[Shatterhand]

Very easy to solve if every game start doing what Cardiaxx on Amiga does.

Draw the score right at the middle of screen with a fucking giant font occupying a huge amount of the screen.

Problem solved!

[Sengoku Strider]

Pros: Learning scoring milestones can help you confirm if you're hitting the mark and show you where you are dropping points. Especially true with areas where seeing your score tick up by a given amount might be the only sure way to confirm you did a trick correctly.

This is an issue best addressed watching replays. If that's not an option, then sure, check when it's relevant. Yeah you might die, but once you get the scoring in an area down you can forget about it.

[davyK]

XII Stag has a nice score comparison feature. And the 360 Cave ports have score tracking features too. The key is to become too obsessed and have regular safe checkpoints for looking at the score.