Whenever a message goes out at work saying, “<item> found in woman’s restroom” I want to respond and say it’s mine. I don’t think it’d go over well here.

A few weeks ago Evo took place in Las Vegas. Again, I didn’t go, but I watched most of the 3-day event online. Games played this year included Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition version 2012 (yes, that’s the full name), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Soul Calibur 5, King of Fighters XIII, Super Street Fighter II Turbo and a few other games I didn’t care about. It’s always fascinating to me the level of skill required to play one of these games at a competitive level.

It’s not just mashing buttons. Do that and you’ll quickly lose against an experienced player. The game requires precise execution of commands, knowledge of match-ups and a good understanding of frame data. Frame data is knowing how many frames of animation it takes for a move to execute, complete and then recover.

I’ve never been superb at fighting games, but when Street Fighter IV came out in 2009, I put in quite a bit of time with the game. I got better than several people I knew, came in second at a very small tournament at my old college and had fun with it. Then everyone else in the world got better and I stopped playing.