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why are some people so rough on an arcade machine?
Mr. Dude:
A friend of mine freaks out completely when he plays any of the Street Fighter games against me on my cab. He's not very good at fighting games so I always beat him and this makes him freak even more. He frantically pounds on the buttons and stick and sometimes even moves the entire cabinet. I think it's hilarious how crazy he gets but I also take it as a compliment that my craftsmanship can withstand such abuse.
Martoon:
There's some kind of psycho-neurological factor that determines how different people interact with physical controls to a virtual environment. Some people's brains inherently grasp that when you push a joystick or button far enough to engage the switch (or to complete saturation in the case of analog), pushing any harder doesn't make your character move any faster/jump any higher, etc. Other people's brains never really accept this (even if they're consciously aware of how it really works).
Back in my C64 days, I had a virtually indestructable microswitch joystick (it had a five-year warranty). I used it for a couple years without incident, but as soon as my brother-in-law played a couple games with it, he broke it. The thing is, my brother-in-law is this really reserved, careful, methodical (and very intelligent) guy, but when Ms. Pacman wasn't going to make a corner fast enough, he just couldn't help but direct every bit of strength he had into pushing the joystick harder.
The moral is, when you build an arcade cabinet, you just have to build it to withstand people pushing, pulling, and slamming the controls as hard as they possibly can.
RacerX:
This reminds me of when I used to let my sister or my mom play a game of Donkey Kong Jr. on my ColecoVision. No matter how many times I told them that "to make the little monkey jump right", all you need to do is push the joystick to the right and push the button, they would move the entire control (along with their hands and arms) that direction as well. :D
AlanS17:
I know all about bullet-proofing a cabinet. Mine was built for (and still lives in) a frat house! I've never had any problems with it despite the abuse those controls have taken. However, once one of the guys got mad and actually punched the screen. That was the last game he ever played on it... :P
Tailgunner:
Adrenalin and stress. People who get emotionally involved in games tend to be rough on the equipment.