Here’s something I hope will start a positive and engaging conversation within the community, but has nothing to do with anything technical in ST:
I feel that most of the ST community that I communicate with on a regular basis are among the best players in the world. Who here is confident enough to make that claim (that they, themselves are one of the best ST players in the world) for themselves and can also feel justified in making that claim? I know I am. What about you guys? Also side questions: After the first statement I made (regarding my thoughts on the active community’s skill level), did that change anyone’s opinion on anything? who feels they are NOT one of the best players in the world, and who feels that I would not consider them one of the best? I’m interested, guaging the 1. overall confidence level of everyone here
2. How the community feels about the global skill level of ST
and
3. The standards we hold ourselves to regarding ST
I’m intentionally not defining terms such as “best” and who is “part of the community” who isn’t and other such ambiguous ideas… Leaving them up to interpretation (and please provide your own interpretation if you feel that it differs from many people’s)
And I certainly have follow up thoughts and questions in mind after some responses come in.
I feel like anyone who hasn’t actually done any extensive traveling can rightfully make a claim at best in the world.
Think about it: that’s not really a minor claim to make. Best in your book club or knitting circle, hockey league, whatever. Ok, sure.
Best in the WORLD, though? Surely you realize the WORLD means out of EVERYBODY. They didn’t call it the “World Warrior” tournament so Guile could take a quick road trip and scrap with Ken and call it a day. No, they have to go all the way to India to fight Dhalsim and then to Brazil to fight Blanka and so on.
And if either of them never left their basement to play on Fightcade only for Ken to say “omg i wouldve won if it wasnt so laggy and my dp came out.” Well, you know what, let’s just not go there. Playing online doesn’t really prove anything imo.
Petty as it might be, I’ve had thoughts before like, “I’m the best player in this room. I could beat anybody in here.” Now, we know the WORLD is just a bigger room with everybody in it. You can’t rightfully say you’re the best without putting it to the test, which is where traveling and competition comes into play.
Personally, I can’t say I’m the best in the world and I know it from true experiences. There’s this quote coming to my mind from some cheesy movie, but I can’t identify it right now.
“To be the best, you have to beat the best.”
Well, I said “one of the best” not THE best. And how big a group you want to lump “one of the best” in, is up to you. Its one of the things I’m interested in. Obviously for me, its a larger group if I consider most of the people I interact with regularly one of the best…
I wouldn’t even consider myself as one of the best, then. After having seen and played against much better players than myself, it’s difficult to fathom the level of mastery that goes into being on top.
I feel like you can only trickle down so much from a sense of being “the best” before the true meaning of top proficiency loses its luster. Being one of the best of the best of the best of the best doesn’t really mean much.
I tend to think of “best” in terms of character specialization and region. Those categories can have small subdivisions like this person has consistent execution or great combos, clever footsies. In the end, though, everyone has their own opinion anyway. Seems like the most general agreement that could be made is who usually wins most often.
Seems like this topic is generating a lot of discussion on FB. And the way you’re moderating it is very encompassing of others, well-meant and intended (read: Canadian) haha. Good stuff.
I like to think that I am strong at ST because I made a lot of progress in the past years and I can kill anybody if he makes a mistake but I always come back to reason because I know that most of the guys I play with in tournaments can do the same, if I make a mistake, the round is over for me.
The overall level of ST in the world has increased significantly in the 10 last years, thank you Internet ;), and we may reach Japanese level in Europe and USA, I even suppose that Chilian, Brazialian and Mexican levels are rising very fast ! We will probably never get as strong as Japaneses, but the step between us and then will never stop decreasing. The best thing we can do to get always better is to write more and more things online and spread it to the others and never stop setting up tourneys.
