Breaking embarassing bad habits

I’m pretty well-read with respect to fighting game tactics, but I’m having trouble putting that knowledge into practice. I can intellectually grasp the notion that the DP is a very unsafe move, but I still find myself doing them on wakeup every other time I’m knocked down. I sweep too much, I use EX moves too much, and I don’t hit-confirm when I should. Basically, my playstyle tends to be very visibly amateurish. This often makes me feel self-conscious, and my play suffers further for it.

What should I do to break these habits?

My main game right now is 3S, if that matters.

There are a few things…

  • If possible, try to play with people offline, especially strangers who are better than you. When you do something stupid, it will hit you harder than playing against friends or online. You will think to yourself “Wow, that was retarded and I look like a noob in front of these people. I need to stop doing that”.

  • Watch your replays. Same deal. You will see yourself do something stupid and think “Wow…what the hell was I thinking?”

  • Try to go into a match with this gameplan - It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, just TRY TRY TRY to not do something silly that you would usually do.

If you’re main game is 3S then try posting in the 3rd Strike forum section as well, you’ll get more advice specialized to 3rd strike. But a lot of the things you listed are common when you are beginning or just simply panicking. Also, think about risk/reward, this is very important when determining when you should or shouldn’t do certain actions. Diligence and continuing to realize your mistakes will build good habits.

Stop being so nervous. It’s just a game. You’re not in a real fight. Calm down. You’re DPing on wakeup because you got hit and you want to do something drastic to turn the tide around. Same thing with sweeps and EX moves. Don’t freak out because you got hit. It’s going to happen. No one wins every round with a Perfect every time. Just be patient, relax, and play the game. You’ll get better.

Bad habits get punished if you play againt good players consistently. Just keep playing and you’ll eventually stop doing them.

Mindfulness goes a long way.

Most of the time when people play a game it’s instinctual than mindful. Newer players especially tend to just “turn their brain off” when playing so they’re not actually thinking about the actions they’re doing, which leads to actions like habitual DP from wake-up.
Now to constantly be thinking while playing is pretty hard anyways, but in regards to bad habits it’s best to focus on those situations where those habits form and put some thought into what you’re doing. When you get knocked down, focus on NOT doing DP and doing something else instead. Eventually you won’t need to think about not doing DP automatically anymore and the habit will die out, and then you will THINK about when you want to DP instead, which is a lot more valuable.

Repeated exposure/punishment for bad habits are an excellent catalyst for thinking about what you’re doing, it tends to be a lot easier to grasp this when a player easily abuses your habits to their gain, so playing people above your skill level is a great way to learn this as well.

Well put. Very true!

I haven’t played in a while, but I can identify your issue easily. You need a fucking plan… Somebody had a signature that said something like, when shit hits the fan, only the people who trained survive. So make a plan of when you dp, how many times you gonna dp, what the percentages of risk and damage are and anything else you can make a plan for. Then, practice and follow through. After time, you will know what works and what doesn’t. You will adjust you plan accordingly over time…