One of my friends plays SF online only. He doesnt have a stick so he cant play when we go to the arcades. He knows the basics of the game. He can use a few characters and get a few wins online sometimes consistently, he might also know a few advanced details here and there like reversals breaking focus and stuff, but hes a scrub. He always complains on how other characters or players are cheap.
When we dicuss about SF he always complains on how guiles grab him in the air, or how blankas are “wack” because his moves are too obscure from other characters, or how guile is a bad character cuz he only has 2 moves sonic boom and flash kick, or how bisons only do scissor kicks and HK, you see where im going with this. He has his own set of made up rules on what is “good” and what is “cheap”. I keep trying to convince him that hes not playing the same game and that he needs to accept his weaknesses to become a better player. His reasoning is to Just avoid those players all together. We had the same discussion yesterday and i told him “So you want other players to accommodate you by playing the way you want them to play?” His response was “No, now youre reading into this too much” Ive linked him to the Play to win book so he can read it but he doesnt want to spend time reading it. Ive recommended that he buy a stick so he can play at the arcades against real opponents, but he says Its too late for him as in SF4 is almost out since SF5 will come out next year. He claims that if his skills were to be transfered to a joystick and he would play at the arcades that he would be able to defeat several players and “sit there for a while” as in not get defeated. I want to wake him up and make him realize that hes not as good as he thinks he is so he can start on becoming a better player.
My question is how can i take his blindfold off so he can see what SF is about and have him advance not only in the game but as a person too? Im hoping to show him this thread if and when several players give their opinions on this so he can see its not just me. So if you have something to say to him directly PLEASE DO!! lol Thanks for any help in advance
Is there a scene in your area outside of the arcade? You could take him to that and have him play against really good players that way since he insists on playing on pad.
Also for him, he needs to realize that complaining about something is “cheap” or “unfair” because he doesn’t know how to deal with it is not gonna make you a better player. Scrub mentalities won’t help you improve. What will help you improve is figuring out a way to deal with it and beat it. Avoiding that play style isn’t going to cut it because you can’t just “avoid” things that you feel that are cheap when you go into a tournament.
First of all, if he wants to play pad, let him. Controller preferences shouldn’t matter here.
I agree with Aneurysm, your best bet at this point is to give him a rude awakening via an offline, console event, since it sounds like you don’t want to be too confrontational (which is understandable). At that point he’ll either see the error of his ways or he’ll quit.
I have a friend or two like this, and I’m honestly not sure how to go about it either.
I’m thinking of bringing him to the offline scene that I go to every once in a while, but I think that’ll just make him blow up in public and he’ll get shitted on by the locals and he’ll just quit cuz he can’t accept the fact that he sucks.
Maybe it’s for the better for him to just quit LOL some people’s brains are just not wired to be good at anything (if he does this with SF I’m positive he would be the same for any other skill-based hobby, i.e being mediocre at a sport but think he is godlike. you know these people, they exist everywhere and their egos are too inflated to accept advice from anyone.)
Yeah ill try to invite him and see if he wants to go. I think when hes put on the spot though hell back down and say he doesnt take the game that seriously and its just for fun, although he admits that he wants to get better and be a better player. Its just his way of avoiding the reality. Anyway ill bring it up to him and ill post here what he says in case anyone is interested in knowing.
Why would you want to “wake them up”?
Honestly fuck them.
Just go about doing your own shit. If your friends are with you fine, if not then not.
Not everyone I know has to be a competitive gamer. I really don’t care about how my friends go about their hobbies.
You can find competitive gamers in lots of places, I just don’t see why you would want to change your existing friends.
If you don’t like them, find new ones or go to a relationship counselor or something xD
@ArtVandelay I have thought to break my friendship with him before because of his mentality. However he has always been a good friend for a long time. He is a good person and hes pretty witty. I see potential in him and its worth the effort to wake him up and help him to start a journey of self development which SF can help him do as it helped me.
@toddler316 Not because hes not good at a game. The same mentality about running away from challenges and always complaining about the actions of others and making excuses for things translates from the game to real life. The way you play the game shows what kind of person you are in life. Not many people take the time to observe this though.
I agree, sports/games attitudes are very reflective of a person’s overall mentality and personality.
A guy who loses his temper in video games will probably lose his temper over other trivial things.
People who make excuses to save their pride in video games will do the exact same thing when they fuck something up IRL. I’ve seen it too many times.
IMO these kinds of people are just intolerable at a certain point and you’ll sort of drift away from them, like everyone does. No one likes them. (Except the people who are similar to them)
Ugh, don’t show him this thread. Also, don’t try too hard to convert your friend or you’ll end up pushing him away.
If you actually have an arcade scene that’s great, just enjoy yourself there and maybe your friend will come around on his own.
Sounds like he a pretty big ego, and he’s scared of it being deflated. There really isn’t anything you can do unless he decides he wants to play against better players. But he probably won’t do that, since he seems to be more concerned about saving his pride than actually improving at the game.
Friends come and go, friendships aren’t really as special as people make them out to be. He sounds like someone who would annoy me if I had to play with them, so if that’s the case for you, just find someone else to play with.
My best friends for 20 years are ass at fighters and we are completely still friends, they know im like…“good, good” at fighters now and they dont even try to play me in them anymore…there was a time when we were all scrubs and we mashed on alpha 3, 3s an the like together and had fun over weed and beers…
After sf4, and i started studying and going to gatherings in my scene and got educated about fighters and improved, i tried to share the knowledge with them, but they didnt have the drive to practice like i did, so i kinda made them quit the games after a while they saw thier mashing was futile…we still hang out and play other games tho
moral of the story…your friend needs a reality check and to start being honest with himself…he needs to wake up and learn the game, or wake up to his actual limitations. .only maturity can do that for him
Just show him one thing at a time, explain it and show him how to counter it. Baby steps. Like drill it into his head to not go air to air on a guile use likes to air throw. Once he gets that concept then pick out the next thing to work on. Babyy steps.
You should inspire him. Pick up his character and get some really dominating wins against other players who are using the characters/tactics he deems cheap. Tell him the weakness/counter for each of the situations he’s having trouble with.
Make his character look really good. Then he might want to take it to that level too.
Basically this. Sometimes seeing someone who is way better can inspire you to get better yourself. I know watching Kbrad’s Decapre inspires me to hop into the lab everyday. It would also show him that he’s not the best and still has a lot to learn.
If so, then this will eventually be enough. I had a friend that used to act similar to this. but he was winning against me maybe 45-55% of the time. this is back when I was first starting to really learn the game (which I’m STILL doing but this was back when the only thing I knew was that I sucked and there were people who were good that I wanted to learn from). This all changed when I started bodying him (PAUSE) like 20-2, consistently and he had to come to the reality that I am better and I know more than him about the game. He now listens and is still not trying to get better but at least knows he’s trash
