Inkblots post on frontpage

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
1

im posting this here cuz i couldnt register to leave a comment on the blog.

since when did becoming top 10 become a badge of honor? its been a badge of honor for anyone up and coming trying to get somewhere. we cant all be alex valles. maybe you try your best, and all you can ever manage is 10. you’re not a top player, fine, sure, whatever. but to each individual these little accomplishments do matter. they show us that we’re moving, that we’re not out in 2. something so small keeps the fires burning. if street fighter were golf less than a percentage of a percentage of people would be jack nicklaus’s or tiger wood’s. should we all quit? hell if golf were golf, should everyone quit cuz your not top top?

a lot of us do set meta-goals. so what? its not about showing off with r.mika(not for all of us). its about proving to yourself that you can do it your way. i myself play k-groove. i wanna prove i can win with it over a-groove. i dont think anyones ever said “sure i could beat kindebu and ricky at evo if i used a-groove, but i choose to go out in 2 with k.” are we all obliged to all pick the top tiers just cuz you have no respect for those that want to do it the quirky way? in a lot of ways, those oddballs give a lot of players hope. at the very least they’re more entertaining than the average player. no one cares of joe msp gets 10th at evo. but if clockw0rk does? hell yeah we care. (wasnt he on your dvd?) if someone were to get 10th at evo with servbot/roll/dan would we care? fuck yeah. and if they lost in 2? who cares they threw money into the pot. valle himself plays ryu in 3s. WTF ryu!? why not ken? valle is true to himself by sticking to ryu, but the difference is hes a great player, he can win. we all wanna win, but some of us wanna do it on our own terms if possible.

i guess since kuroda and hayao took 3rd at sbo with Q and hugo, instead of yun and ken, they’re doing a disservice to third strike? cmon get real. no matter how you play in this day in age, JOINING A TOURNAMENT ALONE is doing a service to a dying community.

i feel this whole article is just opposite of all the things i’ve learned through playing the game. it definately struck some nerves in me. you’re telling us we shouldnt be proud of our small accomplishments? you’re telling us not to be original? with the golf comparison, are you telling us to give up?

my best game is k-groove, and i’ll stick to it, thanks.

on another note, when has inkblot gotten top 3 in a national tournament? “who the fuck are you?”

p.s.:i dont mean any disrepect, but i feel like i HAVE TO voice my opinion on this. the whole thing was just so negative. do we really wanna alienate newer players? can we afford to alienate anyone? and thanks for running evo, i didnt really mean the “who the fuck are you?” part.

edit: i tend to jump to alotta conclusions, so forgive me if im jumping the gun on stuff.

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off the top of my head, i believe ink came 2nd in marvel2 at an early mwc

3

ink got 3rd at mwc in early 2000 and he’s placed top 5 in some early a3 tourneys from what i remember

4

Thinking about it a little more. While Valle’s comments can be taken out of context and sound quite elitist to a lot of people, the core principle still holds, i think. what is so wrong about striving for #1 even if you think you can’t make it?

in other words, Step your fucking game up.

is that -really- so bad? i mean even if you get top 8, top 20 or whatever you are showing personal improvement, shoot for top3, or top1, fuck it…

Now, convincing people to do so is a whole other topic in itself, cause the FGC is stagnant right now, but thats another topic

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There’s nothing wrong with striving for #1, but even in the context of the article it is admitted that some 80-odd percent of people don’t have a prayer at it. So why clown them for their “meta-goals”? Is that -really- so bad?

Like I said, people play for different reasons. If inkblot’s ‘rant’ is in the spirit of getting people to improve, that’s fine with me. If it’s just elitist whining about people being proud of achieving some “meta-goal”, that’s fine too, just don’t pi$$ on my boots and tell me it’s raining thx.

The way I see it, I’m springing for the gas, I’m making time for this, it’s partly my $ going into the pot and in all likelihood some top player’s pocket. So don’t try to tell me what I owe somebody as far as my competitive game, or what kind of disservice I’m doing to myself. Maybe I’m doing myself a disservice by even f*cking with this $hit period, ever think of that? Many have. And then people want to wonder where the new comp is, and why they can’t get new players into the fold…

This is what happens when people worry about other people’s game too much. Step up your own fucking game, don’t worry about mines; thanks a bunch.

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oh no…sounds like OLD SCHOOL vs NEW SCHOOL ways of playing

grabs popcorn an watches

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If everybody played the same way, that is, “play to win”, the whole damn scene would be boring. I’ll use my super custom shit thank you very much. And I’ll win with it

And yeah I’ll settle with a top 5/10/15 ranking. If it’s 5 out of a few hundred, damn straight I’m a top player.

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[LEFT]Theres no reason for anybody to be upset with Inkblots post. If you are then I think you have read it out of context. No offence to Ink or Valle, but you Dont have to closely follow everything they post up on the site. Im sure some people arent even that interested. They know not everybody here is as much into competition as some others on this site. I agree with Sabin about the meaning in what Alex said tho. Im sure he just wants to see the scene thrive, with that I mean more hungry players who will play to win. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
[/LEFT]

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But we all play to win. We are all hungry to rush that shit down and poke and everything else. We all want that top spot. Nobody plays a fighting game to lose. Nobody plays any game to lose! Just don’t tell us how to play. We’ll innovate and use our own shit! If I rank top 10 at evo, I won’t be like “fuck that shit I suck”, I’d be giving myself props.

10

I try to win but don’t, shit sucks :tdown: Maybe next time.

Edit

I think the message he’s trying to give is that if you’re happy with top 10 how the fuck are you going to improve and get to number 1?

11

The golf analogy was just really bad.

10th place is par? Par is the average score. If 128 people enter a tournament, 1/2 will be peaced out in 2 rounds, leaving them all tied for 64th place. Would that not be the “Average” score?

In golf, they track statistics by “Top 10 finishes.” Finishing top 10 in a golf tournament is a HUGE deal, not something to blow off and be mad about. Of course the different between 10th at evo and 10th at random weekly golf tournament is about $300,000, but still…

I agree with Deus on this one too, but I can see where inkblot is coming from on some points. If you are happy with 10th because you used low tier characters, and think that is an achievement, then that’s bullshit. If you are happy with 10th because you’ve always gone 2 and out, and you’ve been stepping your game up as much as you can, then damn straight you should be happy. But that still doesn’t make you a top player, which is what the article is about.

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sadly a lot of people who are lower level players or whom just play for fun will probably take it out of context and get offended and say something to the tune of “fuck the elites, all they can do is play to win and run the same stupid whored out strats for the win and act like they are gods, etc.”

from that a whole flame war ensues with the high level players voicing their opinions and sounding elitist to the average player, while the average player tends to come out with some uneducated comment like, “oh, just because you win doesnt make you the best, there always some random unknown out there that can beat you etc…” so forth and so on…you’ve heard all the arguments already i assume.

i just miss the hungry comp of the old days, when there was a INTENSE EC/WC rivalry, all the way up until 2000…pre srk, back when it was still alt.games.sf2. I just wish for them to return in some way shape or form, even if it’s on console. that’s all.

i was reading this thread on tekkenzaibatsu which sums up the state of our current scene pretty much:

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I play for fun, I guess I’m doing it wrong?

Things change, suck it up.

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hell i got top 8 in 3s this past weekend, when valle and crew came down. Everyone is like “good job”, but to me i thought it was really shitty. I just wont be totally satisfied til i go #1, i wont settle for anything less. But thats just me.

i know valle says that to get people to try harder, thats how he is. as for inkblot, im sure he also wants the same. I think its been taken out of context. look at some people, well, a lot of people, that enter tourneys. They always say something along the lines of “I’ll get my ass kicked, im just gonna see how well i do.” And that comes from the very same players mouths that play a lot trying to get better. And then you say stuff like that? Wtf, thats a cop out. Just seems like an excuse all the time for losing. Of course you aint gonna get nowhere with a mentality like that. Granted i say that too, but only with games i have no interest in playing or dont play at all. But man, people say that when they play the game they love. Why sell yourself short? Now it just sounds like you’re wasting your own time, and on top of that, wasting the top players time, thinking another potential is hitting the scene. it’s just a waste.

thats just IMO of course. I do think like deus have valid points, but as long as the player is atleast giving himself confidence to do better than the last, each time.

15

im stuck at a level where i can’t get any better or worse

<----consistent 0-2 player

for a couple years i could never beat chris schmidt consistently and quit for like a year

then i come back and play the people who still play and im still where i left off (still cant beat chris prob)

16

I think the main thing is you should always shoot for #1. Actually I think everyone who plays wants to win the whole thing. If you place top 10 and the last time you played you went out in 2 you have every right to be happy about it making it that far. It means you are improving.

Now to the “I do it my way” crowd. If you really think you can win CVS 2 with a Team of Dan, Yuri, and Big Bear in S groove. Go for it. But don’t bitch and call someone a “Top Tier Whore” when someone playing a team of Ken, Sagat and Blanka beast all over you in C groove.

Wining a tournament using unconventional characters is great but realize you might not win for a very long time (if at all). You have to step up your game if you plan to win that way.

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I think there are two types of play: casual and tournament. Neither is wrong nor right, but don’t bring one type of gameplay into another assuming that is how everyone plays.

Basically, I wouldn’t play a CvS2 tournament level blanka filled with RC electricity at a friend’s barbecue nor would I bring casual CvS2 Kyosuke to a tournament thinking I am the the best player out there because I can do a semi infinite air juggle and no one else can’t.

18

And this is why fighting games are slowly walking out the door. New guys want to play but you got grown ass men tell them they suck.

Not like any of us came out mamas womb throwing Dp’s and shit! People get better the more they play and the more information that is accessible.

Your not going to beat somebody that has been playing great comp and a good information base (via:japan comp) and the senior you in age by 10 years plus a job, I mean dam!

fuck you, my money, got a job, don’t need to win tournies to make gas money.

19

You could basically sum up the whole post to “Stop Making Stupid Excuses For Losing”. Accept your loss by learning how and why you lost, practise and try again. That’s it. Though the words of encouragement seem to be a bit harsh you can see it hitting people at odd angles, but people sometimes forget to look at an argument from all sides before feeling insulted.

If 80% of the community had no chance to win when they entered the tournament, should they all quit? Well… if the 20% of the community that could win it would just win all the time, should they just quit? In the end that 20% isn’t really even 20% and it’s a lot smaller, but the point is there is an invisible bar there used to measure the height of a player’s ability. Are you going to use it to measure your abilities or are you going to make an excuse because you can break past it? A lot of people are cowards these days and trying at least is a step up from saying “I don’t want to play because I know I’ll just lose… but I’ll wait til they’re done so I can waste my 2 quarters playing with myself”. The community would be a lot better if everybody had the ambition to dethrone the current bests. It’s not that you don’t want to try because you don’t have a chance, it’s because you don’t try that you don’t have a chance. That goes for anybody who feels like #1 isn’t more important than a beating your personal best. Beating your personal best is a depressing okay, beating everybody and being #1 is what you should be smiling for.

I’m not even one of those top 10 players and even winning anything with my current abilities isn’t enough, because I’m not at a comfort level where I can use the characters I enjoy using like my hands and my feet. When I see a good player, I have to play. Play until I beat him and he doesn’t come back or until I’m broke. Coin the phrase “Go For Broke”, do it til’ you or your opponent can’t go anymore.

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and if you expect it to come back to that hunger state…you have alot to wait for. ive been on the scene for a LONG ass time. an imma tell you this. its gonna take that passion to come back with numbers…not with the “lack of” anymore. no one wants to travel if they can hop online… no one wants to pay for a venue when they can play at home or over a buddys house for free…its the lack of that kept us [me an you] alive back durin that phase… we cry…but were killin ourselves an so is console…

arturo you should be able to realize that without a problem. top 10 or top 5 now means alot to youngins…to us its whatever. just look at post AFTER a tournament

“can someone post all the results”

why?? doesnt matter right? to our [old heads] doesnt matter…but next generation want rank…character used…etc. its a whole new style an respect level out here.