So after playing SF4 for over a year and now SSF4, theres a small group of friends I play with that generally know a decent amount about it. We’re fortunate enough to be able to play at work sometimes and theres a lot of others who are mildly interested and whatnot.
Recently I saw one of the “newbies” playing with a vet and the vet was just walking all over him. He refused to explain moves and why some things work and others don’t, crushing him with fancy stuff that the newbie had no clue what to due about.
He could’ve easily been helpful to try and get some new blood to play/practice with or even explained the basic stuff, but instead just continued to thrash the poor guy for about 20 minutes while being as unhelpful as possible.
I know there are schools of thought that say it’s better to learn through trial by fire, but at the same time it seems like this would just serve to shut out potential people to practice with.
Is it me or does this seem like a selfish ego trip. I know we’ve all had people that thrash us soundly but at least when they’re helpful it’s easier not to get frustrated and in turn both of you get to play more…maybe that’s too much hand-holding I dunno. Especially in a casual-friendly atmosphere.
Did the guy that was getting crushed ask any questions? A lot of people arent going to just start spouting off tips because they are destroying someone. They are either enjoying trashing some scrub or they just dont wanna sound like a know-it-all or they just dont think about it.
I hate when im playing some friendly matches (via live or at someones house) trying to figure things out and I ask questions and get no answers or im just told to figure it out. WTF you think im askin for? hehe
I think the word you’re looking for is “bullying”.
Neither side is learning from that match; the new guy doesn’t understand the game and hence doesn’t understand why he is losing and how to fight the other player. He doesn’t know the system so its hard for him to have fun on a basic level too. The experienced guy is just wailing on the other guy so he’s not learning anything, either. The fact that he can keep that up for 20 minutes pretty much tells you what his mindset is.
This “newbie” you speak of needs to understand that the world doesn’t revolve around his ass - It’s not anyone’s obligation to teach or even to be in the mood to teach you the ropes
Dude doesn’t want to talk to you? Fine, try to learn from someone else if you must
Most learning you do practicing by yourself, anyways
Some people just want to play, they’re not concerned about “helping make new players” - this isn’t wrong in itself, nor is wanting to just “stomp on newbies”. Deal with it and accept your improvement might just not be part of other people’s agenda
Stomping on a player is helping him: you get great practice and can practice your adaptive abilities. And those players on the receiving end have far more than 1 or 2 pieces of the puzzle left to form a cohesive picture. Everyone wants a secret answer that will make them much better and that’s almost never the case. The overwhelming majority of time, that player just needs a lot more experience to understand the flow and move properties, not a few pointers that either won’t be understood or would be self-discovered anyway in a few more hours of practice.
Although the better player should help to make the scene more accessible, complaining about not doing so is just another way of making excuses. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t matter much how you treat a new guy. If he feels like improving, he will. If he feels like being a poor player for all time, he will. And if he’s intent on quitting, he will. Giving some good advice can certainly expedite the process but it certainly doesn’t help the better player any.
Let’s not forget that some people just can not explain what makes them good. I grew up as a player in a scene like that myself. They would explain the best they could, but they were either vague answers or they did not know why something worked they just seen the results. Getting my butt kicked was my only option, and hurt worse because those were arcade days.
I learned the hard way that some players just feel too proud to ask for help or receive it. You really have to wait for online players to give you a “sign” that it is ok to help them without getting your head chewed off.
Yeah, that’s crappy. When I first started in on SF2, my friend was much much better than me, but he’d explain how to beat stuff if he saw I was having trouble. Like, ‘Go for a throw,’ or ‘jump straight up over fireballs.’ It’s annoying to watch people just crush a newbie over and over, without giving them any chance to even try stuff out.
The person getting raped should have incentive enough to ask questions. IMO it is pretentious as fuck to beat someone and repeatedly explain to the less player what he/she is doing wrong.
There are a number of things you need to consider.
As mentioned, its nobodies obligation to teach anyone anything. Might be easy to be lulled into thinking everyone wants to teach eachother with podcasts, blogs, tutorials and all kinds of resources from skilled players at your fingertips, but thats not everyones mindset.
Furthermore, some people take offense to getting tips from other players. If I meet someone new and I womp on them, I really have no idea how willing they are to learn, or whether they still hold themself as my equal or better than me (lots of players don’t like to admit they are worse than a player even if that player is beating them consistently and convincingly).
I’m not sure how applicable this is in your situation, but there are also scrubs who refuse to learn. I know people who will act attentive when receiving criticisms on their game, but the next game make absolutely no adjustments. Not really worth the time to try to help those players.
Have you considered that maybe the experienced guy thinks playing against the “newbie” is a bore and just wants to get it out of the way and play someone that’s actually good, without spending time teaching them stuff? Maybe he doesn’t want a goddamn pupil
“B-b-but I’m wasting a coin to play, the least he could do is be NICE and let me try stuff out!”
Brb gonna play my second game of poker against people that have been doing it for years, I’m wasting my money so they better go easy on me and give me “tips” to help improve my game
The “FG scene” is actually extremely lax and receptive compared to most other competitive endeavors, be they traditional sports or not - Poker for example, is absolutely cutthroat. It’s just that a good deal of the folks in this “scene” are lame nerds that don’t quite understand that people don’t necessarily give a shit about them outside their anime forum, where everyone types a “^_^” or “<.<” after every sentence and it’s cozy and fun and good times oooh
If you get someone willing to spend time teaching you, cool. But not wanting to do it isn’t “annoying” or the “asshole thing to do”
^lol @ poker. everything changes when money is on the line. you start playing fg money matches, and like hell are you going to give your opponent tips on how he can beat you, like not only am i going to teach you but here take my money too.
we should go back to the days when death was on the line. then it’ll be every man for themselves lol.
its actually rude to offer advice if no one is asking for it. If a new player wants to get better, its that players place to ask for advice. Pretty simple.
some people think you’re a jackass or have an ego if you’re giving advice when no one asks for it. So most of us choose to just not say anything until someone asks a question.