Should Coaching Be Allowed In Tournaments?

[Coopa]

Korea tells me coaching is a soft banned in the tekken community. But this is another game soooo who knows.

That guy won a major. We should listen to him and soft ban it in sf4 :lol:

[LPN]

I eat dogs. raaaaaaaaaage:lol:

:tup:

[Magnus02]

You mofo’s aren’t helping me. God damn it. I am Adrian!!!

[Fudd]

My problem with not allowing coaching is there’s different degrees of it, you have vague coaching like “don’t forget about _____”. This will vary to “don’t forget that Fuerte get’s two absorbs on his EX run” or “hey man remember Boxer’s jabs to headbutts don’t work on that Blanka you’re playing”, but then you have like a friend explaining the dude’s habits to you mid match which I think we’d all agree is work you’d need to be doing on your own.

There just needs to be a clear line of what’s acceptable and what isn’t. I personally believe that there are forms of coaching that are completely acceptable but there are things that completely aren’t.

I pretty much agree with this. There’s definitely a line between something like general advice and someone standing around both players who is not an official with a microphone doing a goddamned play-by-play, telling Player 1 or 2 what to do the entire time. That just creates a wholly separate, unnecessary sort of mind game of “Should I listen to this shit or not? Is my opponent listening to this?” It becomes yet another thing to tune out if the crowd is already hyped up.

I suppose “soft ban” is the proper term here. It’s not really against any rules, but could generally be frowned upon, particularly if someone is basically trying to play the game for you (or your opponent) while they’re on the sidelines.
Taunt also brings up a valid point: There’s not really any sort of way to enforce anti-coaching.
Part of playing in a tournament is playing with the crowd present, too.

[Coopa]

I honestly think coaching is okay, but it should only be done before/after a full match is finished, and only if the player asks for it. Coaching during a match can be distracting, so by doing this, it limits the possibility of the coaching breaking concentration from either player. Keep it like boxing, although… in boxing you, the coach can yell things, too, but you know what I mean. Go to your corners and such.

[Pat_the_Great]

If talking shit is okay (and hilarious - see Mahvel Baybee) then coaching should be okay.

For instance, when Crackfiend is playing against some ridiculous dude who is cosplaying as Blanka (hypothetically speaking, let’s just say it’s at the GameSpot tournament), it is perfectly allowable to yell anything from

“DON’T LOSE TO BLANKA!”

to

“DON’T FORGET TO NOT LOSE TO BLANKA!”

or

“WHY DID YOU LOSE TO SOME RANDOM SCRUB DRESSED UP LIKE BLANKA?!”

and so on.

<3

[thxyoutoo]

a player’s coach is legit. people shouting from the crowd isn’t coaching and isn’t what this thread is talking about. i think that a lot of people in this thread are mixing that up. he means each player have a personal coach sitting next to them.

[Magnus02]

I love you too Pat. God I hate you.

[jinxmitchell]

Like telling them “Be patient” or “Keep your ground” or anything in context to that.

I think stuff like this is fine since it is so vague.

you have vague coaching like “don’t forget about _____”. This will vary to “don’t forget that Fuerte get’s two absorbs on his EX run” or “hey man remember Boxer’s jabs to headbutts don’t work on that Blanka you’re playing”, but then you have like a friend explaining the dude’s habits to you mid match which I think we’d all agree is work you’d need to be doing on your own.

There just needs to be a clear line of what’s acceptable and what isn’t. I personally believe that there are forms of coaching that are completely acceptable but there are things that completely aren’t.

Stuff like this though, where you are talking about functions of the game or the play style/patterns/habits of the opponent should be a big no no.

[nin-jay]

there is nothing wrong with using a ringman unless you are GSP… then you gotsta stay away from the vaseline

[Magnus02]

there is nothing wrong with using a ringman unless you are GSP… then you gotsta stay away from the vaseline

:wonder:

[haunts]

Coaching is fine as long as it’s not magus or crack coaching because they give out bad advice!!!

///////REAL BAD__////////

[chicken]

To my knowledge, coaching has always been against the rules, it’s just that it’s hard to enforce. Yelling shit like “Be patient!” can be considered coaching but it’s hard to penalize for that. If you straight up have someone standing to your right saying shit like “Okay now wait for the focus attack…” then it is a blatant violation.

…which is why ‘soft ban’ sounds about right.

[nin-jay]

:wonder:

Has to do with a pretty big controversy in MMA.

I think its okay to have a ringman/coach. When I wrestled in HS, our coach would help us out when we were on the mat. He would tell us to watch our sides or he would tell us if our opponent was setting up a move so that we could counter.

In MMA, they have a someone on the side giving them advice during and after the rounds. All of this helps when you are out there and you have someone looking at the fight at different angles. IMO its a good use of teamwork and strategy.

[Magnus02]

The face was meant for something else… like… you know… the vaseline… and how I use it to win tourneys…

:wonder:

Big MMA fan myself, still trying to understand the ground games <3

[MAGUS1234]

I’ll train you in the ground games:love::love:

[Pieguy]

When something’s soft banned, it can’t be penalized. It’s like the whole O.Sagat soft ban for the Japanese that doesn’t carry over to EVO (hence choi uses o.sagat). If it were a hard ban, you’d be penalized if it’s reported like the pausing during a match forfeit and the character switching after winning a game rule.

[albert_c]

Who the hell cares if theres coaching.

Haven’t you guys heard hella yelling during tourney matches?

GODAMN!

[vasAZNion13]

if you’re saying stuff like “be patient” “keep it up” or “quit jumping” (anything vague) that’s more like cheering and crowd comments. which should be allowed.

but if you’re saying stuff like "yo THIS player will do THIS setup AFTER he tries THIS " or “this guy ALWAYS jumps after 2 fireballs, wait for him!” (what’s worse is you coach by whispering)

that kind of coaching should not be allowed. at that point, the person playing isn’t really playing anymore and it’s like 2v1.

edit:
looks like ppl already brought that point up. but i also agree with the point that it’s very hard to enforce. imo, it’s gonna boil down to the honor system.

[Sosage]

I dunno what some of you are gonna do when EVO rolls around and your opponent has a coach whispering sweet nothings into his ear…and you’re sitting there all coachless and alone because someone in the bay area cried about it. Then the round timer ticks zero because no one told you to move your ass and your character dies cold and alone. Meanwhile, your opponent is all getting high fives and flaunting his great coaching relationship in your face…

“God…”, you mutter.

“I wish I could find someone that would commit to ME for a change.”

You unplug your stick and go sit down in the corner, admiring all the couples helping each other out from the cool dark distance. Observing. Wanting. Wishing. Regretting. Like the dateless cow at the senior prom.