Imo I haven’t lived up to what I consider on my braggier days “my potential,” and I think there are two big reasons for that.
The first is something that’s not going to change: Street Fighter is not among my top priorities. I’ve missed a lot of time, casuals, and tournaments for school, career, friends, family, and sports, and I’m not going to change that. There’s a certain amount of time I’m going to spend playing Street Fighter, and I know it’s less than the time other people are going to spend. That’s too bad, but it’s something I’m willing to accept.
The second is that I’ve been too complacent. I don’t like being a dick, but to be honest lots of things, from learnin to sports to girls to video games, come easier to me than they do to most people, and the result is that I’ve been able to do more than most people while working less. That’s bred a sense of complacency that often eventually catches up with me because eventually I get to a level in things where there are other people who are at least as talented as I am but who are also willing to put in more work.
I’ve already changed this in other parts of my life, but it’s only in the last month or two that I’ve started changing it in Street Fighter. I’d grown complacent and happy about going evenish with Valle’s Ryu because I thought I was real fancy for going evenish with one of the best SF players ever in what I think is a slightly losing matchup for me. But Valle wasn’t complacent or happy about it. He studied up on the matchup, practiced it against other Giefs, and came to the first Specialists thing with a buzz saw that I wasn’t at all prepared for, and the fact that I was so unprepared got me all flustered and I started missing basic stuff. That was a real good lesson. Since then I’ve been trying to come up with new technology and thought much more critically about how I can deal with Ryu generally and Valle’s Ryu in particular. I did better last time I played him and I expect to do better in the future.
I don’t think I need to hate anybody to not be complacent. I’ve never played fighters to beat people or to make money or whatever, I’ve only played because I need intellectual competition to be satisfied in life. Valle spurred my re-thinking my complacency, but if anything that makes me feel better about him, not worse. I think all I need to not be complacent is the idea that there’s some part of my game I can keep thinking more about and improving on, because frankly I love thinking about stuff and improving things. Also I don’t know that hating someone or having a rival is even really an option for me anyway; I’ve actively tried to hold grudges before and it’s never worked.
But the point is that you have to do what you have to do to not be complacent. I definitely see the value in having a rival or wanting to think you’re better than your opponent or just hating everyone. If that’s what you need to not be complacent, then I totally support that. Figure out why you play the game and what you need to do and feel to get better, and then do that. I originally started this post intending to say that I thought this whole hate fetish was retarded, but really it’s not. We all need to get better, and that’s a legit way to do it. And if you really want to get good, spend as much time as you can on the game within the context of your life.
Sorry about the rant. Had to take a study break. HATEHATEHATEHATEHATE
Wouldn’t have lost anyways. :lol: