-=Untamed-Beast=-
Smash Journeyman
This lovely writeup from PPMD was located on pastebin, but recently was removed. Using my 1337 ph1r3 hax lurk skillz, I resurrected it and wanted to paste it here for safekeeping. Enjoy.
ooooooookay
So there are two ways to tackle this issue. There is the explanation that will not make sense right away, and that is to play the game on your own more but learn fundamentals in this way. Get your tech skill perfect in this way. Design setups and combos and edgeguards in this way. You'll love playing alone when you do this correctly because it's like starting from day 1 again and watching yourself improve. For more clarity, ask questions here so this can be shown to other people.
Then there is the more vague, hilariously misunderstood internal game that gives us really confusing answers.
Start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5DA3RM5WAM
Jeff Schaefer gives some good insight into competitive mindset and some things that are genuinely helpful from a cognitive behavioral standpoint, but it's geared towards gamers from intuitive experience. It's a bit repetitive but stick it out.
So here's the theory behind more of that. The variance Shaefer talks about is related to how we consider ourselves and our competition, and our motivations for playing(in addition to how we practice actually.) We have a conscious system, the one that analyzes, makes judgments, predicts. That system is important. It is also the one we formulate our gameplan with so how could it be bad?
The problem is this system interferes with our implicit learning and execution system. Our implicit system works flawlessly by getting honed over time through consistent, lengthy practice and then executes those same actions whenever required with little effort because those pathways are so developed. Sounds great, right? So even with effective practice and determination, why can we fail?
This is because of partly what Jeff Schaefer talked about. We let our conscious system get away from us and begin making judgments it doesn't need to make. Will I win? Will I lose? Why is that person trash talking me? Everyone wants me to do well and is cheering for me, oh no I can't let them down!
The more you reflect on these thoughts and make judgments, the worse you will do. Always.
You occupy your conscious mind to distract it in a way. You let it focus on things that help to guide your implicit system without going on autopilot. This is achieved by cuing your senses in to relevant stimuli. Have your eyes watch your opponent's character(the space between them is what eventually can be developed through work but the default is them I find.) Have your ears become attuned to your own sound effects(successful ice blocking or WD'ing etc.) Then for feeling you may want to feel yourself pressing the buttons successfully without overfocusing on the inputs(I am obviously less certain about this sense lol effin video games.)
When you do all of this, your conscious is feeding only relevant stimuli to your brain and your implicit system is freed to do what it naturally does. You will feel more comfortable playing.
Except.....
Your motivations! You need those too lol. People play this game for a lot of reasons. There are reasons common across (e)sports and I will go ahead and list some of the incorrect reasons to do anything now.
Playing to:
1. be good
2. be stylish
3. be respected
4. be perfect
5. for health(mental exercise in this case, rare for mental activities I'd say but listing anyway lol)
....are all wrong reasons to play. They were also, almost always, NOT the reason we started playing the game.
There are two reasons to play this game that allow for maximal improvement, enjoyment of the game, and keep the conscious cleared from focusing on judgments.
These two motivations are:
Playing to:
1. Have Fun
2. To Learn
....are what you want to mix together. I say mix because it is hard to find fun in its purest form. When you started playing this game, even getting destroyed was fun because it was new, it was exciting! You probably loved learning new things and seeing your learning evolve as you met more people and put more time in. Most people hit a barrier around the time they start getting some tech down and perform okay at a tournament. Everyone gives them a lot of respect and then they become compelled to protect their spot, to live up to the cumbersome weight placed upon them by their peers and the competitive environment. The correct response to this situation is to remember the game is fun and set out to learn even more now that you are happy you have succeeded! Feed the good feeling back into the improvement and discovery process. That is most healthy from my own experience and that of some of the most successful people.
Finally, your competition. They are your allies as much as they are your enemies. They provide challenges for you so you can bring out your best against them. This is exhilarating! To test yourself against someone will push you very hard, and give it your all to push them to their limits....that is a beautiful form of cooperation coinciding with competition that makes competing different from solo activities. It is why disrespecting your opponent is a funny notion and, while celebrated in Western culture(watch Mango say anything lol), seems to not be the healthiest form of competition for the winner or loser. This does not mean love your opponent or anything, but it does mean appreciate them for what they do for you if nothing else. I personally realized I had developed some horrible thoughts and reactions to my competition among the top over the years and now feel much more at peace with them and myself laying those harsh feelings to rest. I hope you can do the same.
Mood and other things play a part sure, but the effects I describe here allow you to let much of that go out of implicit memory and always dissolve into the game. Of course it helps to have good biological fitness etc to have stamina and focus, but what I list here is more relevant to your concerns and more effective than perhaps biological fitness for us(though working from every angle is most profitable.)
I encourage you to go out and use this knowledge to be the best player you can be. Whether Kyle or anyone else, I sincerely hope this aids in your quest to improvement in any and all aspects of life and Melee because ultimately this is about more than the game to myself and most of us I'd bet.
Thank you for reading. Please comment with anything and I'd love to have some discussion!
The nature of that last sentence suggests this originated from some place other than pastebin (of course), but I'm not sure where. Feel free to discuss here... I almost posted this on the Marth board instead. :3
ooooooookay
So there are two ways to tackle this issue. There is the explanation that will not make sense right away, and that is to play the game on your own more but learn fundamentals in this way. Get your tech skill perfect in this way. Design setups and combos and edgeguards in this way. You'll love playing alone when you do this correctly because it's like starting from day 1 again and watching yourself improve. For more clarity, ask questions here so this can be shown to other people.
Then there is the more vague, hilariously misunderstood internal game that gives us really confusing answers.
Start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5DA3RM5WAM
Jeff Schaefer gives some good insight into competitive mindset and some things that are genuinely helpful from a cognitive behavioral standpoint, but it's geared towards gamers from intuitive experience. It's a bit repetitive but stick it out.
So here's the theory behind more of that. The variance Shaefer talks about is related to how we consider ourselves and our competition, and our motivations for playing(in addition to how we practice actually.) We have a conscious system, the one that analyzes, makes judgments, predicts. That system is important. It is also the one we formulate our gameplan with so how could it be bad?
The problem is this system interferes with our implicit learning and execution system. Our implicit system works flawlessly by getting honed over time through consistent, lengthy practice and then executes those same actions whenever required with little effort because those pathways are so developed. Sounds great, right? So even with effective practice and determination, why can we fail?
This is because of partly what Jeff Schaefer talked about. We let our conscious system get away from us and begin making judgments it doesn't need to make. Will I win? Will I lose? Why is that person trash talking me? Everyone wants me to do well and is cheering for me, oh no I can't let them down!
The more you reflect on these thoughts and make judgments, the worse you will do. Always.
You occupy your conscious mind to distract it in a way. You let it focus on things that help to guide your implicit system without going on autopilot. This is achieved by cuing your senses in to relevant stimuli. Have your eyes watch your opponent's character(the space between them is what eventually can be developed through work but the default is them I find.) Have your ears become attuned to your own sound effects(successful ice blocking or WD'ing etc.) Then for feeling you may want to feel yourself pressing the buttons successfully without overfocusing on the inputs(I am obviously less certain about this sense lol effin video games.)
When you do all of this, your conscious is feeding only relevant stimuli to your brain and your implicit system is freed to do what it naturally does. You will feel more comfortable playing.
Except.....
Your motivations! You need those too lol. People play this game for a lot of reasons. There are reasons common across (e)sports and I will go ahead and list some of the incorrect reasons to do anything now.
Playing to:
1. be good
2. be stylish
3. be respected
4. be perfect
5. for health(mental exercise in this case, rare for mental activities I'd say but listing anyway lol)
....are all wrong reasons to play. They were also, almost always, NOT the reason we started playing the game.
There are two reasons to play this game that allow for maximal improvement, enjoyment of the game, and keep the conscious cleared from focusing on judgments.
These two motivations are:
Playing to:
1. Have Fun
2. To Learn
....are what you want to mix together. I say mix because it is hard to find fun in its purest form. When you started playing this game, even getting destroyed was fun because it was new, it was exciting! You probably loved learning new things and seeing your learning evolve as you met more people and put more time in. Most people hit a barrier around the time they start getting some tech down and perform okay at a tournament. Everyone gives them a lot of respect and then they become compelled to protect their spot, to live up to the cumbersome weight placed upon them by their peers and the competitive environment. The correct response to this situation is to remember the game is fun and set out to learn even more now that you are happy you have succeeded! Feed the good feeling back into the improvement and discovery process. That is most healthy from my own experience and that of some of the most successful people.
Finally, your competition. They are your allies as much as they are your enemies. They provide challenges for you so you can bring out your best against them. This is exhilarating! To test yourself against someone will push you very hard, and give it your all to push them to their limits....that is a beautiful form of cooperation coinciding with competition that makes competing different from solo activities. It is why disrespecting your opponent is a funny notion and, while celebrated in Western culture(watch Mango say anything lol), seems to not be the healthiest form of competition for the winner or loser. This does not mean love your opponent or anything, but it does mean appreciate them for what they do for you if nothing else. I personally realized I had developed some horrible thoughts and reactions to my competition among the top over the years and now feel much more at peace with them and myself laying those harsh feelings to rest. I hope you can do the same.
Mood and other things play a part sure, but the effects I describe here allow you to let much of that go out of implicit memory and always dissolve into the game. Of course it helps to have good biological fitness etc to have stamina and focus, but what I list here is more relevant to your concerns and more effective than perhaps biological fitness for us(though working from every angle is most profitable.)
I encourage you to go out and use this knowledge to be the best player you can be. Whether Kyle or anyone else, I sincerely hope this aids in your quest to improvement in any and all aspects of life and Melee because ultimately this is about more than the game to myself and most of us I'd bet.
Thank you for reading. Please comment with anything and I'd love to have some discussion!
The nature of that last sentence suggests this originated from some place other than pastebin (of course), but I'm not sure where. Feel free to discuss here... I almost posted this on the Marth board instead. :3
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