Are We Younger Players Doomed?

[xyouxarexuglyx2]

Well, as most people can agree, mindgaming or intelligence is a very important part of upper level Smash. No matter how technically skilled we younger players might be, the older players still have an advantage on us. They have fully developed brains, and we don't.

I saw a magazine article saying something about raising the driving age higher than 16 because 16 year olds are still missing a part of their brain. This part of the brain also seems very important to mindgaming. They say it's "the part that weighs risks, makes judgments and controls impulsive behavior."

This makes me afraid that I will always lose against older players because of shallower thought process and higher likelihood of acting on impulse.

Discussion?

 

[Red Exodus]

That's a fairly vague thing for the article to say. I'm sure not every teenager is missing that part, some of us are good at making very thought out choices. Take me for example, I plan to put some of my money in investments while I get my education, that way when I leave school I'll have money waiting for me.

Anyway, I don't think it'll be that big of a problem, younger players still win, it comes down to skill over mindgames too sometimes too. Kinda like that 8 year old kid that owns guys twice his age in Halo.

 

[Rapid_Assassin]

Just play. On the bright side, you will get older one day, and be up to par with the older smashers, while they'll have old people's problems sooner than you..

 

[Problem2]

While I didn't feel quite ready to drive at 16, the day before my 17th B-day, I was real confident and went and got my driver's license. This really varies from person to person as every person develops and ages differently.

 

[choknater]

Are younger players doomed?

Not quite.

Why?

Because you'll get older.

 

[The |Egg| Sniper]

You gotta learn to walk before you run. And typically in Smash's case, walking involves getting wrecked.....repeatedly.

Basically, I dont think that article is completely accurate with what it says. Sure, you may gain a little brainpower as you age, but what's more important is the game experience you get while you play. Learning your flaws subconsiously and working on them midgame without noticing happens over time. THose who start pro just got lucky or picked up extremely fast. The real pros, IMO, are the ones that work their way to the top and aren't afraid to admit that they may not be there for long. Like all things, Smash is another of those constantly developing environments (hopefully even after Brawl comes out, but we'll see ). Somebody's going to get something more down pact than the top person and thus, pro position changes.

Just don't count yourselves out yet, young'ins. There's always a chance to beat the snot out of those older than you, it just takes time and experience.

 

[maXXXpower]

Some of the best players out there are young people. Here in AZ we've got Butters, Hanki, and Bryan. They are all around 14-16 and they compete really well. I don't know if you know this, but Hanki's Y. Link has beaten forward's Falco. Sandbagging or not, that's an incredible feat especially for Y. Link. What sets them apart? They've got really great instincts and knowledge of the game. Sure it may seem overwhelming for a young guy to go up against the likes of Sean B., but you have to remember, SSBM was designed for young people; it is a game, after all.

Anyway, some notable young players I've seen/heard of are SK92 and Mango. They're really good. Age doesn't matter much in this game. The young people seem to be rising from nowhere, and frankly, that's refreshing.

 

[xyouxarexuglyx2]

I guess I'm going to have to say "Haha! I beat you without a fully developed brain" next time I beat someone over 18.

 

[dark-war-cloud]

mindgames are the only thing missing from me, i have the technical skills which you wouldnt expect from someone my age, but i cant use them to their full potential and i cant put them together well enough..

 

[Xephalon]

i would say that is technically not true. because when you're young your brain adapts to learning capabilities. if there was a task such as learn how to solve the rubrix cube the younger person would learn faster other than the older person

 

[Lesheik]

Mango is the best Jigglypuff player in the world, and he's 15 years old.

 

[dark-war-cloud]

i would say that is technically not true. because when you're young your brain adapts to learning capabilities. if there was a task such as learn how to solve the rubrix cube the younger person would learn faster other than the older person

but the thing is i know all this stuff about smash, but i cant put it to use...

 

[xyouxarexuglyx2]

Mango is the best Jigglypuff player in the world, and he's 15 years old.

Hm. I thought King was the best Jiggs in the world.

 

[Rockin]

Okay, I just wanna say that this not true at all. I'll explain.

There's two really good players in New York. One of them is named Hax and the other name is Jman. They're both good in mindgame and skill. I highly doubt -undeveloped- brains really matter. It's how you think. The only thing older people usually have is experiance, and that can sometimes goes a long way.

Now look at M2k. He's like 18, still going to High school compared to other pro smashers who are at college or in their early 20s. Not only he's the youngest pro, but he's top 5 material and got the ****ing mindgames like no other. M2k is freaking proof that what you say is incorrect.

Remember the old saying 'The older men has the experiance, but the younger men has the potiential.' It doesn't matter how old or young you are. If you have the skills, mindgame, and reflexes of a good smasher, then you're good.

 

[TheZhuKeeper]

i play purely on impulse and tech skill and yet i get pretty far. so i guess it's good to be young! (i'm 17)

 

[Junpappy]

Hahaha I laugh at this thread. There's an eleven year old in Utah who's good enough to beat at least half of our ranked players.

 

[RazeveX]

did you know that babies under 6 months can distinguish between many things that we cant? thats because we LOSE that ability, and focus on others. As you get older, many abilities are lost, even though some are gained. If you keep thinking that you're not old enough to do something, subconsciously, you never will be.

I mean, 100 year olds have fully developed brains, don't they?

 

[pikachun00b7]

No. AS for skill, Age does not equate to skill. But THE hard part is getting a ride.

I have missed to many tournies do to Lazydad syndrome.

BTW, I'm 13.

 

[Jigglymaster]

Were from the opposite of being doomed >_>

Don't u reallize that we will be the older ones of Brawl. Everybody who played Melee and was in thier high 18-21 will soon leave video games and move on with their lives. Who will still be playing brawl? Us of course. Sometime there is going to be a new era of smashers, and were the top of it. Well, I'm 15 so I guess you would call me semi-young.

 

[Askeflink]

Armada, one of the very best Peaches. His 14.

But I can see your point, we'll grow up some day. I'm actuelly glad I have a future not being that old. Yay.

 

[Puffin]

I counter your article with this NYTimes article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/opinion/17males.html?incamp=article_popular_2

Although, that article should probably use percentages in its comparisons...

 

[Witchking_of_Angmar]

I think the only reason this would affect anyone would be because they get too concerned about it. I don't care whether it's true or not, it won't affect me. I have a hard time believing this really affects smash players, because you can train to not act impulsively, just as almost anything can be trained. About mindgames, I mostly think that it depends on how much experience you have, not how old you are. Having a fully developed brain and applying it are different things. Really, we're not doomed. We might just have a disadvantage.

 

[DaShizWiz]

Im 16 and KeepSpeedN's 15.

We've done pretty good at Tournaments.

I got 7th at FCD out of 256 people. I'm pretty sure they were not all my age. Just look through age, and play.

 

[NES n00b]

Actually, I would think the best age to be is 18-22 due to the peak of hand eye coordination (notice that the most technical people are 16-18ish) during that age. There are other advantages to being that young is that you still have a sharp mind that can process lots of information and younger people are more likely to adapt. The older a person is the more likely that they won't change their mindset, strats, or anything else like those two.

Not to mention that everyone's hand eye coordination decreases as one ages to the point that you can't be competative. Plus, younger people tend to be more motivated in these sort of endevears and people will move on at some point at an older age.

Edit: No age johns.

 

[Ryudragon29]

It just depends on how you well you develop your brain. This is why you shoul play Brain Age each day.

 

[Puffs]

Yes.

12345678910

 

[Falco&Victory]

When I was 13 I dropped melee for a few months
at 14 played again and by the end of the week I could WD, SHFFL, and do some pretty flashy edge cancels with ease

age does make a difference, but it's not some solid barrier

 

[Eggm]

Some of the best players out there are young people. Here in AZ we've got Butters, Hanki, and Bryan. They are all around 14-16 and they compete really well. I don't know if you know this, but Hanki's Y. Link has beaten forward's Falco. Sandbagging or not, that's an incredible feat especially for Y. Link. What sets them apart? They've got really great instincts and knowledge of the game. Sure it may seem overwhelming for a young guy to go up against the likes of Sean B., but you have to remember, SSBM was designed for young people; it is a game, after all.

Anyway, some notable young players I've seen/heard of are SK92 and Mango. They're really good. Age doesn't matter much in this game. The young people seem to be rising from nowhere, and frankly, that's refreshing.

Hanki's a beast I miss the AZ scene. =\

 

[maXXXpower]

The AZ scene misses you. Come the **** back. We could use more Falcos because B-Will just switched mains and Sean retired. We used to be a breeding ground for those ****ed birds, now, they've flown somewhere for the winter.

 

[TedBoosley]

Im 16 and KeepSpeedN's 15.

We've done pretty good at Tournaments.

I got 7th at FCD out of 256 people. I'm pretty sure they were not all my age. Just look through age, and play.

And Col Bol, the next best in Florida after Chops is only 14 (and just turned it).

Age is irrelevant. The thing is, Shiz, Speedn, and Colin all go to tons of tournaments, meaning they have valuable -experience- that other young players don't have, since their parents let them drive to tons of tournaments, and they have the means to get there.

Thooough, I have noticed that good young players tend to be a lot more technical than the traditional 18-22 year olds.

 

[maXXXpower]

I've noticed that, too. It must be the DBR culture. DBR is a hell of a drug.

They must have something to prove, those kids.

 

[dguy6789]

Younger players don't seem to have any huge disadvantage from what I have seen. I have been playing Smash for a while and I have seen 14 and 15 year olds who began as people who didn't have a clue what they were doing become people who are able to hold their own against the majority of smashers in a year's time.

 

[xyouxarexuglyx2]

The thing that really shook me up about this was when I was playing my friend Kyle, who is like, 17 or 18 or something, he kept beating me. He said to me, "I see you're a LOT better than me at technical stuff like wavedashing, but you always blindly attack"

I guess I just have to stop doing that

 

[Spellman]

Well

I kinda think this thread has somewhat of a point, but a Smash Bros player can get good at any age. Maybe a younger person has to try a little harder or maybe not.

So the question is, with a years worth of practice each, would the 14 year old win or the 18 year old? Or even throw an 8 year old in there. It's tough to say. I'm 19 and I have a friend who's a few years younger than me, and he just came in, killed me and my friend (at ssbm), and just pimped out of the room with his girlfriend. I dunno if I was having an off day or he was having a good day but it was pretty crazy.

And there's always some exception to the rules, 8 year olds schooling leet teens at Halo, that's what makes it interesting and a story, and that's why we hear about it. We don't hear about the hundreds of thousands of other leet players because that's just not weird. But I guess it does give young people hope. (this isn't meant to sound as serious as it reads)

All I know is my big cousin used to school me at every old game EXCEPT for Super Smash Bros. Melee, but he had moved away from Nintendo by that point.

 

[Terywj [태리]]

not really,...just play the game...and let your skills do the talking.

 

[jdmelody]

I do mindgames all the time...I mean I'm sheik, but still...It's not that our brains aren't fully developed..You can achieve anything no matter what...It's just a matter of actual thinking...Older players may not have to think as much about what they're doing when they're doing it, but it doesn't mean we can't either...For instance..If you just continue to practice techniques and stuff then it'll be natural after a while...When I first began wavedashing, I was like stressin out cause I didn't know when to WD and stuff..Same with SH and L-cancel...But after a certain amount of time it becomes subconscious thought and you don't need worry.

 

[Dark Sonic]

Colbol is 13.

He wins Florida tournies.

'Nuff Said (the name of Colbol and Otru's team).

 

[maXXXpower]

The thing that really shook me up about this was when I was playing my friend Kyle, who is like, 17 or 18 or something, he kept beating me. He said to me, "I see you're a LOT better than me at technical stuff like wavedashing, but you always blindly attack"

I guess I just have to stop doing that

Yeah, Falco players fall into that over-aggressive mindset more often than other players (save maybe, Fox), and it screws them over a lot. Be more patient.

With Marth, make them come to you, that's half the battle. Marth is no bueno for approaches, so playing overly aggressive only hurts you.

 

[jdmelody]

Yeah, Falco players fall into that over-aggressive mindset more often than other players (save maybe, Fox), and it screws them over a lot. Be more patient.

With Marth, make them come to you, that's half the battle. Marth is no bueno for approaches, so playing overly aggressive only hurts you.

Except if you're sheik...Against Marth you need to be offensive most of the time.

 

[BigRick]

Well, as most people can agree, mindgaming or intelligence is a very important part of upper level Smash. No matter how technically skilled we younger players might be, the older players still have an advantage on us. They have fully developed brains, and we don't.

I saw a magazine article saying something about raising the driving age higher than 16 because 16 year olds are still missing a part of their brain. This part of the brain also seems very important to mindgaming. They say it's "the part that weighs risks, makes judgments and controls impulsive behavior."

This makes me afraid that I will always lose against older players because of shallower thought process and higher likelihood of acting on impulse.

Discussion?

lol

older doesn't necessarily mean smarter, very far from it
but yea older usally means more mature, still there's exceptions

And yea you don't really need to be intelligent to play a video game. If there's sum1 to show you the correct line of thinking and you can execute, then you'll be good.

Anyways Melee is one of the youngest communities out there so don't feel like you're younger than every1 else...