Articles on Competitive Gaming

[garrR]

i'm going to assume that nearly anyone who plays games competitively has read the "Playing to Win" articles by David Sirlin. are there any other notable articles on the subject of competitive gaming?

the reason i'm asking is that my university allows "student taught courses" for 1 hour credit. i'm trying to propose a smash bros class, but of course they require some sort of "academic content". i want to cover themes about competitive gaming and competitive mentality in general, so i'm looking for some additional reading material.

thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Fuelbi]

Well, if you want additional reading material buy some game guides and hand them out to your students. Just until they graduate from class though, then theyd have to give them back.

 

[garrR]

Well, if you want additional reading material buy some game guides and hand them out to your students. Just until they graduate from class though, then theyd have to give them back.

not really sure what you mean. i'm trying to find some reading material to show that there's some higher level idea besides just playing smash. i need something general that isn't geared towards a specific game.

 

[jugfingers]

I don't think you'd need to go as specific as competitive gaming, there are many parallels between playing competitive sports and gaming,(especially melee)

just look up some literature on competition and then relate it back to the game maybe

 

[garrR]

I don't think you'd need to go as specific as competitive gaming, there are many parallels between playing competitive sports and gaming,(especially melee)

just look up some literature on competition and then relate it back to the game maybe

that would work too. do you have anything specific in mind?

 

[Fuelbi]

What I meant was, buy some of those prima guides you see in gamestop, hand them out in class, and from that you can start talking about each characters strengths/weaknesses.... dunno just an idea. I could see you might not want to waste some money, so this might not be the best help

 

[garrR]

What I meant was, buy some of those prima guides you see in gamestop, hand them out in class, and from that you can start talking about each characters strengths/weaknesses.... dunno just an idea. I could see you might not want to waste some money, so this might not be the best help

oh i see what you mean now. i need something more higher level like i said, more general, that doesn't just apply to smash bros, or even video games. i have to convince university administration that there's some sort of academic value in this course, lol.

 

[jugfingers]

The Art of War(Chinese military strategy that was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC)

Chapter summary with parallels to melee


1. Laying Plans explores the five fundamental factors that define a successful outcome (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management). By thinking, assessing and comparing these points you can calculate a victory, deviation from them will ensure failure. Remember that war is a very grave matter of state.
2. Waging War explains how to understand the economy of war and how success requires making the winning play, which in turn, requires limiting the cost of competition and conflict.
3. Attack by Stratagem defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and the five ingredients that you need to succeed in any war.
4. Tactical Dispositions explains the importance of defending existing positions until you can advance them and how you must recognize opportunities, not try to create them.
5. Energy explains the use of creativity and timing in building your momentum.
6. Weak Points & Strong explains how your opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of your enemy in a given area.
7. Maneuvering explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon you.
8. Variation in Tactics focuses on the need for flexibility in your responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully.
9. The Army on the March describes the different situations in which you find yourselves as you move into new enemy territories and how to respond to them. Much of it focuses on evaluating the intentions of others.
10. Terrain looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers, and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offer certain advantages and disadvantages.
11. The Nine Situations describe nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus you need to successfully navigate each of them.
12. The Attack by Fire explains the use of weapons generally and the use of the environment as a weapon specifically. It examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack, and the appropriate responses to such attack.
13. The Use of Spies focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, specifically the five types of sources and how to manage them.



Melee parallels

1. the way: (in chinese this means principle or reason) so this would be like general rules of approaching with certain characters, i.e nair shine pressure with fox, laser pressure to agro combo with falco, nair pressure to tech chasing with falcon etc.

terrain: obviously the stage in smash makes has a huge impact on certain character matchups etc, chaingrabbing with marth in FD, mobility on dreamland with falcon etc.

leadershiprew battles+teams making smart decisions based on character weakness etc

management: sort of similar to leadership could also refer to time outside of tournaments or the battlefield in terms of i.e practicing waveshines with fox rather than just ****ing around not focusing on anything when playing by yourself or with friends

2. limiting unnecessary flashiness which could cause unnecessary damage/stock loss

3. combos: rather than charging an upsmash, consecutive light hits(unifying your attacks) causes more damage

4. spacing, stage control knowing when not to attack when in a weakened position, i.e not ledge hopping into an aerial with an opponent waiting on the edge but rather ledge dashing into shield hopping onto a platform and then hopping over top to regain central stage control before attempting an attack. also being below or above a certain character and knowing not to challenge their superior position.

5 .explains the use of creativity and timing in building your momentum. direct parallel

6.Weak Points & Strong explains how your opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of your enemy in a given area.

direct parallel as well pretty self explanatory, dashing away from an opponent as they shffl an attack the dashing back into a grab or atttack capitalizing on the lag of their missed attack, baiting moves then punishing, or basically just recognizing when you are in a good position to attack i.e marth below a platform, or when not to attack i.e being above marth on a platform etc etc

7. this would be like trading hits, or trying to avoid trading hits when at high percent also maximizing a situation when a traded hit is unavoidable, i.e putting out an attack and then inputting DI right as you hit or angling yourself so that you will be sent in a techable or DI'able position.

8. adapting to your opponents attacks, learning their attacking style, not simply blindl agro pressure.

9. recognizing what your opponent is intending to do in certain places on the stage or certain situations as you move toward them i.e approaching a peach on a platform that may be waiting for you to attack so they can dsmash

10. self explanatory, different stages have different strengths and weakness's depending on the character

11. specific situations you find yourself in a game of smash either on the offensive or defensive, i.e what move to do next after uthrowing a falco at 17% as opposed to 71%
or what edgegaurd to use as peach against a recovering samus as opposed to fox, when yo try to upB onto the stage and DI the punishment or when to try to sweetspot the ledge or ledge tech, not trying to shinespike a doctor mario just about to use his UPB, angling your upB in the opposite direction when recovering against a cape heavy mario, when not to use your get up attack, when not to roll etc etc.

12. using projectiles and also the stage platform combos, using brinstars lava, using a wall to combo someone into (PS, Corneria), walljumping into an attack etc.

13. watching videos of an opponent you know you'll face in tournament or being able to get ***** by an opponent but learn from their style, study their tactics and then use it to your advantage in the next match, or , even watching their matches at a tournament to see how their playing. I know hugs has forfeited a 2nd game against SS just so that he wouldn't learn his playstyle during the 2nd game.





so yea hopefully that was useful, there are probably slot of writings about tactics and strategy etc that would apply to smash.

 

[garrR]

does anyone know if MLG has any articles about competitive gaming in general (not just a particular game) in their archives? i tried looking through their archives but i coukdn't really find anything but halo stuff.

 

[Sarayu]

does anyone know if MLG has any articles about competitive gaming in general (not just a particular game) in their archives? i tried looking through their archives but i coukdn't really find anything but halo stuff.

Unfortunately all MLG covers in the competitive gaming area with articles and such mainly pertain to Halo. Trust me, I've been to their site countless times trying to find stuff like this. I play Halo sometimes, but as I'm veering away from it and going to Smash, I'm finding nothing really that pertains to the aspect of general competitive game play nor towards Smash. The best things I can find is how to become a professional gamer in general, but it most involves teaming and GameBattles and such, which is more Halo-oriented. So I think looking at MLG is pointless--until at least they put it back on the circuit like they did with Melee some years ago, which there hasn't been talk about at all (or at least only by the fan base) so I seriously doubt that will happen anytime soon. But hey, you never know until it happens, so don't hold me to it.

 

[Solaris1110]

Off the top of my head, psychology seems like a good place to root it in. (competitive anxiety, concentration, mindfulness, confidence, neuroplasticity, etc) Perhaps you could go over stuff like how it was pretty much a primal instinct, and how it effects us in the modern world. You could find ways to take advantage of it, and use that knowledge to beef up your mentality. Or maybe you could look into the various neurotransmitters, since they have importance effects on your mood, level of alertness, willingness to accept defeat, etc.

Another place you could look is in eastern philosophy (Zen, Shinto, Bhuddism, Confucianism, Dharma, etc etc).. You could find lots of information: subjects such as meditation and "oneness" all have connection to competition. For example, in Akido, you're taught not to use "violence", but to be in harmony with your opponent. In smash, this could be translated as not playing impulsively and aggresively, but rather, being one with your opponent's mind to the point where you can predict his every move (thus you know exactly what to counter)