RIP|Merrick
Absolute Trash
Hello all, I'm Merrick, a very vocal aspiring Luigi player and tournament organizer and assistant of West Michigan tournaments, and I am here to tell you that ya'll are sheep. 
I noticed a strong trend in the Smash 4 community in the last few months that is even more prevalent now than in the Brawl days. More so than ever, people are following this intensive bandwagon mentality that is seeping into every aspect of the Smash 4 community, particularly competitively where it has caught my eye the most.
There still remains these intense debates over whether Miis should be allowed to use all of their special moves or not in tournament play and some regions legality for them are drastically different than others. This in itself is not a problem if the reasoning behind it is good and dandy, but many seem to base their assumptions and thought process off someone higher in the social Smash food chain. I am not trying to call out anyone in a negative light by any means, but I think you all might know who I'm referring to in general on Twitter. People look up to certain top players because...well, they're very freaking good at what they do! And while their opinions certainly do have a say like anyone else, some word it painfully bad with the reasoning behind why they might dislike something, yet people eat up what someone amazing at Smash says and calls it a night.
I do not have specific tweets because god forbid I don't screenshot every last tweet from someone. It's largely known that the likes of some players like Zero and Vinnie greatly detest custom moves and Miis. But why do they? What have they contributed outside the god awful character space provided on Twitter? Anything that has led to constructive conversation other than saying something is dumb? I've seen incredibly detailed posts from less skilled players on why they think Final Destination, for instance, should be strictly a counterpick stage given how overly polarizing matchups are with the lack of platforms. They would highlight and explain in great detail why they think the way they think, which is awesome! You do not have to agree with a single darn thing said to know they put up a good argument for something they're passionate over. Taking this same example, all a top player has to do is say is Final Destination should be a counterpick stage and that's it. No more discussion (given the structure of Twitter and, again, the message length) beyond small comments and no reasoning or logic behind it. I wouldn't even be surprised how quickly people would point to that if I were to just discuss Final Destination in passing to a friend, and he or she would say "Naw man, it should be a counterpick because so and so said it should be."
People, I think we all need to do a better job of thinking for ourselves in our community. I am not exaggerating when I say how much influence some people have on the way you think of our rulesets and legal stages for instance, and it's worrisome because while I don't think their intentions are bad, their is obviously some effect higher folks have on us lesser plebs in general, and this mentality needs to be resolved. We can have nice discussions over things. Referring to another persons reasoning is fine if the reasoning itself is good and logical. We can do so much better in that regard.
Why is Samus bottom tier? Why do you want Town and City banned? Why are people so quick to jump aboard the bandwagon and spew out almost word by word what someone else has said? These are good things that spark discussion for people to ponder over. Your thoughts are your own, folks. I don't care if someone else thinks Samus is garbage, I don't want to hear their thoughts on the matter, I want to hear yours. You are your own self, and if I wanted to hear what Zero thinks, I would ask him, not you.
Getting varied responses from multiple people with different ways of thinking is a good way to get a general consensus about an issue and just overall hear others opinions, but lately it feels as though people are perfectly content with going off the words of others in union.
What are your thoughts on this problem? Do you think there even is one at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
I noticed a strong trend in the Smash 4 community in the last few months that is even more prevalent now than in the Brawl days. More so than ever, people are following this intensive bandwagon mentality that is seeping into every aspect of the Smash 4 community, particularly competitively where it has caught my eye the most.
There still remains these intense debates over whether Miis should be allowed to use all of their special moves or not in tournament play and some regions legality for them are drastically different than others. This in itself is not a problem if the reasoning behind it is good and dandy, but many seem to base their assumptions and thought process off someone higher in the social Smash food chain. I am not trying to call out anyone in a negative light by any means, but I think you all might know who I'm referring to in general on Twitter. People look up to certain top players because...well, they're very freaking good at what they do! And while their opinions certainly do have a say like anyone else, some word it painfully bad with the reasoning behind why they might dislike something, yet people eat up what someone amazing at Smash says and calls it a night.
I do not have specific tweets because god forbid I don't screenshot every last tweet from someone. It's largely known that the likes of some players like Zero and Vinnie greatly detest custom moves and Miis. But why do they? What have they contributed outside the god awful character space provided on Twitter? Anything that has led to constructive conversation other than saying something is dumb? I've seen incredibly detailed posts from less skilled players on why they think Final Destination, for instance, should be strictly a counterpick stage given how overly polarizing matchups are with the lack of platforms. They would highlight and explain in great detail why they think the way they think, which is awesome! You do not have to agree with a single darn thing said to know they put up a good argument for something they're passionate over. Taking this same example, all a top player has to do is say is Final Destination should be a counterpick stage and that's it. No more discussion (given the structure of Twitter and, again, the message length) beyond small comments and no reasoning or logic behind it. I wouldn't even be surprised how quickly people would point to that if I were to just discuss Final Destination in passing to a friend, and he or she would say "Naw man, it should be a counterpick because so and so said it should be."
People, I think we all need to do a better job of thinking for ourselves in our community. I am not exaggerating when I say how much influence some people have on the way you think of our rulesets and legal stages for instance, and it's worrisome because while I don't think their intentions are bad, their is obviously some effect higher folks have on us lesser plebs in general, and this mentality needs to be resolved. We can have nice discussions over things. Referring to another persons reasoning is fine if the reasoning itself is good and logical. We can do so much better in that regard.
Why is Samus bottom tier? Why do you want Town and City banned? Why are people so quick to jump aboard the bandwagon and spew out almost word by word what someone else has said? These are good things that spark discussion for people to ponder over. Your thoughts are your own, folks. I don't care if someone else thinks Samus is garbage, I don't want to hear their thoughts on the matter, I want to hear yours. You are your own self, and if I wanted to hear what Zero thinks, I would ask him, not you.
Getting varied responses from multiple people with different ways of thinking is a good way to get a general consensus about an issue and just overall hear others opinions, but lately it feels as though people are perfectly content with going off the words of others in union.What are your thoughts on this problem? Do you think there even is one at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
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