Character Choice and Name Calling

[ShadowzVoid]

I am very new to the competitive side of Melee, so I have decided to find a character I wanted to focus on and Sheik seemed like she fit my play style. I went to play a bit with my friends who have been playing Melee longer than I have and are quite decent at the game. When I told them I picked up Sheik they laughed at me. They said I was a scrub and told me to pick up a character that every person didn't know how to use. Every time Smash is mentioned by myself they always slip in a comment about how I am a noob. It's quite sad since they are also significantly older than me, but that is not the point. I'm just looking to see if any of you have some input on my situation, should I keep using a character that suits me or change characters. Thanks for the support!

 

[EPsilon933]

You might get disliked if you play any character. Some will get disliked more than others

 

[Spak]

I am very new to the competitive side of Melee, so I have decided to find a character I wanted to focus on and Sheik seemed like she fit my play style. I went to play a bit with my friends who have been playing Melee longer than I have and are quite decent at the game. When I told them I picked up Sheik they laughed at me. They said I was a scrub and told me to pick up a character that every person didn't know how to use. Every time Smash is mentioned by myself they always slip in a comment about how I am a noob. It's quite sad since they are also significantly older than me, but that is not the point. I'm just looking to see if any of you have some input on my situation, should I keep using a character that suits me or change characters. Thanks for the support!

Sheik is a viable character and if she suits you best, you should play her. It's also worth noting that M2K is a Sheik main, and that has brought him to the world's 2nd best spot. ICs and Puff have also both been insulted for being noobsh and gimmicky, but I'll bet that very few people look at Wobbles/Fly and HBox and say they don't have any skill (other than Mang0 directed at HBox.) In addition, I'm not good at Sheik, so that's proof not everyone knows how to play her.

 

[ShadowzVoid]

You might get disliked if you play any character. Some will get disliked more than others

Yes, but after playing a game or two with Sheik I decided to try playing Marth and they said stuff like "That's better". If I just had the time to get better and show them how good I can really be, maybe I'd be able to change their opinions on how I am a "noob"

 

[ShadowzVoid]

Sheik is a viable character and if she suits you best, you should play her. It's also worth noting that M2K is a Sheik main, and that has brought him to the world's 2nd best spot. ICs and Puff have also both been insulted for being noobsh and gimmicky, but I'll bet that very few people look at Wobbles/Fly and HBox and say they don't have any skill (other than Mang0 directed at HBox.) In addition, I'm not good at Sheik, so that's proof not everyone knows how to play her.

I guess you're right. I just think I need to beat them to be able to show them I am not a basic scrub, which isnt the easiest thing for me since they have been playing competitive melee for a year or two. I don't care if people I don't really know call me a scrub but since they are pretty much the whole Melee community in my local area, I need prove to them some how.

 

[1amayzingman]

I personally believe all characters have potential to be good in the game. That's if you're willing to dedicate your time to that character, practicing with them and all.

I chose Mario. Not only because he has great potential, but is rarely seen in tournaments (large tournaments, anyways).

 

[QuickLava]

Don't pay them any mind. If they call you a noob for using Sheik, just ignore them. Don't switch characters. I should know, I'm the guy in my squad that originally mained Yoshi. They laughed at me for years, because I played the character I liked. The character that got me into Smash in the first place. Until one day I got tired of it. I switched to Marth. It was the worst decision I think I've ever made in Smash. I won probably five times more often than I did using Yoshi, and I was beating my practice partners pretty much without fail. But to this day, I absolutely hate using Marth. Because for me, he represents when I sold out. When I decided that conforming was more important than having fun. When I decided that winning was the only thing that matters. Playing as Marth is a chore for me. Take it from me man. Do not ever let someone else convince you to switch characters.

 

[EPsilon933]

If you want to do better, using better tools would achieve that. That's what characters essentially are. Playing for fun and playing to win can be the same thing sometimes

 

[Xyzz]

Play the character you want to play.

If they think that everybody can play Sheik, so what? She might be a really basic character without much character specific things to her, but getting good at her is just as hard as with anybody else.

 

[AirFair]

Don't pay them any mind. If they call you a noob for using Sheik, just ignore them. Don't switch characters. I should know, I'm the guy in my squad that originally mained Yoshi. They laughed at me for years, because I played the character I liked. The character that got me into Smash in the first place. Until one day I got tired of it. I switched to Marth. It was the worst decision I think I've ever made in Smash. I won probably five times more often than I did using Yoshi, and I was beating my practice partners pretty much without fail. But to this day, I absolutely hate using Marth. Because for me, he represents when I sold out. When I decided that conforming was more important than having fun. When I decided that winning was the only thing that matters. Playing as Marth is a chore for me. Take it from me man. Do not ever let someone else convince you to switch characters.

This is a great story. Melee will always be a fantastic, amazing game. Just have fun with it. Pick a character that you think is fun.

 

[ItsChon]

**** those guys than. Real friends wouldn't do that. Of course, you need to realize the difference between actually harassment, taunting, and disrespect as oppose to hazing. If they're just screwing with you than you should ignore them and keep playing. If they aren't, and are genuine assholes, you need to find new friends. When you lose every thing you have in this world, you'll still always have your pride. No need to trade that in for a few ****head friends who won't be going anywhere in life.

 

[Roukiske]

I'd recommend Shiek to a lot of beginners nowadays. Don't see anything wrong with that. Shiek is easy to pick up and play.

 

[undergroundmonorail]

your friends are assholes

find better friends

 

[ShadowzVoid]

your friends are *******s

find better friends

I would find better friends but nobody else in my town that I could get to know would actually like to play this game, let alone learn it competitively. I could go to tourneys but since I am not so good and I'm kind of young, I probably wouldn't be very welcome.

 

[Spak]

I would find better friends but nobody else in my town that I could get to know would actually like to play this game, let alone learn it competitively. I could go to tourneys but since I am not so good and I'm kind of young, I probably wouldn't be very welcome.

Being young isn't a good reason to got go to tournies. Lunchables is pretty young and is the best Toon Link in the world in PM.

 

[ShadowzVoid]

Being young isn't a good reason to got go to tournies. Lunchables is pretty young and is the best Toon Link in the world in PM.

Yeah but like I said, I just started "playing" competitive Melee last week so I'm not too good. I'd get destroyed!

 

[AirFair]

Being young isn't a good reason to got go to tournies. Lunchables is pretty young and is the best Toon Link in the world in PM.

True. I go to tourneys, and even though I may not be able to fit in with the older people, they still give me great advice, and are nice in general. I've made quite a few friends in my scene, and not one of them is my age lol

 

[Spak]

Yeah but like I said, I just started "playing" competitive Melee last week so I'm not too good. I'd get destroyed!

It may be intimidating, but you don't even have to enter bracket if you don't want to. I would encourage playing a lot of friendlies, though. You meet cool people and playing against lots of real people is the only way to make yourself better. Playing against CPUs and a small group of friends can only get you so far.

 

[ERayz]

Your friends are immature. Keep playing Sheik and soon enough you'll be 4-stocking them all day. Then you'll be the one laughing.

 

[-Dubs]

I decided that conforming was more important than having fun. When I decided that winning was the only thing that matters. Playing as Marth is a chore for me.

You can still use Yoshi for friendlies or for sandbagging less skilled players, right?

Your friends are immature. Keep playing Sheik and soon enough you'll be 4-stocking them all day. Then you'll be the one laughing.

Wouldn't his friends just john about losing to Sheik?

 

[Mastodon]

your friends are *******s

find better friends

This is what I was gonna day.

 

[QuickLava]

You can still use Yoshi for friendlies or for sandbagging less skilled players, right?



Wouldn't his friends just john about losing to Sheik?

Oh of course, on the rare occasion I play Melee. I stopped entering Melee tourneys a while ago. It just wasn't fun for me anymore. So I quit hanging out those guys cuz they were total *****, and I made new friends playing PM. Now I main Roy and Wolf with pocket Yoshi (I actually have a little Yoshi sticker on my phone case, so a literal "Pocket Yoshi"). Best part is, I actually get to bust out the Yoshi in pools. Nothing quite beats Egg Laying a Fox offstage.

 

[EPsilon933]

I could go to tourneys but since I am not so good and I'm kind of young, I probably wouldn't be very welcome.

Regardless of skill, new players are new. They make the tournament scene bigger. They're important

 

[Massive]

Be glad you didn't pick puff.

The ridicule never stops, lol.

 

[The Soap]

These people don't sound like very good "friends" if they're giving you **** over what character you play. Just keep at it with whichever character you want to play, and if these "friends" can't accept that, then they aren't worth your time.

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

Don't pay them any mind. If they call you a noob for using Sheik, just ignore them. Don't switch characters. I should know, I'm the guy in my squad that originally mained Yoshi. They laughed at me for years, because I played the character I liked. The character that got me into Smash in the first place. Until one day I got tired of it. I switched to Marth. It was the worst decision I think I've ever made in Smash. I won probably five times more often than I did using Yoshi, and I was beating my practice partners pretty much without fail. But to this day, I absolutely hate using Marth. Because for me, he represents when I sold out. When I decided that conforming was more important than having fun. When I decided that winning was the only thing that matters. Playing as Marth is a chore for me. Take it from me man. Do not ever let someone else convince you to switch characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDnKE5J7ki8
Dude that's actually a story that brings out my feels. I don't want to be in a community where people switch mains because they're tired of losing! I chose Falcon when I started playing because I loved Falcon without knowledge of the potential he had. So I may have chosen fairly well, but my friend, after several main switches, chose Sheik.

Sheik is, in my opinion, the Devil incarnate. My friend learned how to downthrow techchase into dash attack, Ftilt, then FAir, and that was it. My poor, underdeveloped Falcon was cooked. I would have rather have played Mango's Fox and gotten stomped in an awesome way than that basic level of techskill Sheik my friend had seemingly pulled from nowhere that beat me in the lamest, most distasteful matches I have ever witnessed, let alone be a part of. I lost to him probably over 200 times before I caved in and tried Fox against him. I felt guilty after I started to beat him, but I knew that I would never switch over to 20XX. Sure, I think everyone should have a pocket Fox, but Falcon is my favorite character and I believe in him. Now, I don't want to preach about some "heart of the cards" bull**** and stuff but I think every Melee character, no matter how bad, can find a way. Even though you say you don't play Melee much anymore, PM's Yoshi is still really good as you commented. After all, because my practice partner switched to Sheik and was able to turn grabs into death, I learned some of my most important lessons about spacing, safe approaches, and capitalization. Eventually, because he had a soul, he switched from Sheik to Falco (yay, another one of Falcon's tough matchups), but that Sheik and the memories it burned into my mind still looms over my head. Of course, it's less scary now that I figured out how to dash dance short hop knee, but I digress.

In conclusion, you don't have to sell out to win at Melee. I know this may sound foolish or cheesy, but I really love low all the characters, even Sheik. After all, you have to face your demons to master them. Marth, as it sounds to me, sucked the fun out of playing Melee for you because you got tired of swinging a sword at your friend's characters until they went away. That sucks! I get it! So did my friend when he switched off Sheik, as he saw her as what I refer to as a "cookie cutter" character to him, or one that needs to be played in a very specific, "cookie cutter", assembly line fashion in order to win. Now, Melee is a great enough game to prevent TRUE cookie cutters from existing, but some, it would seem, come close. If you don't like Marth, keep playing Yoshi. I linked a video above that you may have already seen, It's aMSa beating M2K with Yoshi using hard work and character specific techskill that he'd worked on for a while. Why would he do this, not playing any other character, and opting for a character just above the F tier level?

Because he loves the character. He has so much fun playing that Red Yoshi that he couldn't dream of playing another main.

And in the end, isn't having fun what it's all about? Just my 2 cents, hope i could expose you to some new ideas.

 

[Sir Bubbles]

If your "friends" are harassing you for a character you like playing, they probably aren't good friends. Even if you'd have to play alone, it's better to do so than being involved with a bunch of people who make you feel bad.

Sheik is a fine choice for a character and does require skill, just like every single character in the game.

Don't have people pick your main. It's a decision that'll ruin your career as soon as you realize it isn't fun anymore.

 

[QuickLava]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDnKE5J7ki8
Dude that's actually a story that brings out my feels. I don't want to be in a community where people switch mains because they're tired of losing! I chose Falcon when I started playing because I loved Falcon without knowledge of the potential he had. So I may have chosen fairly well, but my friend, after several main switches, chose Sheik.

Sheik is, in my opinion, the Devil incarnate. My friend learned how to downthrow techchase into dash attack, Ftilt, then FAir, and that was it. My poor, underdeveloped Falcon was cooked. I would have rather have played Mango's Fox and gotten stomped in an awesome way than that basic level of techskill Sheik my friend had seemingly pulled from nowhere that beat me in the lamest, most distasteful matches I have ever witnessed, let alone be a part of. I lost to him probably over 200 times before I caved in and tried Fox against him. I felt guilty after I started to beat him, but I knew that I would never switch over to 20XX. Sure, I think everyone should have a pocket Fox, but Falcon is my favorite character and I believe in him. Now, I don't want to preach about some "heart of the cards" bull**** and stuff but I think every Melee character, no matter how bad, can find a way. Even though you say you don't play Melee much anymore, PM's Yoshi is still really good as you commented. After all, because my practice partner switched to Sheik and was able to turn grabs into death, I learned some of my most important lessons about spacing, safe approaches, and capitalization. Eventually, because he had a soul, he switched from Sheik to Falco (yay, another one of Falcon's tough matchups), but that Sheik and the memories it burned into my mind still looms over my head. Of course, it's less scary now that I figured out how to dash dance short hop knee, but I digress.

In conclusion, you don't have to sell out to win at Melee. I know this may sound foolish or cheesy, but I really love low all the characters, even Sheik. After all, you have to face your demons to master them. Marth, as it sounds to me, sucked the fun out of playing Melee for you because you got tired of swinging a sword at your friend's characters until they went away. That sucks! I get it! So did my friend when he switched off Sheik, as he saw her as what I refer to as a "cookie cutter" character to him, or one that needs to be played in a very specific, "cookie cutter", assembly line fashion in order to win. Now, Melee is a great enough game to prevent TRUE cookie cutters from existing, but some, it would seem, come close. If you don't like Marth, keep playing Yoshi. I linked a video above that you may have already seen, It's aMSa beating M2K with Yoshi using hard work and character specific techskill that he'd worked on for a while. Why would he do this, not playing any other character, and opting for a character just above the F tier level?

Because he loves the character. He has so much fun playing that Red Yoshi that he couldn't dream of playing another main.

And in the end, isn't having fun what it's all about? Just my 2 cents, hope i could expose you to some new ideas.

That's a great story, glad yours ends so positively. And I've followed aMSa since I first saw him play. The kid's good. Loads better than I ever was, and it really did make we wanna get back into the game but at this point I don't think I will. And I appreciate the kind words, and I agree with what you've said, but I just don't ever seeing myself going back to Melee for one reason and one reason alone. I enjoy Project M more. I just really like the additional movement options that the Brawl engine provides, and it really helps that the roster is relatively speaking pretty balanced. Going back to Melee now just feels so bland. I'm tired of seeing 6 characters and 4 stages. But I can see the appeal of Melee to some individual. I still have fun playing with friends when I can. I just tend to lean more towards PM nowadays.

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

That's a great story, glad yours ends so positively. And I've followed aMSa since I first saw him play. The kid's good. Loads better than I ever was, and it really did make we wanna get back into the game but at this point I don't think I will. And I appreciate the kind words, and I agree with what you've said, but I just don't ever seeing myself going back to Melee for one reason and one reason alone. I enjoy Project M more. I just really like the additional movement options that the Brawl engine provides, and it really helps that the roster is relatively speaking pretty balanced. Going back to Melee now just feels so bland. I'm tired of seeing 6 characters and 4 stages. But I can see the appeal of Melee to some individual. I still have fun playing with friends when I can. I just tend to lean more towards PM nowadays.

I see what you mean, PM is pretty excellent. I personally enjoy both games, probably Melee more simply because I have more practice with it, but both games all the same. PM's developers are doing some noble work in bringing us a great game that responds to the community at a fast rate, and yes, the larger roster and stage choices do enhance the experience. Anyway, I hope you keep playing for a long time. This community needs every one of it's members.

 

[Burnt~Ramen]

While I don't think sheik takes very much skill to play, your friends are wrong to not make fun of you

 

[ZaXXoR]

just play sheik if they get mad then keep playing sheik

 

[Stride]

Assuming that your fiends are being serious (you probably wouldn't post if they weren't):

They said I was a scrub and told me to pick up a character that every person didn't know how to use.

What do they even mean by this? Do they think that playing a rare/bad character somehow makes one a better player? I don't understand their logic here, and I think it's reasonable to conclude that they haven't though about it particularly hard. They do not understand what "scrub" means at all (and are in fact being extremely scrubby themselves). Or maybe they're just trying to goad you into playing Pichu or something so they can beat you and feel good about it; who knows? You could always ask them why they think that (to force them to think about it themselves if nothing else).

Read this article; it is extremely relevant and good (and is posted distressingly frequently because of people like your friends): http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win

Don't even consider changing characters just because of this; your friends are idiots. They're are just being scrubby because they think Sheik is boring/overpowered/don't know how to deal with her/are scared of losing to her/are scared that an inexperienced player will beat them at all. Get good, and then four stock them over and over until they either fix their mindset or refuse to play you. Then you can move on to better players/people while they're still busy complaining about how you're a "scrub" and a "tryhard" and "aren't actually good" because you do things like needle camping (while they do nothing of value except inflate the prize pool of the tournaments you'll be winning).

Just out of curiosity, what characters do your friends play?

I would find better friends but nobody else in my town that I could get to know would actually like to play this game, let alone learn it competitively. I could go to tourneys but since I am not so good and I'm kind of young, I probably wouldn't be very welcome.

Yeah but like I said, I just started "playing" competitive Melee last week so I'm not too good. I'd get destroyed!

Normally the advice would be to go anyway no matter how bad you are because you'll learn very quickly and people will be willing to help you. The advice still stands no matter what, despite people not being so friendly in your case. An environment where you're getting destroyed is the best environment for learning; think about/ask why you got destroyed and how to fix it.

Most smashers are very welcoming of young or new players; there's a 14 year old in my region and everyone talks with him, plays friendlies with him, and gives advice to him just like they do with anyone else (if not more).

Focus on learning techskill (L-cancelling, general comfort/control, etc.) on your own first so you can start learning strategy as soon as possible; you can't really learn/practice lots of things if you can't execute them at all so learning fundamental tech first is the optimal distribution of your practice time.

 

[ShadowzVoid]

Just out of curiosity, what characters do your friends play?

Well 2 of my friends main Fox, 1 mains Falco, 1 mains Marth, and the friend who doesn't make fun of my character choice mains Jigglypuff

 

[ShadowzVoid]

While I don't think sheik takes very much skill to play, your friends are wrong to not make fun of you

I respect your opinion but that's kind of harsh
Unless you meant that my friends are wrong to make fun of me

 

[Stride]

They said I was a scrub and told me to pick up a character that every person didn't know how to use.

Well 2 of my friends main Fox, 1 mains Falco, 1 mains Marth, and the friend who doesn't make fun of my character choice mains Jigglypuff

So they tell you not to pick a common character, while maining literally the top 3 most common characters in the game between the 4 of them. Do you see the problem?

I respect your opinion but that's kind of harsh
Unless you meant that my friends are wrong to make fun of me

That could be a typo, but looking through his past posts he's probably just a troll.

Ignore what he said about characters not taking skill; even the relatively shallow characters still require a huge amount of skill to use at a high level (and the definition of "shallow" is largely subjective anyway). Sheik is not one of the "relatively shallow" characters, by the way; people get hung up on the easy/automatic combos that she has (especially the ones she has in NTSC) and ignore the depth in the rest of her game (including her combos which are neither easy nor automatic).

 

[Clint Jaguar]

Just get good and humiliate them in the game. They'll probably still talk trash but at least you can annoy the hell out of them through skilled play.

 

[gmBottles]

While Shiek may not take much tech skill to use, it takes a lot of mental awareness and knowledge of the game to do well with her. Keep at it, Shiek is a good character. They're probably just salty that you don't have to press buttons as fast as they do.

the friend who doesn't make fun of my character choice mains Jigglypuff

Do they make fun of him for his character choice? I mained Jigglypuff for a looong time and still play her often, and it's very similar to Shiek in that it doesn't take much tech skill. I was criticized a bit for it, but I got over it after I started 3 stocking my friends. Just stick to what you enjoy the most.

 

[ZaXXoR]

learn chaingrabs, get good at tech chasing, your friends will get shrekt, also forward tilt leads into alot, if their high enough alot of the times into a forward air kill, if u get really good at ledge camping you can anger them more lol

 

[anikom15]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment.

There are times in life where having thick skin will help you. Being able to interact with people that are verbally hostile is a good skill to have, and makes you a likeable person.