So I just got back from DPhat's, and I feel I've got some explaining to do. Or some apologizing.
I've talked with a few people about this, and all I've come up with is probably circular reasoning that's getting me nowhere and those few people frustrated. So... I'll figure I'll try to explain this again, in public. Here's a warning: this might be long.
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First, Brawl is pretty much my first experience with Smash ever, AND my first experience with a fighting game. Seriously, my selection of games for the Wii/DS are all pretty much 1P games. Or possibly with 2P Coop. And to mention Melee, I played that basically 1P as well.
So I know NOTHING of Brawl as a 2/3/4P game. Worse, I don't have a competitive background in anything, period. I've never liked sports, and I never bothered running for any class positions in high school, simply because I knew I wasn't gonna get in anything (just to clarify, I'm a sophomore at UTD). Put simply, I lack the "warrior's spirit".
So my milling around, watching matches, and refusing all of'em (of three offers) was a direct result of that. I can play against comps just fine (although I might get a bit irritated), but against real people, my nerves break down, with it goes the willingness to play. So had I actually taken an offer, here's what a sketch of the match would look like:
-About 5 minutes to pick characters due to me sarcastically asking who my opponent's favorite punching bag is and getting probably a hurried a response of "I don't care, just pick someone!" (In all honesty, an aim to please has always been my goal with people, so there's some truth to that question, but it's still tinged with that nervous feeling)
-About 5 minutes to pick stage 'cause I really know NOTHING of how competitive Brawl works, including stage selection
-Match starts.
-SD, SD, SD. This game's winner is... not me.
-People get ticked off that I actually did that, and I get ticked off that I actually did that.
-Congrats, NintendoMan07, you just lost any chance you had of being in the Dallas Smash scene.
So yeah, I'd be actually letting people down by playing as well as by not playing. So it's lose-lose for me, although the end result of tonight has just been that I've had people confused instead of mad. Anyway, there's a few factors that go into that, that I've decided against listing here for brevity.
At any rate, now that I've explained somewhat my... predicament, here's the apology. I'm sorry that I didn't get to play anyone tonight and caused a large amount of confusion over it.
Anyway, if anyone has any advice to "fix" me, or just wants to try in person, then PM me and I'll be willing to work stuff out, consider stuff, or explain a bit more.
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tl;dr version: I'm not a confident person. PM me if you're really interested in fixing that. And I'm sorry for not playing anyone.