"Friendlies" = "Not-serious"?

[Deleted member 189823]

I get it, you're not going to play all-out Safe Mode when you're playing friendlies, and you're likely to simply pick anyone you like. However, I do find it a tad annoying that some people don't happen to make what they can of their training sessions. How is one supposed to train for tournaments, otherwise? I have friends that don't take advantage of that and have some kind of senseless pride and pick silly characters "for fun" (apparently, but I'm not seeing it) because I'm using something other than my main (don't exactly feel like playing 95% of the matches with the same 1-2 characters for 6 hours). I sometimes manage to make something good out of my training sessions, but I wish some of my friends had that attitude.

I'd like to know what you people think, if it's possible to have a "serious" time just dedicated to that, especially if a person doesn't own a WiiU (I don't).

 

[Ansou]

It kind of depends on how you are practising. Here in Stockholm we practice two times a week at a public venue. We have specifically decided that we leave some room for more relaxed/casual play on Wednesdays, but Fridays are only for serious practising and tournaments. If you're just playing against your friends at home I would suggest that you actually say that you want to practice a bit more seriously for a while. It is always up to the player which characters they want to use etc, but they should get it if you say it like that.

 

[NewZen]

I'd say that if you're doing Friendiles, then honestly getting upset that nobody is being "serious" kind of sets you off as the oddball, as you can really judge whether someone is getting better at the game because they don't play their mains literally every match.

At my College's game club, my Smash friends and I play 8-Player Smash most of the time, and even when we do play Friendlies, we tend to pick random characters we joke around with and still manage to pull some stuff off, and there are usually 1-2 people who sound just like you, Oz, in which they're the ones that typically are dominated by 2 of the best players we have (Myself and another one of my friends, a Villager player) unless we truly aren't trying.

Honestly, I can see where you're coming from....if you guys were specifically using these as practice sessions, but at the same time, not everything must be Serious-*******-Business, because regardless of whether you're a competitive player or not, it's still just a game, and if you're being a spoiled-sport by trying to make everything serious, are you really being "friendly"? End rant.

 

[Ravine]

Just communicate to him/her your concerns, plans, and feelings.

 

[Raijinken]

It takes me playing way off character for most of my friends to pose a threat. When I want serious practice, I do so against people who pose a serious threat. Otherwise, I just ask my friends if they want any particular matchup practice. If the answer is no (which, it normally is), I play whoever I feel like. When they challenge me main vs main, I still pick one of like four characters (because there are too many fun characters for me to seriously main in this game), and that's about as serious as I can get.

Really, though. If you want dead serious practice, tell your opponent that.

 

[Rinku リンク]

It depends with the type of people you play with. There's two types of friendlies in my opinion.

Casual - Playing mostly for fun with characters you may not use competitively.
Usually those kind of matches where you're both just honestly trolling and fooling around.

Standard - Playing with characters you use competitively with all the standard rules etc.
Typically the type of matches where your fighting each other to learn the game better and expand your sense of game play.

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

Eh, I'll try to do a little of both at the same time. I'll ask to pick the fun stages like hyrule 64 and pyrosphere, I'll get as many people into a free for all as I can, and if one of my friends want items on I'll beg for pokeballs. But I'll still try to incorporate my competitive strategies throughout the match, especially when I play with one of my mains.

It helps that dog and duck are just fun to play with in general so I can't take things too seriously lol. But I don't think the competitive and casual attitudes have to be mutually exclusive. I even look at my "casual" matches with friends as an opportunity to learn and grow as a player.

 

[Uffe]

If you want serious friendlies, you could ask the person, or you could make it where you and the other player has something to lose. It doesn't even have to be money related. You could be like, "Yo, bro, let's do some serious friendlies. If I win..."

Lose the girl
"I get to date your girlfriend for a week."

Lose your dignity
"You have to run around in the park in your underwear."

Lose your mind
"You have to eat a habanero without drinking any milk or eating bread."

Lose your friend
"Take an officers hat."

In all seriousness, it could be money matches if it's in person or point related if online.

 

[Ravine]

Lose your dignity
"You have to run around in the park in your underwear."

OH yes. Very good Embarrass

 

[Lochy]

It depends exactly how people act when they do friendlies. I like to think of friendlies like a tournament match with nothing at stake but I still give it my all. I think if you want to do serious friendlies then either get new people to spar with or sit down with your friends and tell them that you want to treat friendlies more seriously so that it can imitate a tournament environment. They (as your friends) will hopefully respect your preference.

 

[Riggen]

Normally, I just fight, But sometimes I get bored and friendly, Its like Omegle, You are sat in front of a random person, You have no idea who they are, but you acted like you knew them all along, Its the same with friendly's, Except you never know who's gonna make the first move...

 

[FSLink]

There's less pressure on the line in friendlies/casuals vs an actual tournament match. If you want a "serious" match, communicate and let known your intentions, or do a money match or something. If you're trying out a new secondary, let known your intention that you still want to go all out, or request they go their main. Communicate is key.

 

[teluoborg]

If you want your friends to play more seriously you just have to perfect them. If you can do that consistently they'll either
A-get their competitive side rustled and play more seriously or B-go full casual and quit (either physically or mentally).
And if you can't consistently 3 stock people that aren't playing seriously then it's a perfect practice to go on and try.

 

[LightLV]

If i'm with friends, it doesn't really matter, we're trying to demoralize eachother anyway.

If i'm at a tournament and these are casuals before the tournament, i'm either picking Gannon and trolling or i'm sandbagging. The sheer fact that others may be doing the same is why i'm never taking these seriously, if i'm even participating at all. Seriously, you only get 2-3 matches with these people, it's not the time for giving them a headstart on you. You don't get a salt match.

If it's after a tournament, it's basically like when i'm with friends, except with less profanity and name calling, because that's kind of rude.

 

[Dokokashira]

Whenever I play friendlies with someone for the first time, online or offline, I always use a sort of mental checklist/flow chart when deciding what I'll do. Of course, it doesn't take priority over other things like requests from my opponent or any personal urges, so it's mostly a thing I play around with in my head when doing games. It goes something like this:

Spoiler

First Match​

1. Do I want to get some practice in with or otherwise have a strong desire to play a specific character? If not, skip to 2. If so, select that character and play.

2. Is there any possibility of this person selecting a character that creates heavily one-sided, tedious, or otherwise unwanted matchup for my main? If not, skip to 4. If so, skip to 3.

3. Do I feel like dealing with this matchup at this moment? If not, play a secondary that is better equipped for the matchup. If so, skip to 4.

4. Play my main.

Second Match​

1. How did I do in the previous match? If I clearly dominated the match (two/three stocked with a low percentage left, had the lead at almost all times, was almost never in a disadvantage state, etc.), skip to 2. If the match was fairly close and I won or lost by a small amount, skip to 3. If I clearly got destroyed in the match (was two/three stocked with a low percentage left, almost never had the lead, was in a disadvantage state at almost all times), skip to 3.

2. What were my observations of the opponent? If they seemed to be much worse than myself or did not seem to take the game seriously, play a character other than my main and see how I do. If they seemed to be skillful, but simply had a bad match or were unfamiliar against my main, skip to 3.

3. Do I want to get some practice in with or otherwise have a strong urge to play a specific character? If not, play my main. If so, select that character and play.

Third Match and Onward​

1. How did I do in the previous match? If I clearly dominated the match (two/three stocked with a low percentage left, had the lead at almost all times, was almost never in a disadvantage state, etc.), skip to 2. If the match was fairly close and I won or lost by a small amount, skip to 3. If I clearly got destroyed in the match (was two/three stocked with a low percentage left, almost never had the lead, was in a disadvantage state at almost all times), skip to 4.

2. What were my observations of the opponent? If they seemed to be much worse than myself, play a character other than my main that I want to practice with. If they seem to heavily struggle with fighting my main, play my main.

3. Do I feel as if I have used my main too much, or that my opponent might be bored of fighting the same character? If so, play a secondary. If not, play my main.

4. Play my main.

I don't see why you would ever play as a for fun/troll character unless you've played with your opponent a million times in the past or if your opponent is bad enough to lose to it. Even if it's just to disguise your play or something, disguising it won't help you in the long run, since you'll learn how to deal with opponents getting into your head if someone does.

 

[Gamesfreak13563]

I think that friendlies serve as a way for higher and lower skilled players to compete fairly in a setting that's not utterly poisonous to the lesser skilled player. It also allows the inexperienced to gauge the level of the competition in the tournament.