How do I get out of the horrible mindset of results and how do I stop being negative at tournaments.

[Rice03]

Almost all the time I think about getting 0-2 in tournament and it really demotivates me. During a match I think of 1 of 2 things.


1. Getting fear in my whole body about losing and not focusing on the match.

2. Thinking about how I can't win this and I go out like a buster.


I really do feel like I have the worst mindset in the world because I cannot calm down and focus on the match even though I go to my locals every week. I know that no one cares if I win or lose because I am at a low level of play. In order to enjoy the game more what should I do. I need to enjoy the game more and I really do not have anyone to play besides my locals. I do not want to play on netplay because it is really laggy compared to a CRT with melee. What can I do to find someone to play melee with outside of tournaments. Plus it is hard to make friends and I wish I had someone to play this game with outside of tournaments.

BTW: If taking a break is an option, how long should I take a break.

I would highly appreciate it if anyone would know how to fix the mindset I am in now.

 

[-ACE-]

At least you are honest.

Imo you should temporarily forget about winning and simply try to remember situations and how to deal with them (and how to recognize them quickly enough so that you can react accordingly). Play to learn and try to stay happy. Be patient too. Changing your mindset isn't easy. Take it one stock at a time, and find a way to smile at your mistakes and at times where you get styled on.

Good luck.

 

[Rice03]

At least you are honest.

Imo you should temporarily forget about winning and simply try to remember situations and how to deal with them (and how to recognize them quickly enough so that you can react accordingly). Play to learn and try to stay happy. Be patient too. Changing your mindset isn't easy. Take it one stock at a time, and find a way to smile at your mistakes and at times where you get styled on.

Good luck.

Yes, I think I should forget about winning and have more fun. Do you have any Ideas on how to have fun and play the game competitively?

 

[EPsilon933]

You've probably seen this, right? http://smashboards.com/threads/facebook-groups-links.325058/unread

Don't worry about going 0-2 in so many tournaments. In my experience, I didn't win my 1st tournament set until after 6 months of going to tournaments. There's nothing wrong with losing

Don't go to a tournament primarily to win. Go because they're fun events

Fellow competitors are easy to make friends with, even if the bond only exists around the game. Playing games with friends is fun

 

[Archelon]

Yeah, this was a bit of a problem for me and I stopped playing fox... don't know if that's a good solution for you.

 

[-ACE-]

I really feel like every single smasher has gone through this, to some degree, at some point.

I personally find combos and gimps (against players with good DI) a truly wonderful thing, even when it happens to me. It just stems from my love for the game.

I have the luxury of playing VS|porkchops fairly often, and although I can take games I've never beat him in a set. But I have fun losing, and every 0-death I get on him continues to fuel my love for melee. I also find combo DI to be an incredibly fun challenge. Idk, I just don't have a problem staying positive as the game continues to amaze me even now.

 

[Hunybear]

make sweet passionate love to a beautiful whatever your into before the tournament and try to be negative

 

[AirFair]

Just try and play to learn instead of win. Eventually your results will speak for themselves.

 

[Rice03]

Just try and play to learn instead of win. Eventually your results will speak for themselves.

I heard that playing to learn is one of the best ways to get good do you know how I can get in that mindset and stop thinking about winning all the time.

 

[EPsilon933]

I heard that playing to learn is one of the best ways to get good do you know how I can get in that mindset and stop thinking about winning all the time.

Stop caring about winning. Just test things that might be possible and see the results that happen. Seeing failures is part of what you want

 

[Rice03]

Stop caring about winning. Just test things that might be possible and see the results that happen. Seeing failures is part of what you want

I have been trying to stop caring about winning but I can't. How do i refresh my head and stop caring about winning besides breaks?

 

[FrankTheStud]

I would say that you should convinve yourself that you're going to improve with every match you play. Accept that you are not the best player you can be, but you're going to locals to simply get better at the game. Be happy that you have a lot to learn, and even though losing doesn't feel good, support the player who beat you and wish him/her luck. Maybe even try to make friends at locals and practice against them if they'll let you. That way, when you see them at the tournament scene, you will see them as a person of comfort, rather than an immediate threat.
Just some ideas--I hope you find something that works for you.

 

[EPsilon933]

I have been trying to stop caring about winning but I can't. How do i refresh my head and stop caring about winning besides breaks?

By realising you're struggling with your life over a toy. If you can't have insertions fun with a piece of entertainment, you should really consider yourself. Play games with no extrinsic benefits to get yourself to enjoy playing a game because it's fun. That means no Melee

 

[Hunybear]

Just try and play to learn instead of win. Eventually your results will speak for themselves.

I disagree. A good mindset should be in intuitive to your personality. I adopted the play to learn mentality and only saw great improvement after dropping it because i lost motivation to play. "Why compete if not to win?" I wouldn't get salty or hold on to those losses and as a result I didn't really care about the outcome. (Didn't care about how I played) My whole motivation to play was to win and I could only do this by improvement. There was gold in my salt mines and instead of letting my losses go I would dwell on them and as a result contemplate different outcomes. Eventually coming to the source of my failur in the match.

This of course is just my experience but that doesn't mean that it is true for everyone. As far as I know tho no high level player has the mindset of forgoing victory for the sake of education.

S2J said "why even compete" when asked about the play to learn mindset.

Hugs said "you have to want to win more than breath" not an advocate of play to learn

Just my thoughts. If your getting salty in a bad way that makes the game not fun to play then yes this is a good mindset to adopt but honestly find what works for you

 

[-ACE-]

Hugs and s2j play to learn to some extent, they're full of **** if they say otherwise. They've already learned so much about the game also, that I don't think is a fair comparison for people asking about this in melee discussion. Newer players NEED to play to learn. Sheer determination only gets you so far and will most likely lead to frustration when all you want to do is win and you can't. You have to have developed a deep understanding of the game first. Imo.

 

[ᴠanilla]

I disagree. A good mindset should be in intuitive to your personality. I adopted the play to learn mentality and only saw great improvement after dropping it because i lost motivation to play. "Why compete if not to win?" I wouldn't get salty or hold on to those losses and as a result I didn't really care about the outcome. (Didn't care about how I played) My whole motivation to play was to win and I could only do this by improvement. There was gold in my salt mines and instead of letting my losses go I would dwell on them and as a result contemplate different outcomes. Eventually coming to the source of my failur in the match.

This of course is just my experience but that doesn't mean that it is true for everyone. As far as I know tho no high level player has the mindset of forgoing victory for the sake of education.

S2J said "why even compete" when asked about the play to learn mindset.

Hugs said "you have to want to win more than breath" not an advocate of play to learn

Just my thoughts. If your getting salty in a bad way that makes the game not fun to play then yes this is a good mindset to adopt but honestly find what works for you

Ive been enjoying personal growth for a short while now with the play to learn mindset. I still value winning but I think becoming a stronger player is much more important. My goals are a bit higher than winning my locals though, so I suppose that's also a reason that I don't mind this strategy for now.

Playing to win is probably the only way to reach your max potential as a player during a tournament and keep momentum.

Playing to learn is a great way to build a foundation of your playstyle and decision making skills and observe how those above you play the game. This is also less stressful for those who tend to choke up because winning isn't the number one priority.

 

[AirFair]

I wouldn't get salty or hold on to those losses and as a result I didn't really care about the outcome. (Didn't care about how I played) My whole motivation to play was to win and I could only do this by improvement.

It's no secret that in order to really improve consistently, you have to want it, and I feel like you misunderstand what playing to learn means.
Playing to learn does not mean to throw away your losses and not care about outcomes. That's just the opposite of a results based mindset.
The problem that comes with a results based mindset is the ignorance of ways to get better. People who don't like to test out different options and expand their understanding of them are probably not going to improve as fast. This is why playing to learn is important.

and instead of letting my losses go I would dwell on them and as a result contemplate different outcomes. Eventually coming to the source of my failur in the match

You are describing theorycrafting, which is the cornerstone of this mindset focused on learning. This has nothing to do with playing to win, although you describe your motivation for dwelling on these losses as salt. On the contrary, losing is something that you should see as a way to get better.

As far as I know tho no high level player has the mindset of forgoing victory for the sake of education.

These top players constantly play in tournament against each other. In tournament, no one wants to lose, and everyone plays to win. The learning mindset really shines in losses and in friendlies. Not only do you have to understand why you are losing, but if you want to really know the game as well as top players do, then you are going to have to start trying to see things on your own, and test them against other players.

Hugs said "you have to want to win more than breath" not an advocate of play to learn

I feel like you misunderstood this quote by attributing it to an "Always play to win" mindset. HugS is describing a drive to be the best, not necessarily saying that you should never play to learn. It's not that playing to learn means you don't want to win. It's that you want to find out how to win through learning.

If you want to hear it in someone else's words, please read this:
http://smashboards.com/threads/drastic-improvement.311129/

 

[Rice03]

Hugs and s2j play to learn to some extent, they're full of **** if they say otherwise. They've already learned so much about the game also, that I don't think is a fair comparison for people asking about this in melee discussion. Newer players NEED to play to learn. Sheer determination only gets you so far and will most likely lead to frustration when all you want to do is win and you can't. You have to have developed a deep understanding of the game first. Imo.

Playing to learn is something that I might try out but how do I apply it to my gameplay? Plus What is a good way of being patient and learn the opponent. Because being patient is very good and I should have it when I am in a lead.

 

[-ACE-]

Encounter situation. Do something. Get bodied. Say "well, that didn't work, I'm going to try something else".

Encounter same situation again. Get bodied worse. Say "wow that sucked, now I realize why the first option was so bad."

Encounter situation again. You don't get put into a bad situation. Say "I might be on to something"

Encounter situation again. You try what you think worked then realized it has another weakness. Say "well, at least I know what gets me rekt, I'll keep trying new stuff"

There are just so many options in melee. Playing to learn is simply taking mental notes and later paying attention to said notes.

 

[TrashWizard]

I personally had a problem with this about a year ago, but then I realised I was doing it and actually went out of my way to ask people of a much higher skill level to completely destroy me, no mercy, and I slowly stopped caring, it was pretty simple for me, but it will likely not be as simple for you, so I will offer this advice:

Go to a tournament, and get friendly with the players, then when you fight them in tournament bracket or pools, whichever is being done, act like it is just a friendly, nothing more nothing less, point out your mistakes, and have a laugh, start enjoying the company you are in, rather than only enjoying the game.

 

[Hunybear]

It's no secret that in order to really improve consistently, you have to want it, and I feel like you misunderstand what playing to learn means.
Playing to learn does not mean to throw away your losses and not care about outcomes. That's just the opposite of a results based mindset.
The problem that comes with a results based mindset is the ignorance of ways to get better. People who don't like to test out different options and expand their understanding of them are probably not going to improve as fast. This is why playing to learn is important.

You are describing theorycrafting, which is the cornerstone of this mindset focused on learning. This has nothing to do with playing to win, although you describe your motivation for dwelling on these losses as salt. On the contrary, losing is something that you should see as a way to get better.

These top players constantly play in tournament against each other. In tournament, no one wants to lose, and everyone plays to win. The learning mindset really shines in losses and in friendlies. Not only do you have to understand why you are losing, but if you want to really know the game as well as top players do, then you are going to have to start trying to see things on your own, and test them against other players.

I feel like you misunderstood this quote by attributing it to an "Always play to win" mindset. HugS is describing a drive to be the best, not necessarily saying that you should never play to learn. It's not that playing to learn means you don't want to win. It's that you want to find out how to win through learning.

If you want to hear it in someone else's words, please read this:
http://smashboards.com/threads/drastic-improvement.311129/

I don't misunderstand. See the whole idea is to forgo winning for the sake of education but as soon as I let go of winning ithere was a disincentive for improvement and I became less motivated as a result. I did describe my losses as salt because well... I get salty when I loss but that's fun for me. I don't bash the play to learn mentality rather the let go of winning advice. My whole motivation to improve is to win. I play to win and can only win by improvement. This is my mindset. Others play to learn and forget winning.
In any which case there isn't any one size fits all mentality but the one you advocate seems to be the most common place one here on the boards. It wasn't the one for me that's all.
To sum it up my mind set is "play to learn TO WIN"

 

[AirFair]

To sum it up my mind set is "play to learn TO WIN"

:D

 

[Rice03]

I personally had a problem with this about a year ago, but then I realised I was doing it and actually went out of my way to ask people of a much higher skill level to completely destroy me, no mercy, and I slowly stopped caring, it was pretty simple for me, but it will likely not be as simple for you, so I will offer this advice:

Go to a tournament, and get friendly with the players, then when you fight them in tournament bracket or pools, whichever is being done, act like it is just a friendly, nothing more nothing less, point out your mistakes, and have a laugh, start enjoying the company you are in, rather than only enjoying the game.

So having fun and not caring about results is a better mindset. Ok I might try this out. If anyone knows on how to focus on the game while having fun I would like to know.