How do you stay inspired to play Smash 4, and how do you deal with losing?

[TruthAlone]

Recently, I'm finding it so hard to stay motivated to play Smash 4, and I'm finding it incredibly frustrating. I took maybe a 3 or 4 week break from playing, and then I came back to it but nothing changed.

My local area has no Smash scene at all, only one of my friends plays Smash 4, and he barely has time to play.

I also have trouble keeping my cool. I was just playing some For Glory on Smash 4 3DS, and I played a few games. The first game was against a Shulk player who, was I'd say about average, I won and moved on, feeling decent, even though it was slightly laggy.

I moved on to the next round and I was against a King Dedede, but like an idiot I ran into two forward smashes TWICE, and on the second stock I got salty and falcon kicked and SDd on purpose with the King Dedede laying down staring into my soul with that smug face of his.

Then I move on to a Luigi and I get my ass completely handed to me. I can't approach, I forget everything Captain Falcon related, I can't space, I can't approach, I'm frustrated, and as the frustration builds, I throw out dumb knees and Falcon Punches and get punished hard. The game ends and I'm sitting there hot and flustered and angry.

I promise you I don't have anger issues of ANY kind. Smash 4 just seems to bring out the absolute worst in me and I need to figure out why, and target it, and stop it from happening, because I effing love this game, and I want to get as good as I possibly can and kick ass.

I naturally have a really competitive spirit, but when I play Smash 4, as you can tell by my language and how I'm typing this out, I go from regular me, who I think is a kind individual, to mecha-hitler in about 3 seconds.

Does anyone else get like this? Is it just me?

It happens when people taunt-spam too, like when people get lucky during lag with non-momentum based characters that relish in throwing out random aerials and smash attacks to rack up damage, all the while I'm not able to land moves with my character because the lag is hurting me much more.

However, this being said, I'm extremely grateful already, only being on here 2 days and having received advice from some kind people, which doesn't happen very often on most other places on the Internet, especially message boards!

My game plan right now is to stick with a Skype group I just joined which is dedicated to my main: Captain Falcon, and learn from the pros. Even if I get destroyed in the process. Friendlies are less laggy and more fun and relaxed in my opinion.

On to staying motivated and inspired. What inspires and motivates you guys/girls to carry on playing?

Sorry if my language is offensive, I'm just frustrated at how bad just did. I look back at video clips I've saved where I'm going in hard, and now I'm just sloppy.

 

[TruthAlone]

Also, I apologise if reading this was a waste of your time.

I get stuck with my own thoughts and sometimes I just need a place to vent.

 

[Jebus244]

I don't know how I would stay motivated without a local scene. My friends can't play me in anything but smash 4.. and I'm even starting to put a gap between us in that, so other people that want to play well are the only people I can play. I would broaden your game base. Look for melee players and PM players too. I guarantee if you want to get good at smash, these games will hold your interest.

 

[TruthAlone]

I don't know how I would stay motivated without a local scene. My friends can't play me in anything but smash 4.. and I'm even starting to put a gap between us in that, so other people that want to play well are the only people I can play. I would broaden your game base. Look for melee players and PM players too. I guarantee if you want to get good at smash, these games will hold your interest.

Yeah, it's hard. I find myself thinking "Why am I improving and undergoing frustration? Is it worth it?" But I feel like if I seek out a group, stick with it, and improve my skill that alone will be worth it. Smash is a good way of making friends, something I don't have a lot of, if I'm being brutally honest.

I will try and get into Melee. I never really did before because I was so young when it came out.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Artryuu]

The bad thing is that you don't have a smash competitive local scene, have you tried looking for ? What motivates me is that I'm actually gaining profit from playing smash from streaming to my local scenes or just personal achievement to feel that I can play a technical character well. Also online crew battles or online tournaments, love those. I used to play only because I wanted to get better, but eventually my motivation has grown much with the local scenes. To you since there's no local scenes and few friends whom you can practice to be better doesn't seem like it will motivate you. The only way that would motivate you is like, finding online friends here who well, you want to beat them :o or join online tournaments. Can't say much. T.T.


Also the skype group is a good approach.

Pd: Don't mind FG players. They have bad habits... mostly. It's few times you get to play someone who is good and respects you.

 

[NairWizard]

The most important thing is to be humble. You're only going to get angry if you feel things like: "I deserve to win" or "I would be winning if the opponent weren't spamming cheap moves that I keep running into" or "I'm better than this guy! I have to prove it to him!" Get rid of those thoughts; they are toxic. The only thought that matters to you during a match is, "How can I beat what my opponent is doing?"

Let that sink in.

How can I beat what my opponent is doing?

Pause somewhere during the match (shield projectiles if you have to, run away, spam empty hops, anything), until you can figure out the answer to that question. You can't apply the same strategy to every match. It doesn't matter how good you think you or your strategy are--if your strategy is losing to roll spam, blaster spam, aggro, or whatever other thing your opponent is doing, then you should be looking for another strategy, not getting frustrated and giving up or blaming the tactics that you're losing to.

When you can respect each opponent's strategy and focus only on beating it, instead of reacting to it emotionally, you will find that the grind is much smoother and that your improvement rate is much faster. In turn, you will have a more satisfying competitive experience.

 

[TruthAlone]

The most important thing is to be humble. You're only going to get angry if you feel things like: "I deserve to win" or "I would be winning if the opponent weren't spamming cheap moves that I keep running into" or "I'm better than this guy! I have to prove it to him!" Get rid of those thoughts; they are toxic. The only thought that matters to you during a match is, "How can I beat what my opponent is doing?"

Let that sink in.

How can I beat what my opponent is doing?

Pause somewhere during the match (shield projectiles if you have to, run away, spam empty hops, anything), until you can figure out the answer to that question. You can't apply the same strategy to every match. It doesn't matter how good you think you or your strategy are--if your strategy is losing to roll spam, blaster spam, aggro, or whatever other thing your opponent is doing, then you should be looking for another strategy, not getting frustrated and giving up or blaming the tactics that you're losing to.

When you can respect each opponent's strategy and focus only on beating it, instead of reacting to it emotionally, you will find that the grind is much smoother and that your improvement rate is much faster. In turn, you will have a more satisfying competitive experience.

You're right. I think I also need to just forget I'm fighting a person. I suppose because of instinct, and natural competitiveness, even though it's a game, knowing another person is better than me makes me rush in and try and win without even thinking, which admittedly I do a lot.

 

[JAZZ_]

The most important thing is to be humble. You're only going to get angry if you feel things like: "I deserve to win" or "I would be winning if the opponent weren't spamming cheap moves that I keep running into" or "I'm better than this guy! I have to prove it to him!" Get rid of those thoughts; they are toxic. The only thought that matters to you during a match is, "How can I beat what my opponent is doing?"

Let that sink in.

How can I beat what my opponent is doing?

Pause somewhere during the match (shield projectiles if you have to, run away, spam empty hops, anything), until you can figure out the answer to that question. You can't apply the same strategy to every match. It doesn't matter how good you think you or your strategy are--if your strategy is losing to roll spam, blaster spam, aggro, or whatever other thing your opponent is doing, then you should be looking for another strategy, not getting frustrated and giving up or blaming the tactics that you're losing to.

When you can respect each opponent's strategy and focus only on beating it, instead of reacting to it emotionally, you will find that the grind is much smoother and that your improvement rate is much faster. In turn, you will have a more satisfying competitive experience.

Words of true wisdom. I couldn't have put it better myself

 

[visvim]

As someone who occasionally finds their emotions negatively impacting their gameplay, I get where you're coming from. Having a positive, patient outlook is so crucial to this game. For me, it helps to take a breath (the revival platform is a great place to do this), shrug it off and to take stock of both the match at hand and the big picture, i.e, improving while still having fun. In Smash, you have to remember that you won't always be able to win - you might be simply outmatched, be it by another player or by an internet connection. But if you're tilting (the poker term for losing focus due to frustration and anger during a game), you will neither win nor learn anything from your loss.

So if, during your brief moment of zen on the platform, you can acknowledge that your oncoming anger will destroy both your ability to improve and have fun, and that even if you lose you can still gain something valuable by trying your best (and later analyzing your gameplay at its best), things will improve over time.

 

[Foster J.]

Oy you! You live in Essex, you're telling me that there isn't any local smash players in a 20 km radius of you?
I hope you know of SmashEurope, if not then here you go http://smasheurope.com/local/ You can find you local community here, or rather the British community and join up with them. There'll be people to play, at least in the online friend lobby where the ping is better.

 

[TruthAlone]

Oy you! You live in Essex, you're telling me that there isn't any local smash players in a 20 km radius of you?
I hope you know of SmashEurope, if not then here you go http://smasheurope.com/local/ You can find you local community here, or rather the British community and join up with them. There'll be people to play, at least in the online friend lobby where the ping is better.

Not that I'm aware of. I liked Smash Bros UK's Facebook page, when they accept me I'll ask around to see if there are any local smash groups in Essex. Thanks for the info.

 

[Kidd Ryze]

I don't know. I mainly keep myself inspired and motivated because I really love the Smash community and Smash itself. I don't really play competitively with friends because they all suck. I like looking for people on Twitter and Smashboards that seem like good competition. Even if I lose, I'm happy because I love learning my flaws and overcoming them.

 

[Project Crysis]

The most important thing is to be humble. You're only going to get angry if you feel things like: "I deserve to win" or "I would be winning if the opponent weren't spamming cheap moves that I keep running into" or "I'm better than this guy! I have to prove it to him!" Get rid of those thoughts; they are toxic. The only thought that matters to you during a match is, "How can I beat what my opponent is doing?"

Let that sink in.

How can I beat what my opponent is doing?

Pause somewhere during the match (shield projectiles if you have to, run away, spam empty hops, anything), until you can figure out the answer to that question. You can't apply the same strategy to every match. It doesn't matter how good you think you or your strategy are--if your strategy is losing to roll spam, blaster spam, aggro, or whatever other thing your opponent is doing, then you should be looking for another strategy, not getting frustrated and giving up or blaming the tactics that you're losing to.

When you can respect each opponent's strategy and focus only on beating it, instead of reacting to it emotionally, you will find that the grind is much smoother and that your improvement rate is much faster. In turn, you will have a more satisfying competitive experience.

That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in all honesty, they're right though I have a friend that gets frustrated when he loses and talks about quitting and trading the game in it's quite sad. Now though he's asked me if I can help him get better so he won't suffer great loses he's problem mostly was he didn't feel like he was getting any better at the game, but I feel like every match you do is just more experience under your belt win or lose. I too have nowhere locally to play smash because Xanadu is a tad bit too far and I don't drive, but isn't that what for glory and smashboards are for make friends and get better together

 

[Foster J.]

Not that I'm aware of. I liked Smash Bros UK's Facebook page, when they accept me I'll ask around to see if there are any local smash groups in Essex. Thanks for the info.

You should apply for membership of the facebook group rather than just liking it to join it shouldn't you?

 

[Tino]

I stay inspired to play Smash 4 simply by how much fun this game is and just keep playing it until my hands fall out and I only deal with losing by just accepting it and learn what I did wrong to make certain it doesn't happen again.

 

[RBreadsticks]

This may sound really dumb, but you should be happy every time you lose. Personally I look at every lose and analyze it, if it was a particularly bad loss for me I'll save the replay and watch it after and more often than not I made a really dumb mistake or bad misplay that caused me the game. I see for glory mode and tournaments set to 2 stocks as a game of purely momentum, if you lose the first stock first you are more often than not screwed because your momentum is lost.

The best advice I could give is analyze your losses don't get salty over them consider each a learning experience and eventually you'll stop losing in the same way. I know this site has a lot of Skype groups and wifi meetup threads which will be w valuable resource to you if you don't have a local tournament scene.

Overall don't let losses get to your head and you'll omprove drastically .

 

[Vershinin]

The most important thing is to be humble. You're only going to get angry if you feel things like: "I deserve to win" or "I would be winning if the opponent weren't spamming cheap moves that I keep running into" or "I'm better than this guy! I have to prove it to him!" Get rid of those thoughts; they are toxic. The only thought that matters to you during a match is, "How can I beat what my opponent is doing?"

Let that sink in.

How can I beat what my opponent is doing?

This post convinced me to register an account after years of lurking, thank you.

I deal with competition in an odd way. I love the feeling of improving as I play and learn a game, but I punish myself when I'm not as good as my opponent. I blame myself for losing, rather than allowing the reality that I may just be outmatched, or having a bad day. Keeping a free empty head and remembering that I'm playing a game I love has been good for me recently, it should be fun underneath everything else.

 

[Raijinken]

An analytical approach works well. Like SolidSense said, it doesn't matter what's beating you if you're losing. Your goal should be to overcome that source of defeat. If it's a particular move, strategy, etc, try different approaches (for instance, if you're against a Link walling with Bow and Boomerang, don't just try rolling and running, try jumping or walking and dodging). If it's just the player's skill, treat it as a learning experience, save the replay, and analyze it later.

Regardless of what game you play, improvement comes quickest if your approach is to say "Why did I do that?" to every movement and attack you made. If you can't answer it immediately, it probably wasn't thought out very well. Try figuring out why you do things, and then why some of those things don't work. Then re-watch the replay and try to ask the same of your opponent. Especially if you can find some players to spar with on a recurring basis, you can often spot habits or weaknesses that aren't immediately obvious in the first match. Especially in those cases, knowing the player can give you a big advantage.

 

[SmashBro99]

Well it's easy to stay inspired because it's fun.

When I lose I stay the same character and try to adjust to the matchup, even if it's horrible for me. If I keep losing I switch to a character I know better and win ^^

A good idea imo is saving replays of when you lose, and watching those, you really do learn more from losing than from winning.

 

[JAZZ_]

One thing that always helped me too (this just came to me) is something my dad drilled into my head growing up.

I am an extremely competitive person, and as a kid that mind set led to me being a vicious monster each time I lost. I remember I was playing Sonic Fighters and my little sister beat me. I was so ticked I ripped out the cords of our gamecube and stormed out of the room. Thats when my dad told me something that I've never forgotten.
"There is ALWAYS someone better than you"
He then went on to explain how world records are always broken, champions are always beaten, and out of the billions of people around the globe there is bound to be plenty of people that can kick your butt in a video game. After a lot of hard work I managed to cool my jets down and play by that rule. I'm still competitive, but I'm always fighting under the mindset, "I'm the underdog here, and I'll probably lose"
That kinda helps me, though its not easy. Took me years to get humble when playing, and even still I have to step back and calm myself every now and then.
Taking in everyones advice is going to take TIME. Lots of it! The reward though is well worth it.

 

[TruthAlone]

Thanks for the inspiring comments, people. It's definitely changed my overall outlook when it comes to winning and losing, and staying motivated.

 

[Drippy]

I'm in the same exact situation as you are in right now. I have no local Smash stream and I lose a lot in FG, especially to spammers and I won't blame the spammers because I know it's simply just because I'm bad. I feel like I can play well but when I play against people in FG I just get suddenly really bad at the game. On the other hand, this thread helped me a lot so thanks

 

[Muskrat Catcher]

This thread basically voices my exact thoughts on smash right now, and I am glad that this has been brought up, because recently I have been really frustrated with smash. I must be on a bad luck streak or something because whenever I have tried FG 1v1 recently, I frequently face characters that counter me, and people have gotten really good with them!

So, I have found a solution. A way to never get furious, and play the game like it was designed, to have fun with it. This solution may not be for everyone, but it sure works for me:

DONT PLAY 1V1 FOR GLORY!!!!!

Quite honestly, all of my favorite moments with this game when I don't have friends to play with have been either in 4-person FG smash, 2v2 FG, or just spamming falcon punches and backslashes in for fun game modes! 90% of my epic replays are from one of these game modes, and I think many people would be surprised how much fun it is to have fun, rather than play for competition and skill.

So my message? 1v1 is not where to go if you want to have fun. Try the other game modes!

 

[MapleWooD]

I don't get frustrated. I acknowledge good play, and if I think I deserved to win, I'll whoop his ass next round and disrespect him. I understand your situation though. Fun is subjective and For Glory is based around winning, but you need to be able to take a loss.

Fun fact: 50% of all games are lost

 

[MarioFireRed]

I stay in this game for two reasons: Skype groups with like-minded individuals where we can exchange information and discuss latest Sm4sh news with, and striving to become the best I can be with all if not 3/4 of the whole roster.

There's a lot of characters in this game and I can't settle with just Shulk to use for years go come. I'm inspired to play this game because I want to see how much I can improve by learning all kinds of techniques and tactics (whether character-specific or general) and applying them in my playstyle. Before this game released I didn't even know most of the tech I've been using today. Pivots, RAR, hell I couldn't even do more than a simple run, dash attack, and spam smash attacks with some aerials mixed in between back when I was a simple casual having fun with only Mario, Link, and Sonic.

But now? I'm starting to use losses as a reminder not to use one specific tactic too much and try another one against whatever my opponent used to beat me instead of being a whiny brat with my Mario flailing about with the C Stick and hope it works. I've been starting to expand my roster to Shulk, Robin, Marth, Little Mac, Falco, Ike, and many many more thanks to the advice and exposure I've been getting online and through the aforementioned Skype groups.

I'd say the best advice I can give is to find your own reason to keep playing, as many people here in this thread showed, and just keep struggling.

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

I stay interested thanks to the people around me and my want and desire to improve.

I enjoy the game more than any other smash title and having the ability to play online alone make it very much worth my time.

I've never had more fun playing a smash game.

 

[Sleeplost]

Stay inspired..? Interesting question.
Smash brothers is a game I picked up not for complexity in gameplay nor cutting edge innovation. I asked my parents to buy Smash 64 for me when I was child because I could play as Donkey Kong and Samus and bash Link and Mario in the ****ing skull. In a way I still play Smash for these fantastic moments where I'm Fierce Deity Link fighting any of the 7 Koopalings or Bowser Jr. I don't only play Smash, so I don't get burnt out on the game like most on this website do.

Look man, everytime you lose or just play those plain 'ol ****ed matches I want you to sit back and look back at what you're playing. I want you to think about where you are in life and how much you've invested into Smash. I want you to realize that the no one-- and I mean NO ONE, ever gets better by complaining and crying about. Skill in video games work a lot like skills in real life. You either cry about it and whine about things "they're doing wrong" or you dust yourself off and keep working at everything.

 

[stancosmos]

Recently, I'm finding it so hard to stay motivated to play Smash 4, and I'm finding it incredibly frustrating. I took maybe a 3 or 4 week break from playing, and then I came back to it but nothing changed.

My local area has no Smash scene at all, only one of my friends plays Smash 4, and he barely has time to play.

I also have trouble keeping my cool. I was just playing some For Glory on Smash 4 3DS, and I played a few games. The first game was against a Shulk player who, was I'd say about average, I won and moved on, feeling decent, even though it was slightly laggy.

I moved on to the next round and I was against a King Dedede, but like an idiot I ran into two forward smashes TWICE, and on the second stock I got salty and falcon kicked and SDd on purpose with the King Dedede laying down staring into my soul with that smug face of his.

Then I move on to a Luigi and I get my *** completely handed to me. I can't approach, I forget everything Captain Falcon related, I can't space, I can't approach, I'm frustrated, and as the frustration builds, I throw out dumb knees and Falcon Punches and get punished hard. The game ends and I'm sitting there hot and flustered and angry.

I promise you I don't have anger issues of ANY kind. Smash 4 just seems to bring out the absolute worst in me and I need to figure out why, and target it, and stop it from happening, because I effing love this game, and I want to get as good as I possibly can and kick ***.

I naturally have a really competitive spirit, but when I play Smash 4, as you can tell by my language and how I'm typing this out, I go from regular me, who I think is a kind individual, to mecha-hitler in about 3 seconds.

Does anyone else get like this? Is it just me?

It happens when people taunt-spam too, like when people get lucky during lag with non-momentum based characters that relish in throwing out random aerials and smash attacks to rack up damage, all the while I'm not able to land moves with my character because the lag is hurting me much more.

However, this being said, I'm extremely grateful already, only being on here 2 days and having received advice from some kind people, which doesn't happen very often on most other places on the Internet, especially message boards!

My game plan right now is to stick with a Skype group I just joined which is dedicated to my main: Captain Falcon, and learn from the pros. Even if I get destroyed in the process. Friendlies are less laggy and more fun and relaxed in my opinion.

On to staying motivated and inspired. What inspires and motivates you guys/girls to carry on playing?

Sorry if my language is offensive, I'm just frustrated at how bad just did. I look back at video clips I've saved where I'm going in hard, and now I'm just sloppy.

Losing is the ONLY way you'll get better. Crushing people worse than you hardly even counts as training. Whenever i get destroyed in for glory i make sure to play that guy again and again and again. It doesn't matter at all how much it dents your W/L ratio, keep playing, keep losing, but make sure you take something from each loss. Never play predictably, find out what sorts of techniques work against which sort of players.

 

[erico9001]

My local scene isn't too big into Smash 4 yet. Like you, I'm usually pretty relaxed but can be frustrated at people in Smash. I've had a lot of the same thoughts you've expressed in the op. I hope my experience with overcoming this can help you.

1) For Glory is not a place to unwind.
For Glory 1 on 1 does not improve your mood. The reality of it is that people playing For Glory are very often salty, just as you have expressed yourself to become while playing it. The mode is filled with people who are frustrated, angry, sad, or in some cases just having given up. I fought a guy a few days ago who, after I beat him once, just walked over to my Shulk to let me hit him. It was just, kind of sad, and I wish I could have talked to him to cheer him up.

If you are finding yourself getting frustrated, the best thing to do is to stop playing For Glory and do something else for a period. Your mood will not improve by continuing For Glory play.

When to do For Glory? Do For Glory when you are already happy. This is when you will have the best time with For Glory. When you are happy, it's easy to plow through your opponents' salt and continue to feel good. Though, you aren't immune, and as you continue to play, you will slowly be milking more and more salt off of your opponents. Play for short bits, and when you start to feel the fun draining, LEAVE.

For Glory Team battles are not nearly as bad though. If you actually are looking for a good time, you can have an easier time finding it there. You just need to make sure to find a group of reasonably skilled players so you aren't stuck with a low skill teammate often.

2) Be less personal on For Glory
You brought this up in your op, and it's true. Do not hesitate to leave a person if you have the desire to. Also, don't see taunts as an attack on your irl person. Commonly, taunts, crouching/standing repeatedly, and dash dancing in place just signify that the person is having fun. You can't see the person irl, so it's easy to interpret it as something it's not. However, going back to what I said before, if what the person is doing is upsetting you, you should still leave. It's alright to leave.

3) Change your music options
When the music you are listening to is boring, repetitive, and uninspiring, it's easier to get distracted or succumb to salt. Change all your music options so that the inspiring songs are at 100% and the uninspiring songs are 0%. Since I've done this, it has vastly improved my experience in online play. While I certainly like a lot of the slower, calming songs, they just aren't optimal for Smash.

4) You need to play through Smashladder.com
-Respectful, skilled, and friendly opponents
-Can play laglessly by checking the region of the person you are considering facing before making the decision to face or not to face.
-You add them to your friend list, so you can continue to face them some other day if you want
-Play on stages other than omegas/FD
-Have a chatbox in which you can converse with the opponent.
-Option to play ranked or friendly matches
-General fun experience compared to in-game For Glory.
-Probably a lot better for gaining skill too

So you may be wondering like *okay, that's Dandy, but what's the point in all of this if I still don't have a local scene?*

Well, honestly, to have fun! Smash can be fun!

5) Online friends to face
Some of the best times I've had in Smash 4 were when playing with some of mah fellow Bronados. Find people to face and have fun with! I believe there are many places on the web you can do this, Smashboards being one of them. You can accumulate people over time from smashladder, too.
-
I suppose you could find online tournaments to play in.

Also... in the future, Sm4sh devs will be adding built in online tournaments to the game. That should be pretty good.

 

[FalKoopa]

I live in a place where there is literally no Smash player for 100 miles around, yet I've kept playing because it's plain fun to play. Proper online this time around has made me a lot invested in Smash 4 than Brawl.

When you start playing, your thought process should be "I'm going to do my best" and NOT "I'm going to win no matter what". If you lose, the latter will hurt you more. You shouldn't take a loss too seriously. If you get too dejected over a loss, it will effect your performance.

For reference, my FG win ratio is a poor 44%. But I still enjoy playing it.

 

[TruthAlone]

My local scene isn't too big into Smash 4 yet. Like you, I'm usually pretty relaxed but can be frustrated at people in Smash. I've had a lot of the same thoughts you've expressed in the op. I hope my experience with overcoming this can help you.

1) For Glory is not a place to unwind.
For Glory 1 on 1 does not improve your mood. The reality of it is that people playing For Glory are very often salty, just as you have expressed yourself to become while playing it. The mode is filled with people who are frustrated, angry, sad, or in some cases just having given up. I fought a guy a few days ago who, after I beat him once, just walked over to my Shulk to let me hit him. It was just, kind of sad, and I wish I could have talked to him to cheer him up.

If you are finding yourself getting frustrated, the best thing to do is to stop playing For Glory and do something else for a period. Your mood will not improve by continuing For Glory play.

When to do For Glory? Do For Glory when you are already happy. This is when you will have the best time with For Glory. When you are happy, it's easy to plow through your opponents' salt and continue to feel good. Though, you aren't immune, and as you continue to play, you will slowly be milking more and more salt off of your opponents. Play for short bits, and when you start to feel the fun draining, LEAVE.

For Glory Team battles are not nearly as bad though. If you actually are looking for a good time, you can have an easier time finding it there. You just need to make sure to find a group of reasonably skilled players so you aren't stuck with a low skill teammate often.

2) Be less personal on For Glory
You brought this up in your op, and it's true. Do not hesitate to leave a person if you have the desire to. Also, don't see taunts as an attack on your irl person. Commonly, taunts, crouching/standing repeatedly, and dash dancing in place just signify that the person is having fun. You can't see the person irl, so it's easy to interpret it as something it's not. However, going back to what I said before, if what the person is doing is upsetting you, you should still leave. It's alright to leave.

3) Change your music options
When the music you are listening to is boring, repetitive, and uninspiring, it's easier to get distracted or succumb to salt. Change all your music options so that the inspiring songs are at 100% and the uninspiring songs are 0%. Since I've done this, it has vastly improved my experience in online play. While I certainly like a lot of the slower, calming songs, they just aren't optimal for Smash.

4) You need to play through Smashladder.com
-Respectful, skilled, and friendly opponents
-Can play laglessly by checking the region of the person you are considering facing before making the decision to face or not to face.
-You add them to your friend list, so you can continue to face them some other day if you want
-Play on stages other than omegas/FD
-Have a chatbox in which you can converse with the opponent.
-Option to play ranked or friendly matches
-General fun experience compared to in-game For Glory.
-Probably a lot better for gaining skill too

So you may be wondering like *okay, that's Dandy, but what's the point in all of this if I still don't have a local scene?*

Well, honestly, to have fun! Smash can be fun!

5) Online friends to face
Some of the best times I've had in Smash 4 were when playing with some of mah fellow Bronados. Find people to face and have fun with! I believe there are many places on the web you can do this, Smashboards being one of them. You can accumulate people over time from smashladder, too.
-
I suppose you could find online tournaments to play in.

Also... in the future, Sm4sh devs will be adding built in online tournaments to the game. That should be pretty good.

All of the points you bring up are amazing. Thanks for this reply. Truth be told, I was feeling angry the day I played. Bad choice. I feel like what you said about playing only when you're happy can't be more true, it's so important.

I was playing as DK as a joke yesterday night, and let me tell you, it was so damn fun. I also got some serious Mario practice down as well, practising my cape and f-air skills and approaches. It was great fun, BUT, the salt started to increase when I played a lot, so I did leave, and it was a good choice.

For Glory is gonna make you salty, even if you're the most laid back person in the world, after a couple hours it will change your mood, even if it's a tiny little bit, and sometimes if you're concentrating you don't even realise.

Thanks for this post, it's made me feel very positive about For Glory, and like you said, you have no idea who you're facing, what mood they're in, who they are, what mood/mindset they're in, so it's impossible to judge them via in-game actions.

I live in a place where there is literally no Smash player for 100 miles around, yet I've kept playing because it's plain fun to play. Proper online this time around has made me a lot invested in Smash 4 than Brawl.

When you start playing, your thought process should be "I'm going to do my best" and NOT "I'm going to win no matter what". If you lose, the latter will hurt you more. You shouldn't take a loss too seriously. If you get too dejected over a loss, it will effect your performance.

For reference, my FG win ratio is a poor 44%. But I still enjoy playing it.

I think my Win to Loss ratio is something like... 700 wins, 600 loses? I'm not bothered about my record to be clear. At first I was, because I thought it affected the matches you find, like if you have a bad record you find "bad" players, but having a bad record doesn't make you "bad". Once I realised it doesn't change For Glory even slightly and no one can even view it, I stopped caring about it entirely. :]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[NoMarthLeftBehind]

While I have the same problem, it's a bit different.

You see, losing just makes me more hungry to kill every fighter on screen, and in a lot of cases, it helps(and I win). I care about my win rate(competitive spirit), and I play FG alot because I feel it's the fairest and shows the most skill. I'm a fan of level playing fields, because then the only way to win is training the hardest.

The best way to describe my problem is to say that my win rate is around 30.00%.
I usually keep fighting against those I lose against for revenge, and to see if I can learn something.

But the problem is, it can be hard to learn from losses when going against characters like Diddy Kong and Donkey Kong when playing as Marth and Shulk. It feels like playing against a brick wall sometimes, and I simply can't escape the things they do. And I lose. And lose again, and again. I just get really angry even though that doesn't usually happen in real life(which is what I have in common with the op). I'm really....salty. And then that person leaves, I'm mad about that too, etc. etc. etc..

So, I came for some advice too. Since I have a slightly different mindset than the op, I want to hear more to see if I should do something different.

 

[Sacrosanct]

One of the things I do for practice is fight streamers. I find all the good smash players who are streaming and fight them. I might get wrecked but a lot of them will be more than happy to give you advice to improve your game. And you just keep fighting. You play and you play until your actions dont require much thought and you are more focused on what your opponent is doing and reading their actions and what you can do to counter it.

 

[16!]

Uh... Sounds like your problem isn't just with smash.
Personally I just don't care when dealing with a loss of any kind... not worth caring about the past when the future is coming and I'm in the present. e.g. I don't continuously worry about the percentage I've taken after going past %0 damage. The combo/attack that dealt the damage was in the past and presently I'm more concerned with avoiding future attacks and dealing out damage to my opponent, fretting about the damage and losses I've taken isn't going to help me.

If you spill a glass of milk you don't cry about it, you clean it up and get a new glass of milk and move on.

If I don't enjoy playing smash I just don't play. Sometimes I don't feel like it, and I'm not in the tournament circuits anymore so I don't HAVE to play.


When I was playing in tournaments it was because I enjoyed playing so much. I'd just get soaked into the fun of it all and always wanted to play and play. Practice was fun to me. But that's just me. Other people I knew would play when they didn't want to just to practice for tourneys and such.

Other things in life, e.g. playing piano, I sometimes don't feel a drive to practice and play and have to just sit there and force myself to play and play a song till I learn it. Not nearly as fun as when I feel driven to do it, but after a while you get used to doing **** you don't wanna do in order to improve your skill level.


But, all in all, just realize it doesn't matter and do whatever it is that you need to calm yourself. Don't take anything personal. Maybe so see a therapist and see if you've got anxiety or depression or whatever going on. It's possible this is your problem and that's something that needs to be dealt with, not for the sake of playing smash, but for the sake of enjoying life and being stress free.

 

[PCHU]

Smash 4 got me upset a lot at first because options I had in Brawl and Melee weren't available and I felt horribly restricted to what I could do, not to mention I didn't really enjoy any character in particular.
After I landed on King Dedede as a main, I realized that he's actually pretty bad but his offstage game is still pretty workable, so I stuck with him to see if I could eventually have fun with the game.
Every now and then I'd lose on FG because of 3DS controls screwing me over or lag, and then I'd sometimes lose just because I get camped for 5 minutes and don't really feel like fighting.
I eventually stopped caring about treating every match like a friendly and started doing my best to steamroll whoever I faced; I got tired of people trolling me/camping me and I was determined to outdo them at their own game, and thus far, I pretty much have every time.

I enjoy losing because it usually entails learning something, but I don't feel like there's much more I can learn in Smash 4, and most of my losses have come from factors outside of my opponent flat-out being better than me or outplaying me.
Dedede is a really simple character that relies on some heavy gimmicks to win and most of the techniques discovered in this game don't really apply to Dedede, so most of what I do is figure out more setups and further temper my patience to deal with characters like Link and DHD more easily.
I'm not really inspired to play Smash 4 because the base game isn't something I enjoy or really respect, but I do love helping others improve and I like sharing info with other people, so if it's being played, I'll always be up for a few games.

All in all, just don't take losses too hard and keep working to improve yourself, but remember -- have fun with it.

 

[Rtas Vadum]

I am a competitive person that enjoys the game, since I played it since I was young. What inspires me to play is to get better. There will always be someone better than myself, so I strive to become better and better. For losing, I just try to see what I did wrong and try to improve myself. If I constantly lose, I tend to turn off the system and come back later. A bit of rest helps to improve my skills.

 

[NoMarthLeftBehind]

Uh... Sounds like your problem isn't just with smash.
Personally I just don't care when dealing with a loss of any kind... not worth caring about the past when the future is coming and I'm in the present. e.g. I don't continuously worry about the percentage I've taken after going past %0 damage. The combo/attack that dealt the damage was in the past and presently I'm more concerned with avoiding future attacks and dealing out damage to my opponent, fretting about the damage and losses I've taken isn't going to help me.

If you spill a glass of milk you don't cry about it, you clean it up and get a new glass of milk and move on.

If I don't enjoy playing smash I just don't play. Sometimes I don't feel like it, and I'm not in the tournament circuits anymore so I don't HAVE to play.


When I was playing in tournaments it was because I enjoyed playing so much. I'd just get soaked into the fun of it all and always wanted to play and play. Practice was fun to me. But that's just me. Other people I knew would play when they didn't want to just to practice for tourneys and such.

Other things in life, e.g. playing piano, I sometimes don't feel a drive to practice and play and have to just sit there and force myself to play and play a song till I learn it. Not nearly as fun as when I feel driven to do it, but after a while you get used to doing **** you don't wanna do in order to improve your skill level.


But, all in all, just realize it doesn't matter and do whatever it is that you need to calm yourself. Don't take anything personal. Maybe so see a therapist and see if you've got anxiety or depression or whatever going on. It's possible this is your problem and that's something that needs to be dealt with, not for the sake of playing smash, but for the sake of enjoying life and being stress free.

Huh.
Yeah, I guess I do have a problem.

 

[16!]

Seriously though when I lose I just find my opponents mother and hate **** her in her *** until she loves me then I vanish never to be seen again and feel a lot better.

 

[IntriguedGamer]

I know what you mean about not having a smash scene. Its the same in my area as well. The best thing you can do is try going to your local card shop or the like and see if people there play smash. Try to throw a few get togethers or parties and have smash be some what of a main stay. I agree though that the online is frustrating, especially when lag is a factor. I stopped playing online all together due to lag.