How does atmosphere affect the match?

[PuffinToast34]

How does the atmosphere around you affect your match of smash?
How would you react in these situations?
- You're playing a match with a sibling, family member, close friend of yours at your house.
- You're up against one of your toughest opponents at a tournament, dozens of people watching.

Do you play differently depending on who you're fighting? I tend to go easier on my friends. I can't bring it upon myself to try my hardest against someone I want to see get better.

 

[Orlando BCN]

I never play with headphones, but I find it annoying when a family member calls me from downstairs for an errand. When that happens, I lose focus and act without thinking for a few seconds, and then I feel pressured to end the match quickly to do that errand. I get back on track relatively easy, though.

I try my best no matter who I’m up against. I learned that the hard way with my high school gaming club; the members were hella competitive and it got me frustrated for a time how I couldn’t match up with their skill, driving me to improve even more. I don’t see a need to “degrade” my playstyle unless I’m up against a kid who’s like 10 years younger than me and wants me to go easy on them, lol.

 

[Xelrog]

I only really try as hard as I need to. 110% all the time would be exhausting and not fun for me.

That's why ZeRo (I think it was him) recommended money matches against good players, so that you can actually get their best performance out of them. I'm certainly not going to burst a blood vessel mashing buttons in a for-fun match.