How does it feel to get 2nd place?

[WinterShorts]

(I ask this kind of thread on here because the tournament I was in was for Smash 4. If there was a better thread I could post this in, I apologize.)

This kind of thing happens to me all the time, actually. Not just in the sense of smash bros, but in other games I've played before. You join a tournament, you end up doing so well, but then you make it to grand finals. The tournament nerves get to ya, you start doing mistakes, and then you lose, getting you the 2nd place you deserve (not necessarily just that mistake, but you get what I mean). You we're so. f**king. close, after all. that f**king work to taking the gold, being the best of them all, but then you lose after several mistakes.

Of course there's a bright side to all this: It's still 2nd place! You practically destroyed everyone there and you did really well, everyone but a single person. 2nd place shows your potential, but it tends to be 1st place that gets 100% of the attention. Like, what person in that tournament gives one about you getting 2nd? (At least that's the feeling I think of.)

I feel like I'm torn between ashamed and proud. It's such a weird feeling, really. I'm pretty sure someone has felt something like this before, for example when KoreanDJ lost to Ken in Melee back in like 2006, he was talking about how he was so close to becoming the champion, couldn't sleep, etc. (Maybe that's different when in comparison of MLG to a slightly bigger tournament, but there's still that kind of "defeated" feeling I think.)

So in response, I decided to create this thread to see if there's like any people that can relate, or have had the same experience but had a different feeling, or at least had anything different in response to this feeling. That's what I want to ask you guys.

 

[Ze Diglett]

To me, it feels awful. Being so close to glory, and then ****ing up at the last second and getting nothing. No matter the activity, it always makes me feel like ****. Makes me question why I play games in the first place if I can't take a loss.
I'm a negative thinker, can ya tell?

 

[ChaikaBestGirl]

Having been in first before just makes it worse because you know that you can do it, you have done it before, but you did something wrong like you should have rolled when you spot dodged or teched left instead of right. It feels terrible because you know you could have done better and then you dont get that satisfaction of first.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Me and my friends have organized 4 tournaments in the past. Out of those 4, I lost all of them, and the first three were on the Grand Finals.
Sometimes... it feels like going 0-2 is actually better than losing at the Grand Finals. Especially when those three losses were all comebacks and they were all against the same guy. Sure, going 0-2 is shameful, but nobody really cares that much... If you lose in the GFs, that's a defeat everyone saw, everyone saw you and your hard work going down the drain because of a mistake or two while you were nervous.

...Well, that's how I feel, atleast.

 

[wedl!!]

I think what people misunderstand is that playing to learn is more important than playing to win.

If you're so focused on winning you're just not focused on taking what you can from the experience. You should constantly be thinking "What can I do better? How do I prevent this? What did I do right, and how can I replicate this?", as opposed to just wondering why you lost saying "I should get first!".

This really should apply to how people practice too. Instead of just slugging it out you should be trying new things and optimizing your playstyle. If you are serious about being good you need to constantly be in the mindset that improvement is more important than winning. A 100% competitive mindset isn't good.

 

[WinterShorts]

To me, it feels awful. Being so close to glory, and then ****ing up at the last second and getting nothing. No matter the activity, it always makes me feel like ****. Makes me question why I play games in the first place if I can't take a loss.
I'm a negative thinker, can ya tell?

Not anything for second place? I would at least expect something like 30% of the entry pool money like I got, but nothing? Damn. I'm sorry about that.

Having been in first before just makes it worse because you know that you can do it, you have done it before, but you did something wrong like you should have rolled when you spot dodged or teched left instead of right. It feels terrible because you know you could have done better and then you dont get that satisfaction of first.

Me and my friends have organized 4 tournaments in the past. Out of those 4, I lost all of them, and the first three were on the Grand Finals.
Sometimes... it feels like going 0-2 is actually better than losing at the Grand Finals. Especially when those three losses were all comebacks and they were all against the same guy. Sure, going 0-2 is shameful, but nobody really cares that much... If you lose in the GFs, that's a defeat everyone saw, everyone saw you and your hard work going down the drain because of a mistake or two while you were nervous.

...Well, that's how I feel, atleast.

I think you two have good points about getting in grand finals. Like knowing you have the potential to get first, but you didn't. In my case, it is actually worse because the guy I lost to was the same guy I completely obliterated 3-0 in winner's finals. And at least one of the reasons why I lost so hard in grand finals (getting 3-0'd, then 3-1'd) was because (going into my next point)...

I think what people misunderstand is that playing to learn is more important than playing to win.

If you're so focused on winning you're just not focused on taking what you can from the experience. You should constantly be thinking "What can I do better? How do I prevent this? What did I do right, and how can I replicate this?", as opposed to just wondering why you lost saying "I should get first!".

This really should apply to how people practice too. Instead of just slugging it out you should be trying new things and optimizing your playstyle. If you are serious about being good you need to constantly be in the mindset that improvement is more important than winning. A 100% competitive mindset isn't good.

...I used one too many dairs from my Yoshi. It was expected, and I got outplayed (Then again, I do dairs a lot because it's such a good anti-air option). Now I'm glad I realize that, and that's one of the things I need to focus on, so wedl!! is right.

OK so I'm not the only one who once though 2nd place blows in a certain perspective? Cool I'm not alone.

 

[BlueX]

I hosted a Melee tournament in school once. I was really close to winning in GF. We were playing on FD and i was playing and my opponent was playing . I was close to the edge and my opponent was running up to me and i attacked with a Nair but i think my opponent attack too and we both hit at the same time and i fell off very low of the stage, i tried to recover with firefox but i missed the edge and died.

I did not really mind it. It was only a really small tournament. If i was in a bigger tournament then i would also be OK with 2nd place. Improvement is important. Like what wedl said ask your self questions on what you should of done and how you can improve. This one of the mentalities you should have if you want to improve. Innovation is good too if you want to try new things but test them first before using them in a actual match or be confident that it is guaranteed and will work.