It took me too long to decide but...

[NintendoMan07]

Link to original post: [drupal=2237]It took me too long to decide but...[/drupal]



I can't play to win.

I can't tell people to quit the game because they're not good.
I can't give people suboptimal strategies when I know there are much much better strategies.
I can't resist giving people advice when they need it.
I can't be discouraging or deceptive.
I can't omit things that might be helpful.

I can't do any of that. Those are the "made-up rules" I'm still tied to and still WILL be tied to.

I want to get better, but not at the cost of who I am as a person. I just can't do it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirlin
There will soon come a time when beginners and even intermediate players are of very little use to you.

Well, I guess as long as I'm stuck with those made-up rules, I'll just be some useless beginner in the world of competitive Smash.

Good luck with your tricks and traps and deceit and stuff Smashboards. I hope it serves you well.

 

[Kewkky]

Even if they're of little use for your game's improvement, you could learn a thing or two from helping them progress. WHo's to say they might be as good as you later, and you can improve while they improve?

 

[GTA_Hater_331]

I never imagined one would have to be such a fraudulent hard(beep) just to be a good Smasher. That doesn't mean I'd want to turn to deception, or else I'm no better than a corporate fatcat.

 

[Steven Jackson Action Jackson]

That's silly. There's enough good players who give advice and train beginners/intermediates. You're just taking the easy way out and saying that those are the reasons you can't get better.

 

[ook]

Yeah, pretty much none of those rules you listed have anything to do with playing to win, unless you're playing a game called "who can be the biggest douche."



After all, you WANT people to get better, so they can help you improve as well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirlin
There will soon come a time when beginners and even intermediate players are of very little use to you.

 

[18.15.2.15x12.9.14.11]

Well, I guess as long as I'm stuck with those made-up rules, I'll just be some useless beginner in the world of competitive Smash.

No johns.

 

[NintendoMan07]

That's silly. There's enough good players who give advice and train beginners/intermediates. You're just taking the easy way out and saying that those are the reasons you can't get better.

So how do the good players stay good then? They have to retain SOME kind of edge to stay on top, right? And as many times as I've tossed this around in my head, the only thing that comes to mind is some kind of deception has to take place. Otherwise they're just sinking themselves by training someone.

Yeah, pretty much none of those rules you listed have anything to do with playing to win, unless you're playing a game called "who can be the biggest douche."



After all, you WANT people to get better, so they can help you improve as well.

But who CARES if you're a deceptive jerk? It's all in the name of climbing to the top, right?

Also, how do those rules have nothing to do with playing to win? Isn't all about eliminating opponents in the most effective way possible within tournament rules?

 

[Da-D-Mon-109]

It took me too long to decide but...

I can't play to win.

I can't tell people to quit the game because they're not good.
I can't give people suboptimal strategies when I know there are much much better strategies.
I can't resist giving people advice when they need it.
I can't be discouraging or deceptive.
I can't omit things that might be helpful.

I can't do any of that. Those are the "made-up rules" I'm still tied to and still WILL be tied to.

I want to get better, but not at the cost of who I am as a person. I just can't do it.

Well, I guess as long as I'm stuck with those made-up rules, I'll just be some useless beginner in the world of competitive Smash.

Good luck with your tricks and traps and deceit and stuff Smashboards. I hope it serves you well.

:flame:
Hm...

First, define what you think "playing to win" is, and what is so hard about it. If trying to change your character from whoever you liked to Metaknight/Snake is what you view as playing to win, then Hell no you shouldn't. If playing to win is being willing to use your character's strategies despite how cheap or unfair they might feel, then you should know that if they were truly unfair, they'd be banned, and you wouldn't be allowed to do them anyway. I used to think it was messed up to chain grab someone, and that gimping was like pushing someone out of a wheel-chair. Not only now do I find that I enjoy Force-Palm ****** Snakes with my Lucario, I also realise that there is very little reason to NOT gimp someone when I have the chance to. It does feel very underhanded when you first try it, but people get a heck of a lot better when you go at them as hard as you can, possibly letting them grow to be able to fight back against certain strategies, or to avoid being caught in said situations period.

Second, whoever said someone should quick because they aren't good deserves to go to Hell. Very few people picked up the Controller for a game, looked over the buttons, turned on the Power to the Console, and found themselves WaveDashing/AutoCanceledAerialing/(Whatever one of the advanced techniques were in SSB64) within seconds. It is through playing the game, winning or losing, that you get good, simply due to the experience.

Third, if you give people the best strategy you can and want to help them, then do that. If you know there are better strategies, simply be willing to point people in the right dirrection of said strategies then. It's good to try to help the best you can.

Fouth, who said you shouldn't give people advice that needs it? When was this a bad thing to do?

Fifth, who said you had to be discouraging or decietful? When was that a good thing?

Sixth, who said you had to hide helpful things from people? When was this a good thing?

Seventh, except for the first point I made, all of your points aren't things that would hold you back in Brawl. Granted, mid game, you don't want all of your moves to be obvious, so being semi-sneaky while Brawling would be a good thing. But in real life player to player relations, most of the things you said that make you seem like a scrub (since that's basically what you sound like you think you are) are actually simple acts of respect that most decent people should have, and as far as I've seen, most of the better players on Smash Boards aren't exactly sneaky or lying, and are usually quite helpful and courtious (which I think might attribute to them being good, besides the whole "skill" thing).

Players that are really good.... I honestly don't know how they are so good, other than the amount of time and detication they spend in training and compeditively fighting. But most of the same things they know, virtually everyone has access to as well. It's really all about the experience. People would have been called out on their "deception" if they really were lying, but I'd honestly like to see you or anyone call out M2K on lying about something he's said. That's like The Pope making something up to you (sorry if I'm insulting anyone's religion or anything; I'm just saying).

As for the playing-to-win ideal, lets say a Mouse wants to get some Cheese. But his brother has the Cheese hidden behind a Door, with the Door Knoob BoobyTrapped. Every time the little mouse goes to get the cheese, he activates the trap, and gets hurt. Over time, he'll learn ways to get around the trap, and he'll get to the cheese.

.... Okay, I've been watching way too much Tom and Jerry. But you get what I mean? If you find you don't want to go full force on your enemy, using the best tactics you can, and that you're cheap whenever you do, maybe it's simply who you're playing. Holding back against the average brawler, simply for whatever reason, is usually refered to as SandBagging, and around 80% of the World hates an obvious SandBag.

*edit:Firus the Hedgehog has a much better description for what it means to "Play-to-Win". You should consider that some more.*

What on Earth made you think the other things you said were bad things? Being Honest, giving good advice, not being a liar, these seem like pretty good morals to keep (in my opinion).
:flame:

 

[Firus]

So how do the good players stay good then? They have to retain SOME kind of edge to stay on top, right? And as many times as I've tossed this around in my head, the only thing that comes to mind is some kind of deception has to take place. Otherwise they're just sinking themselves by training someone.

Yeah, you're right...I guess it is pretty hard to think of the possibility of just practicing, using skill and still having more experience in the game.

Also, how do those rules have nothing to do with playing to win? Isn't all about eliminating opponents in the most effective way possible within tournament rules?

I think you're mixing up the lists "Things I should do to be able to win" and "Things I should do to become an evil scientist that can conquer the world".

I mean, for heaven's sake, when people say "playing to win" they don't mean "KILL THE YOUNGLINGS! THEY'RE GOING TO STAND IN YOUR WAY!"

Spoiler

/LolStarWarsreference

, they mean playing the ACTUAL GAME to win. Meaning, "cheap" techniques are not off-limits, and the like.

For crying out loud, we're a competitive Smash community, not some sort of organization dedicated to killing the hopes and dreams of little kids.

I thought I had little faith in humanity...but it never occurred to me that the entire Smash competitive community was deceiving newbies to stay the best.

 

[OutlawStar]

So how do the good players stay good then? They have to retain SOME kind of edge to stay on top, right? And as many times as I've tossed this around in my head, the only thing that comes to mind is some kind of deception has to take place.

You get better by playing people who are better than you, and when you get better than them, then they train off you and get better, a never ending process.

And what do you mean by deception? What would people deceive you of? And where would they learn to be deceptive if everyone is deceptive?

 

[CRASHiC]

You mad cause Smashboards is styling on?

 

[Mewter]

What? Since when does being a jerk lead to winning?

Wut.

 

[Apollo$]

Attach from your rules, get better and start beating people.
That is all

 

[POKE40]

Easy solution:

Brawl is for you, just not the competitive side.

The fact it is not that there is something wrong with the competitive side, but your play style seems to be negative toward the competitive emotions.

There exists in every competitive sports, a desire to do our best and achieve victory.
If we go to the field and try to get along with the other team by playing nice and "sharing", they are obviously going to lose.

Your emotion towards the competitive scene simply means that you should stay away from competitive brawl. Not because you are "useless" beginner but because what you are trying to avoid will always exist in the competitive scene.

Causal scene =/= competitive scene
Try playing brawl more causally.

 

[Dark 3nergy]

seek the truth for yourself OP if you want to be set free

 

[Nysyarc]

seek the truth for yourself OP if you want to be set free

Whoa, I'm listening to Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower as I read that... the music made it seem much more deep and weird than it already is

Also, I got better through helping people... teaching something to someone else will improve your own ability to do it.

 

[NintendoMan07]

What on Earth made you think the other things you said were bad things? Being Honest, giving good advice, not being a liar, these seem like pretty good morals to keep (in my opinion).

I never really thought those things were bad, but I just didn't think those things helped someone at all that was playing to win, at least from my interpretation of Sirlin's words. I personally would like to keep those things no matter what.

Oh, and I'm assuming the generally accepted definition of playing to win here: using any tactic that's tournament legal, period.

Can I deal with it? Well, all the way up until the deception part.

I mean, for heaven's sake, when people say "playing to win" they don't mean "KILL THE YOUNGLINGS! THEY'RE GOING TO STAND IN YOUR WAY!" /LolStarWarsreference, they mean playing the ACTUAL GAME to win. Meaning, "cheap" techniques are not off-limits, and the like.

For crying out loud, we're a competitive Smash community, not some sort of organization dedicated to killing the hopes and dreams of little kids.

I thought I had little faith in humanity...but it never occurred to me that the entire Smash competitive community was deceiving newbies to stay the best.

Well, I hadn't really heard any of the Smash community's say on this kind of thing either, so I just assumed that it was part of the standard playing-to-win motto. So really, NO ONE in Smash does this AT ALL?

You mad cause Smashboards is styling on?

The only thing that makes sense in this is "mad" and "Smashboards", and so I respond with:

Not really. Just mostly confused.

Easy solution:

Brawl is for you, just not the competitive side.

The fact it is not that there is something wrong with the competitive side, but your play style seems to be negative toward the competitive emotions.

There exists in every competitive sports, a desire to do our best and achieve victory.
If we go to the field and try to get along with the other team by playing nice and "sharing", they are obviously going to lose.

Your emotion towards the competitive scene simply means that you should stay away from competitive brawl. Not because you are "useless" beginner but because what you are trying to avoid will always exist in the competitive scene.

Causal scene =/= competitive scene
Try playing brawl more causally.

Funny story, I came FROM the casual scene since that didn't exactly work for me. I failed HARD in the casual scene. Granted, coming here wasn't exactly the most logical step, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway.

Also, I got better through helping people... teaching something to someone else will improve your own ability to do it.

I see...

So... for the record: NONE of what I just described actually takes place? It's just all theorycraft concocted from a poor interpretation of Sirlin's words?

 

[Falconv1.0]

You took a very simple statement and misunderstood the HELL out of it. If you seriously think there's some deception game going on because some pros don't tell us EVERY LITTLE ****ING ASPECT OF THEIR ENTIRE GAME, then you're beyond lost.

This is reeeeaaaally on the borderline for a troll blog dude, just claim a bunch of **** no one ever told you to do ever and say that's why you cant be a good player. Yes, it has nothing to do with actual practice or trying to learn, IT'S ABOUT THE POLITICS.

 

[Teran]

Why do Americans call everyone they slightly disagree with on the internet trolls?

 

[SuperBowser]

Screwing over other people isn't neccessary in the motto of ''playing to win''. Is that what you expect from the best sportsmen? The best musicians? The smartest people in your class?

Sure, some people screw over others to get a leg up on the competition. This happens everywhere in life. But it doesn't mean you have to act like that in order to be good at smash.

 

[Firus]

Why do Americans call everyone they slightly disagree with on the internet trolls?

Why do people from other countries have to stereotype Americans as if the millions upon millions who live there are all actually the same?

Besides, Falcon said it was borderline troll blog because it is...he doesn't just disagree with him, basically NintendoMan invented his own assumptions about how the competitive community has to be in order to stay good. Basically he called them vile, lying, cheating people with a robotic way of regarding other people -- with absolutely no emotion and doing what's needed to eliminate them from the competition.

I'm not even in the competitive community and I can tell that's entirely misinformed, and to make such an accusation clearly without knowing the competitive community very well is rather ridiculous. With the ridiculousness of the blog it isn't unreasonable to at least question if the guy is trolling.

 

[Teran]

Why do people from other countries have to stereotype Americans as if the millions upon millions who live there are all actually the same?

It's not a stereotype, it's a pattern from observation.
Every time I've seen conflicting points of view here, it's always "OMG LOL TROLL"

It's that kind of mentality that causes the gazillion thread locks we get.

Also, if the guy has a bitter view of something, where else is he meant to vent? Blogs. That's where he shares his thoughts. I'd like to think people won't attack someone for just expressing their distain for a certain idealogy. Oh well, I'll just have to keep my eye open as usual. =/

 

[Grunt]

yeah, of all the tournaments I've been to, and all the people I've met, no one has ever tried to deceive me or put me down when I lose. they either say nothing, or help me. The latter which happens most of the time.

 

[REL38]

The only cheap "play to win" strategy I've ever seen is planking and running the timer. But everything else is in no way "deceptive". You're just using the rules, characters and stages to your advantage. It's nothing new.

Taking advantage of situations is human nature. It's been from wars to high school drama.

 

[18.15.2.15x12.9.14.11]

It's not a stereotype, it's a pattern from observation.

The line between these two things is nonexistent.
One has a negative connotation, and the other a positive one.

On topic: You're acting stupidly melodramatic. Playing to win =/= eating babies.

 

[OutlawStar]

I don't really understand what you mean by being deceptive...Do you mean tactics? or people preventing you from being good, or what?

It sounds like you are blaming this instead of inexperience, people don't care if you get better then them, most people try to help you get better, if you don't even listen to them you will never get better.

 

[NintendoMan07]

You took a very simple statement and misunderstood the HELL out of it. If you seriously think there's some deception game going on because some pros don't tell us EVERY LITTLE ****ING ASPECT OF THEIR ENTIRE GAME, then you're beyond lost.

This is reeeeaaaally on the borderline for a troll blog dude, just claim a bunch of **** no one ever told you to do ever and say that's why you cant be a good player. Yes, it has nothing to do with actual practice or trying to learn, IT'S ABOUT THE POLITICS.

At least I now have two* people that've informed me that this situation is actually idiotic theorycraft that I just picked up out of the garbage can it was thrown in. Thanks for the confirmation.

And I've seen some things IRL that turned from being about the actual thing to the politics. So please excuse me if that's a totally ridiculous possibility. I had no idea.

*Excuse me if I miscounted. I've slept since this post.

Screwing over other people isn't neccessary in the motto of ''playing to win''. Is that what you expect from the best sportsmen? The best musicians? The smartest people in your class?

Sure, some people screw over others to get a leg up on the competition. This happens everywhere in life. But it doesn't mean you have to act like that in order to be good at smash.

I don't expect it, but I tend to be a "what if" kind of person, so I tend to wonder about this kind of stuff. And I don't eliminate possibilities until I know it's practically impossible for them to occur. It's a really lame way to think, but it's a part of my personality that I'm constantly working to change.

Besides, Falcon said it was borderline troll blog because it is...he doesn't just disagree with him, basically NintendoMan invented his own assumptions about how the competitive community has to be in order to stay good. Basically he called them vile, lying, cheating people with a robotic way of regarding other people -- with absolutely no emotion and doing what's needed to eliminate them from the competition.

I'm not even in the competitive community and I can tell that's entirely misinformed, and to make such an accusation clearly without knowing the competitive community very well is rather ridiculous. With the ridiculousness of the blog it isn't unreasonable to at least question if the guy is trolling.

No, I'm not trolling. Granted, that makes little difference in your perception of me, but I at least wanted to answer the question.

Ok, so it's ridiculous. I'm a ridiculous kind of person. I've been known to not be able to open pill bottles even though the instructions are right there infront of my face. I've been known to find certain questions strange to ask when they actually aren't, such as "Does Smashboards turn to deception out of the game as a viable tactic for playing to win?". I've been known to claim that I don't have a life. For me, nothing is completely ridiculous unless shown to be so.

So in light of these responses... my opinion was ridiculous and I should feel ridiculous.

yeah, of all the tournaments I've been to, and all the people I've met, no one has ever tried to deceive me or put me down when I lose. they either say nothing, or help me. The latter which happens most of the time.

Ok, good to know.

The only cheap "play to win" strategy I've ever seen is planking and running the timer. But everything else is in no way "deceptive". You're just using the rules, characters and stages to your advantage. It's nothing new.

Taking advantage of situations is human nature. It's been from wars to high school drama.

I'm fine with the whole playing to win philosophy up until the part where I'm forced to improve through seeing through my opponent's lies. And evidently from the mass amounts of hate/excitement/whatever-you-want-to-call-it in this blog, this doesn't happen.

On topic: You're acting stupidly melodramatic. Playing to win =/= eating babies.

As noted several times above, I see that my opinion was rubbish. Thanks for the confirmation.

I don't really understand what you mean by being deceptive...Do you mean tactics? or people preventing you from being good, or what?

It sounds like you are blaming this instead of inexperience, people don't care if you get better then them, most people try to help you get better, if you don't even listen to them you will never get better.

It was mostly your last option.
-----
So, for the record, deception out of the game DOES NOT happen? So I can actually ask others for help without wondering if I'm actually getting it or if I'm being lead astray?

 

[Da-D-Mon-109]

:flame:
Nintendoman, I don't even see how what Sirlin said has anything to do with lying to your opponent. What he said seems to me simply means that over time, you'll have to take on harder and harder opponents if you want to get better, since the beginning player and even the intermediate player won't be good enough for you, not only in battling, but in learning. I do agree that you might not have understood what Sirlin ment.

People actually rarely lie in Fighting games. There's some what of an unwritten code of honor when it comes to these things (you have to give up your position at an Arcade game if you lost and someone else wants to play, you don't add insults to injury, nor do you john, etc etc). And I'm pretty sure that lying would be frowned upon by most people. The only kids that would play a fighting game and lie to you would be the kids that sit in the back of a classroom, scheming while on drugs, calling everything stupid, and let's face it: they'll soon be in prison, crying while recieving a human booster shot from a dude named Bob, so their opinion doesn't really count for much. On Smashboards especially, experienced players will usually never lie to you. People don't benefit from it either. They are good because they fight against good players and get better and practice. Infact, they would benefit from telling you the truth, since when you learn, you get smarter, and when you get smarter, you get stronger, thus allowing you to become a better brawler, so that you can be a good oponent to pull strength from. Yeah, Lying isn't something people are going to be doing much, atleast not in something like Brawl. Lying is not playing-to-win. Lying is just the weak person's way of trying to get an edge, and they probably never will get an edge if that's the best they can do.

Falcon, why you always gotta be harsh. I agree, he definitely mis-understood the post, but you don't gotta beat him down for it dude.... and Teran17, it's not just an American thing. Anyone can do it.... SuperBowser, I don't think most anyone goes about misinforming and screwing people over when it comes to knowledge. That happens in game, when the player's skills, tactics, character abilities, stage abilities, and match up facts come into play. That's when you physically screw them over. But you don't lie about it.

And for the record, Yes, there are a few scumbag losers who will try to lie to you. But then again, you have a better chance of being hit by Lightning, since there are plenty of people willing to call those losers out on lying, and give you the information you are looking for. Asking for help will 99.99999999999999% of the time on the boards will indeed get you the intel you need without being lead astray. Again, most Brawlers do have an unwritten code of Honor, and Lying isn't really honorable.
:flame:

 

[Falconv1.0]

I didn't think he was trolling just because his opinion his different, but because his opinion was really outlandish and more often than not when people say really crazy accusations like that it's TROLLING. But no, let's chalk this up to good ol' American stupidity because obviously I do this all the time, and I think anyone who disagrees with me is a troll. Totally.

 

[Teran]

Tbh, more often than not that's the case pretty much.

 

[Falconv1.0]

Tbh, more often than not that's the case pretty much.

Are you seriously telling me that more often than not I think someone who disagrees with me doesn't actually hold that belief as an honest opinion? Because obviously I tell you exactly how I'm thinking right?

 

[Da-D-Mon-109]

I didn't think he was trolling just because his opinion his different, but because his opinion was really outlandish and more often than not when people say really crazy accusations like that it's TROLLING. But no, let's chalk this up to good ol' American stupidity because obviously I do this all the time, and I think anyone who disagrees with me is a troll. Totally.

:flame:
Hahaha.... you have been noted to be incredibly harsh to people that differ from you. I'm not saying you're going to say they're trolling, but you have been quite critical of them.

I agree with everything else though. That was a very strange way to interprite Sirlin's advice, and it was a very strange twist of it, enough to question the existance of said trolling.

And looking inward, at the view of the average American citizen, I will say we haven't exactly proven ourselves to be smart. *cough* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww *cough* Just saying...
:flame:

 

[Teran]

Are you seriously telling me that more often than not I think someone who disagrees with me doesn't actually hold that belief as an honest opinion? Because obviously I tell you exactly how I'm thinking right?

I'm talking about people on this site in general.
Now if you wanna get all pissy about it, tell me on AIM or something, You seem awful upset for someone who can just call someone a troll and be as abrasive as you are.

 

[Falconv1.0]

Why talk about people in general when I was the only one to bring up that this is borderline *DO NOTE, BORDERLINE* trolling. Also, um yeah, I'm rude and abrasive, but these are still my opinions and I'm not just being an *** just for the sake of being an ***, which is what trolling is.

 

[Teran]

Well neither is he, so he's not a troll.
Not even borderline.

And trolling is not being an *** for the sake of being an ***. Trolling is saying something with the deliberate intention of working people up. If you say things that you don't intend for people to get worked up by, it's not trolling, it's just aggravating people.

On the topic of Sirlin. I'm not really his hugest fan tbh, I don't really care for what he has to say, just do whatever you want and be satisfied with it.

 

[¯\_S.(ツ).L.I.D._/¯]

And looking inward, at the view of the average American citizen, I will say we haven't exactly proven ourselves to be smart. *cough* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww *cough* Just saying... [/COLOR]
:flame:

So? Is every American here an "average American citizen?" Anyone who thinks that had better just leave.

Teran, your so called "observation" of Americans was completely unnecessary. Sure, some Americans may do what you described, but generalizing the statement did nothing but stir people up.

 

[Teran]

I never said anything about intelligence you know.

 

[Da-D-Mon-109]

So? Is every American here an "average American citizen?" Anyone who thinks that had better just leave.

Teran, your so called "observation" of Americans was completely unnecessary. Sure, some Americans may do what you described, but generalizing the statement did nothing but stir people up.

:flame:
I know that several people on Smashboards aren't as ignorant as the average American citizen. I just can understand the view of people that judge americans, when they see people walking around that are as stupid as that, is all. I love this country, most of my family is trained to fight and die for this country, and I would have no problem in following my family in defending this country and what it stands for. But you have to admit, there are people here that makes you wonder "They have to be payed to be that stupid. There's no way they're that dumb naturally".

I understand the stereotype, and on a small level, I agree that there are groups of people that are that stupid. But I don't think the entire country is that way. And I don't agree with the generalization. I just understand it. I still wonder if she's payed to say that. I could swear that was scripted.
:flame:

 

[Teran]

Ok now if you reaaaally want to continue this you can aaaall add me on AIM and have a nice long chat.

Some of you already do have me. As of this post, the next person who mentions it will be infracted for Minor Spam.

I'm not joking either.

 

[BananaHammock]

@OP - You have got the idea of Playing to Win completely mixed up. Degrading and deceiving your opponents can only serve to benefit you so long as they are your only opponents ever. Example: Player X lives on the East Coast and is far superior in every way to all other East Coast players. Player X never attempts to improve any of his opponents and constantly tells them how terrible they are and to leave the game. Now Player Y on the West Coast is far better than any other West Coast player, but Player Y is always helping his opponents improve and in turn is improving himself. What happens when the West Coast players show up? Not only does player X get destroyed by Player Y, but also every West Coast player beats every East Coast player.

The idea of playing to win does not have anything to do with suppressing your opponents. It is all about making them better so as to improve yourself. Whoever told you otherwise was severely misinformed, and probably a douchebag.

I've heard of other communities being suppressive, but I don't know where you got the idea that the smash community is like this.