Need to convince my roommate to quit smash

[Lord_Tristem]

So this may seem like an odd thing to discuss since this is a smash forum, but I really need to convince my roommate to give up on smash. The simple fact is he's not good at the game and he never will be. Little background, we started getting into competitive smash on the tail end of Smash 4's life a year and a half ago, and in that time we have seen little to no improvement. In that time the both of us have tried all the standard stuff to improve, but none of it has really worked, or it barely did anything at all. After that much time I am fully convinced that we're just not going to improve and nothings going to change that. Its to the point that in my frustration I've started weaving crazy theories that the entire competitive smash community is cheating somehow. That's how wide in skill their is that it seems impossible that anyone can do half the things they do. This leads me to the conclusion we should just quit trying at this point, but my roommate refuses to give up. I always found this aspect of humanity most annoying that people never know when they should give up. Anyway not sure why I wrote this guess I just needed to vent my frustrations on what has become a no win scenario for myself.

 

[elliotnz]

Is he having fun?

 

[swinn]

Personally, I have absolutely zero experience with competitive Smash, since I've only been playing for a few weeks. But with games, I've always opted for the harder difficulty, or the more skillful way to play. It's just my nature. I like the challenge. Same with online games, I always like to challenge myself to new, difficult activities, be it PvP or PvE. So, if I were you, I would just drop Smash if you want to, but let your roommate be. If he improves, great for him! If he doesn't, that's too bad. The only thing that matters is that he enjoys the game.

 

[Lord_Tristem]

Is he having fun?

Claims he is, mops and throws a fit when he loses at tournaments. Followed by days of depression. So I have a hard time believing he is.

 

[elliotnz]

Maybe playing online ranked is more realistic for him.

 

[amazonevan19]

Maybe simply taking a break is needed. I find that if I get too hardcore at a game (Smash in particular) just messes with you and you keep getting more upset that you aren't performing where you want to be. But if you take a break and come back with a fresh perspective, it often helps.

 

[swinn]

Claims he is, mops and throws a fit when he loses at tournaments. Followed by days of depression. So I have a hard time believing he is.

Oh, well if he gets depressed from losing tournaments then changes everything. I thought he just didn't like losing. If a game is detrimental to your mental health, that game is not important.

 

[Xelrog]

Play as long as you're having fun. Don't play if you're not having fun. And certainly don't play expecting to go pro, because you, like 99.99% of this game's players, won't.

His expectations need adjusted. If he's not going to a tournament expecting to lose and learn then he shouldn't be going at all.

 

[Tankdank]

Claims he is, mops and throws a fit when he loses at tournaments. Followed by days of depression. So I have a hard time believing he is.

Sounds like he tries to tell himself that he's having fun. Did the same myself in a few games. Unfortunately it's hard to get someone to recognize it themselve's.

 

[KatKit]

Well, you have to start somewhere. If your friend is as bad as you claim, he can only improve from there, if he keeps at it. Who knows, something might click one day. Unlike you two, some people have been playing Smash (or different fighting games where they can still apply certain fundamentals) their entire lives.

Also, keep in mind that losing can be a learning opportunity. Instead of getting angry or frustrated, think about what you did wrong or how you can improve. Instead of steering him away from something he's passionate about, first I'd try to help him understand that there's nothing wrong with losing.


An ex boyfriend of mine is super good at Smash (although we broke up, we still play one another to this day lol). There was quite a skill gap between he and I. I mostly play for fun, but I can be competitive, too, so over time, I got way better at the game just by playing with him so much. I think the same thing can apply to your friend: playing with tournament level players will eventually make you better by proxy, especially if you try to figure out why they're good and try to apply it. There are videos, tutorials, social groups, etc. online that they can read/watch to help them improve. I played someone who did all of that stuff, and got good by proxy over time.

 

[elliotnz]

Maybe it gives him an outlet to compete against people

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

Why not just play it for fun instead of focusing on the competitive aspect? I get wanting to do better but if losing is going to make you quit playing the game; were you a fan to begin with? Maybe not.

 

[Lord_Tristem]

Well, you have to start somewhere. If your friend is as bad as you claim, he can only improve from there, if he keeps at it. Who knows, something might click one day. Unlike you two, some people have been playing Smash (or different fighting games where they can still apply certain fundamentals) their entire lives.

Also, keep in mind that losing can be a learning opportunity. Instead of getting angry or frustrated, think about what you did wrong or how you can improve. Instead of steering him away from something he's passionate about, first I'd try to help him understand that there's nothing wrong with losing.


An ex boyfriend of mine is super good at Smash (although we broke up, we still play one another to this day lol). There was quite a skill gap between he and I. I mostly play for fun, but I can be competitive, too, so over time, I got way better at the game just by playing with him so much. I think the same thing can apply to your friend: playing with tournament level players will eventually make you better by proxy, especially if you try to figure out why they're good and try to apply it. There are videos, tutorials, social groups, etc. online that they can read/watch to help them improve. I played someone who did all of that stuff, and got good by proxy over time.

Thing is I don't think he ever will. Mainly cause we've been at this a year and a half with almost nothing to show for it. Surely after that long you'd think we'd see some marginal improvement. That and my roommate seems to deliberately sabotaging himself by refusing to change a number of bad habits. Big ones being he insists on playing Little Mac, he thinks he should have more then one main, and he refuses to practice most of the time.

 

[salaboB]

I've got good news and bad news for you.

First, the good news: You can improve enough to compete.

Second, the bad news: It's gonna be a lot of work.

Yep, I said "work", it's not all going to be fun -- it will probably even feel a bit like a job, for a while. The people at tournaments that are scary good have put their work into it, likely spending hours just practicing how to do particular moves in sequence so that they can reliably execute any of the techniques needed. Some of those maneuvers they'll have spent double digit hours just to master one set of moves. They'll also have spent time finding other skilled opponents to play against, to hone their reflexes and get those practiced techniques into muscle memory for the situations they're needed in -- so if you are interested, you should find people in your area that are also serious about playing competitively to practice with/against. Even worse for your situation, if you put in the effort and your roommate doesn't then you won't be able to effectively practice with him because you'll just crush him while still being far from your goal of the level you need to be for competing at tournaments.

Big ones being he insists on playing Little Mac, he thinks he should have more then one main, and he refuses to practice most of the time.

Like you've thought, this will prevent your roommate from ever becoming competitive. Particularly the final note -- if you don't practice, you're not competing at tournaments. You can go play a couple rounds and be eliminated, but that's about all you'll be doing. Practicing with advanced techniques in mind (as discussed above) and against skilled opponents will address whether he should keep playing Little Mac and what other mains he might want, as he'll learn where Little Mac works and where he doesn't -- but without putting in the practice focused on improvement, there will be no improvement.

 

[Lord_Tristem]

I thank you guys for your feedback on this. I've spent a few weeks thinking about this and yeah I shouldn't be trying to convince him to quit. Instead I really should be trying to convince him to actually practice even if its only a half hour. Also maybe I should be trying to convince him to stop maining Little Mac. Anyway you slice it Little Mac is at the bottom of almost every tier list for a reason and given his skill level using hims just holding him back.

 

[elliotnz]

I thank you guys for your feedback on this. I've spent a few weeks thinking about this and yeah I shouldn't be trying to convince him to quit. Instead I really should be trying to convince him to actually practice even if its only a half hour. Also maybe I should be trying to convince him to stop maining Little Mac. Anyway you slice it Little Mac is at the bottom of almost every tier list for a reason and given his skill level using hims just holding him back.

That's like jumping into a boxing ring and trying to haymaker the other guy...