Performance Online vs Offline

[Baggy]

I just came back from my n<10th xanadu (forgot how many its been, but it hasn't been many) and as my nerves get less and less intense each time, I find my performance still does not parallel my performance when I play online at home. When I start calming down while I'm playing, I find my execution is a tad off. Its hard for me to do short hops, fast fall, tech, basically, my mobility execution suffers marginally and I don't know if it's my nerves or my muscle memory for online.

Thing is though, when I play bots or train in training mode at home, I don't seem to have a problem with movement and execution. So it must still be my nerves. Wont blame adapters because I consistently have problems with execution there.

It's annoying because before I can even start thinking about the matchups and playing my opponent tactfully, I have my poor execution to worry about. Am I the only one that feels this way? Anyone here who has gone from online to offline: have you had similar problems? How do you deal with this and what do you guys do for nerves?

For now, I'm going to practice playing lvl 9s to see if it helps for the next time I go there.

 

[XDaDePsak]

I have the perfect weapon against the nerves.

I legitimately don't give a f*ck if I lose. Winning is still enjoyable, but I just don't care too much whether I lose or not.

That makes me pretty deadly in the clutch, and makes me very good at comebacks. I'm not sure if there's actually a way for you to achieve not giving a f*ck. It may just happen to you like an epiphany one day.

 

[Baggy]

I don't mind losing that much. I have the same philosophy like you when playing online. When I'm there, I just like to represent Ike and his potential as best as I can, win or lose. so it's frustrating when i can't play my best. Guess im more scared of looking like a scrub than losing.

Outside of the game though, I have social anxiety and it doesn't help that I'm always alone when I go there. I adapt more and more each time I go so I think I just need to expose myself to the social sphere more often.

 

[GhostUrsa]

Nerves are a big thing that affect new challengers (and some of us vets as well) when they start out. It doesn't have to be offline vs online in this case, as for me I have the reverse issue. (My nerves seem worse when playing against online opponents with stakes compared to face to face.) Unfortunately, practicing alone against bots (or anything else that's solo) isn't going to help since that is already in your comfort zone. You'll need to increase your exposure to the elements that get your nerves going in order to practice reducing your adaptation time.

Some of the stuff you can do when in an environment that you know will get you nervous is small stuff, like your posture. Sit up straight, don't cross your legs, don't unnecessarily grip/clench/etc. Your blood pressure is tied to your nerves (nervousness is a body trained response that can activate your fight/flight response, which blood pressure can accelerate), so doing things that can constrict blood flow will make your body try twice as hard to properly circulate.

Deep breathing helps here too, as getting oxygen to your lungs will help alleviate tension in your body. Most people tend to take slow, shallow breaths or even hold their breathe when nervous which will make things worse. Training yourself to breath when the body is under duress will greatly help you control your nerves and be able to fully apply your 'little grey cells' to the match. (A good way to practice deep breathing while stressing is to go for a run and focus on the breathing. Your body while running will naturally be working hard without much effort mentally, allowing you to be able to practice your deep breathing without needing to multitask. Hint here, if you feel your side is in pain while running/exercising then you aren't breathing right!)

Part of your problem could be a combination of off muscle memory (online does require a slightly different alignment than offline) with some good old fashioned self-fulfilling prophecy of doubt. You know that while your nerves are coming down you'll suffer because of off timing, and will work too hard to prevent it (and thus jumping the gun on all your actions). This is hard to break, because even thinking "I'm thinking too much about it" gets you thinking about it. Best advice is to focus on your opponent, distract yourself from you and redirect your focus on something else that is beneficial. Let your body adapt on its own, as it is well equipped to do this. (it's usually the mind that gets in the way here) Remember that it's a game you are doing your best in, and let your hard work show itself. Most fights boil down to not paying attention to what your opponent is doing, so you fail to properly counter, and not you goofing into an SD. This can still happen, but it will less and less as you let yourself get confident in your own abilities.

 

[Baggy]

Deep breathing helps here too, as getting oxygen to your lungs will give you a 7 second damage boost, and recovers a little health.

FTFY

In all seriousness though that is very great, consoling advice and I greatly thank you for it. For sure I will do my best to come out more often and practice those things while keeping these mindsets.

Got another question for you @ GhostUrsa , do you ever get nerves fighting prominent players? I find myself easily intimidated by the faces of Xanadu.

 

[Mario766]

You have issues offline because you play online. Play less online and you will get used to executing offline. Keep playing offline and keep going to events until you perform

 

[GhostUrsa]

@ B Baggy I don't, but I've also learned how to handle performance anxiety in front of crowds from being in an Orchestra during my school years. (Which thinking about it, is probably why I have an easier time playing at a locale tourney than online. Even if I'm only focusing on the match, I know that everyone around me is 'only another human' that I can laugh with afterwards.) I used to play a 'mean' saxophone and spent a lot of time in front of others because of it. Being an introvert this gave me quite the task to overcome, but talking with other professionals in that field (I got to play with the Minnesota Orchestra on a couple of occasions. That was great fun!) taught me a bunch of stuff that let me 'learn' to ignore the crowd and just enjoy what I'm doing.

These skills I still use today, even in smash. It can be easy to want to 'show em what you've got' when it comes to Pro players, hell this very issue got me knocked out before I could take on Ganon the Beast. (He's a prominent figure on my locale tournament circuit, which when I found out I was going to be fighting him after my current set was finished, my excitement got away from me and I ended up losing. ) Mentally, you have to play only because you love it otherwise you'll just run yourself into the ground trying to measure up in a scale you'll never get an accurate reading from.

It's not going to be easy, that I can tell you as I've lost my way with this stuff when life gets rough. I'm recently 'reminding' myself these very techniques I used to have 'down pat' that a lot of outside stress had muscled out of my memory for a while. But keeping what I mentioned above, and the reminder from @ Mario766 about offline timing requires practice just like online does, in your mind while you play and train will help you get to the flow state you desire when playing.

 

[san.]

Best solution is to try to go to smashfests or get to the tournament as soon as the doors open. This will give you a few hours to really adjust to the new timing. Outside of that, playing vs CPUs occasionally and training mode with no influences do help.

You never know what you'll really do in a panic situation until it happens, so you need to get used to things like that.

Sooner or later, things will begin to 'click' for you.