Playing for Fun VS Playing to Win

[ThatIsWho]

Hey everybody, horrible marth main again. Last night I was playing with some friends and actually doing decently well, occasionally beating one and sometimes closely losing to the other. While playing I was making a great effort to make smart decisions (trying to stay center stage, spacing well, etc). However at one point during the night my ability to do this turned off, I immediately began getting 2-3 stocked by the friend I would sometimes beat and consistently 4 stocked by the friend who I would closely lose to. I will blame this on sleep deprivation as it was 3 AM and I had previously consumed 2 Rockstar drinks which were then wearing off. Anyways, the whole time while loising I was having no fun at all. Which is terrible right, it's just a game. But the salt is real. At this point the friend who consistently 4 stocks me has went to sleep and I'm just playing match after match with the other. For about 2 hours we hardly exchange words, him quietly destroying me. I don't know why I kept playing. Maybe I thought I would win off of a gimmick eventually, idk. Playing this way made me feel miserable but there was nothing I could do. He eventually switched to Marth and easily destroyed me in marth dittos, very demoralizing. Eventually I dropped my controller and went to sleep, but now I find myself looking for motivation to continue. Do I want to keep playing and practicing to win, or just for fun. At this point I have no clue. My goal has always been to be the best, while this is very unlikely, I believe it is beneficial to set unreachable goals like this. One thing that did help was that in the earlier hours of the night, when I was still making good decisions, the friend who 4 stocks me said that I have improved since last weekend. Things like that make me want to keep going, other things not. If any of you guys have any insight or just want to talk that'd be cool, this has left me rather depressed (bull**** right, it's just a ****ing game). Thanks.

 

[-ACE-]

I found my own way to fuse them both thankfully. I do play to win, but having fun is most important.

 

[Pauer]

I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Getting _ stocked by someone just isn't a good standard by which to measure your abilities.

It's very likely that
1. At first, you improved and your opponents didn't. Later they improved and you didn't know how to deal with it.
2. You improved, it got late, you turned into melee zombies and their autopilot is better than yours

Either way I'm sure you improved, still you let yourself down. I think the way you should evaluate yourself is by looking at exactly how you played.
Did you manage to bait out attacks a lot? Did you start doing what you told yourself to do? Did you come up with something in the heat of the moment?
These are the things I believe you should congratulate and criticize yourself over: The gameplay itself, not the outcome.

 

[ThatIsWho]

I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Getting _ stocked by someone just isn't a good standard by which to measure your abilities.

It's very likely that
1. At first, you improved and your opponents didn't. Later they improved and you didn't know how to deal with it.
2. You improved, it got late, you turned into melee zombies and their autopilot is better than yours

Either way I'm sure you improved, still you let yourself down. I think the way you should evaluate yourself is by looking at exactly how you played.
Did you manage to bait out attacks a lot? Did you start doing what you told yourself to do? Did you come up with something in the heat of the moment?
These are the things I believe you should congratulate and criticize yourself over: The gameplay itself, not the outcome.

What I don't understand is that they give me **** for playing the punish game and baiting out attacks, rather than a more stylish, tech heavy game, of which I do not possess.

 

[GenNyan]

What I don't understand is that they give me **** for playing the punish game and baiting out attacks, rather than a more stylish, tech heavy game, of which I do not possess.

Who cares if they don't like your style? They're probably just insulting you playfully anyway.

 

[Doctor Doomsday]

This is my first time posting, but honestly, don't worry about it. As your punish game develops, you will be able to mix in new tech that is flashier. Also, sometimes picking the best option looks sick as ****.

 

[AirFair]

play to learn. It's a little bit of both.

 

[EPsilon933]

Playing competitively can burn up a lot of energy. Normally, an adult's brain uses 25% of its body's energy. Imagine how much it uses on high gear. Competitive play is really stressful and not everyone can enjoy it. Winning is really difficult in competitive play because your opponents do everything they can to stop you from winning. Being the best means being better than 1000s who try to beat you. Think about those odds. If you see yourself failing your goals so many times, your self esteem is going to plummet

Skill is a relative thing. It can't be measured absolutely. Benchmarking yourself against someone else isn't a consistent measurement because that player's skill can change too. Performance can change even during a tournament/fest. People can burnout or get in the zone sometimes. The best benchmark of skill is probably tournament results. Look at what place you get or what top % mark you get and see if there's a slope over a long period of time (months or years)

There's nothing wrong with going to tournaments/fests and simply playing the game. Playing to win isn't a requirement

 

[Ellipsis]

The question is wrong. There are no groups of people that don't play for fun. Those who play to win do so because that style is where the fun is. That is the question so many people miss: "What do you find fun?"

The answer, of course, is subjective. Can't help with that. Definitely try to avoid burnout though. Sometimes you just need a break.

 

[hi im dennis]

Lose = playing for fun
Win = playing to win

 

[ThatIsWho]

Lose = playing for fun
Win = playing to win

Those are some weak Johns man lmao

 

[hi im dennis]

Those are some weak Johns man lmao

I don't use that but some people do.

 

[Twinkles]

Play to learn.

If you wanted to just use the game to screw around the friends, you don't have to put in any effort in the game. But you put in time cuz you wanted more from the game, and I will say that deeper experience is something you couldn't trade for anything else in the world.

Now, having gone through something similar over a couple of smashfests, I also get kinda frustrated, even if it's just cuz I'm not 4-stocking people I think I should be 4-stocking. This is a very unproductive mindset, so instead I willed myself to just not focus on stocks. Focus on stuff that actually happens in the game. Give very verbal, open respect to the people you play and the things they do to beat. Outwardly you are a very friendly person, but internally you forcing yourself to recognize situations where you are losing to them.

If you can recognize the situations where you lose (where you get hit, where you whiffed a move, etc.), you can recognize what went wrong, and start thinking about how to FIX IT. Once you start being able to win these situations more and more, you'll see drastic improvement in your performance as a player. It can be draining to keep this focus on, but do it as a fun challenge and I swear you'll see improvement my dude.