Darkurai
Smash Master
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2007
- Messages
- 3,012
An essay I wrote up today after getting into an argument. Criticism would be appreciated.
A deviantART version, with italics and underlines, can be found here: http://luigiiii.deviantart.com/art/SSB-Casual-vs-Competitive-126401582
In the 1940s, the United States of America went through what is now referred to as the "Red Scare". The Red Scare was a period of time where communism in foreign nations was on the rise, and people were worried that it would spread to America. Communism was, in its most basic definition, a belief that stated that everyone should hold the same social status, and everyone should essentially be the same. During the Red Scare, people were desperate to keep communism from spreading to America. With the Red Scare in mind, why is a shadow of this belief spreading today? Super Smash Bros. is a series of fighting-genre video games released on consoles produced by Nintendo. In the game, the most recognizable Nintendo characters fight each other to build up their damage (measured by percentage) until the opponent is weak enough to knock them off the stage. The first game of the series was an instant hit, having sold almost five million copies worldwide, and became one of the most popular games to ever be released. With a game so popular, though, there will never be a point where the entire fan base will agree on one thing. This has caused problems, sparking a debate often referred to as "casual vs. competitive". The casual berate the competitive community, essentially telling them to "stop having fun".
The conflict began sometime during the reign of the second game of the series, Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is unknown when exactly the conflict began. Melee was popular for competitive play in tournaments, and players began to go above and beyond the skills that people previously saw as "the best". This was done through tactics known as "Advanced Techniques". Advanced Techniques are exactly what they sound like, techniques and strategies used in the higher levels of play. One of the most well-known of these techniques was called "Wavedashing". Melee had a system to dodge the opponent's attacks. In the air, this was done by the player causing their character to move suddenly in a direction of their choosing. Wavedashing was when a player jumped into the air and then immediately air-dodged diagonally into the ground. When done correctly, this created the illusion of suddenly sliding forward with no prior momentum. This tactic was deemed more effective than running due to the fact that the player could then use their normal standing attacks while in motion. Due to the difficulty of using it, casual players cried foul, saying that it was "not fair". However, wavedashing was completely fair. Crying foul to wavedashing is akin to crying foul to sacking the quarterback in American Football; it is a difficult thing to pull off, and has advantages when done correctly. The casual went as far to proclaim wavedashing a "glitch", and said that it was never intended to be in the game. The cries of foul did not stop even after Masahiro Sakurai, the director in charge of the development of all three games in the Super Smash Bros. series stated himself that he was aware of the technique's existence before Melee was released. The debate over wavedashing eventually slowed down, and is no longer a focal point.
Another argument that has recently died down but still exists now is the argument of items. In the Super Smash Bros. series, there are items that randomly appear on the battlefield. These items vary from healing items to weapons. In tournament play, items are banned from use. The casuals believe that this should not be the case; the game is meant to be played with items. This is a false statement. Items make the game unfair. A commonly used example is that a player knocks their opponent of the stage, and then the perfect item to keep them from returning to the stage falls at their feet. This is not a fair occurrence, and is why items are banned from tournament play. If the game is meant to be played with items, why is there the option to turn them off?
One aspect of competitive play that is still heavily debated to this day is the use of tiers. In fighting games, a tier list is a list of the playable characters in the game ordering them from most useful in tournaments to least useful in tournaments. The casual are outraged at the idea of tiers, claiming that the tier list is a proclamation that some characters are completely useless and should never be played. Other casuals argue that all the characters are equal and it all depends on player skill. Both of these arguments are flawed. The tier list is not an absolute ruling of which characters to use. Tony "Gimpyfish" Dennis is widely regarded as one of the best of all the "smashers" in the United States. Gimpyfish's regular character, Bowser, is very low on the Melee tier list, being ranked 23rd out of 26 characters, disproving the argument that the tier list is supposed to be absolute law. The second argument regarding skill of the player is also flawed in regards to the tier list. The tier list is meant to be a measurement when assuming that the two players are both of equal skill. The casual players refuse to accept these facts, however, and continue the argument to this day.
Recently, with the release of the third game of the series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the competitive community felt that they wanted more out of the game. With the advent of the "Homebrew Channel", a system used to run unofficial programs on the Brawl's console of origin, the Wii, it was now possible to go into the game and modify it to be more competitive. The project was dubbed "Brawl+", as the point was to take Brawl, and add to it to make it a better game in the higher levels of play. The casuals could never accept this. The casuals believed Brawl+ to be an attempt to make Brawl into a "Melee 2.0" of sorts. When Brawl was first released, there were complaints from the competitive that, indeed, Brawl was not the same as Melee when it came to tournament play. Some people refused to make the transition to Brawl, as they enjoyed Melee more. Due to this, the casuals believed that Brawl+ was supposed to essentially make Melee, but with more characters and better graphics. Some went as far to claim that Brawl+ added wavedashing back into the game, which was removed from Brawl. These are all false arguments. Brawl+ was not meant to make Brawl more like Melee. The fact that Brawl+ resembles Melee is merely a coincidence. The purpose of Brawl+ is to make slight modifications such as the amount of damage that certain attacks do, and other modifications here and there to balance the game, thus making the aforementioned tier list less absolute. Another false argument is that Brawl+ adds wavedashing back into the game. While a code to add wavedashing to Brawl does exist, it is rarely used for Brawl+. Brawl+ is not Melee 2.0. Brawl+ is Brawl+.
The final, and most jarring argument used by the casuals is commonly dubbed the "Stop Having Fun Guys" argument. It is a common misconception that the competitive community is made up of elitists that believe their way is the only correct way to play, and those who do not play this way are "noobs" ("noob" is a common derogatory slang term used to describe people with little experience). This argument is a complete fabrication, and a lie. The casuals believe that it was the competitive that fired the first shot in this argument and told them that playing at the lower levels was ridiculous, and the only way to play was "Fox only", Fox being the highest character on the Melee tier list, "no items", and "Final Destination", with Final Destination being the battlefield with the least amount of unfair elements, thus widely being regarded as the most neutral battlefield. In reality, it was the casuals that fired the first shot. It is a vast minority of the competitive community that believes in "No items, Fox only, Final Destination" being the only way to play. The casual, however, believe that competitive play is just that, and that the competitive are trying to impose their play-style onto everyone, when the reverse was true. The competitive welcome new members to their group, but never actively try to force people in. In the end, the casual are exactly what they claim the competitive are.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller was written as an allegory to the Red Scare. The play takes place during the Salem Witch Trials, and shows the horrors of the citizens of the puritan town of Salem turning against each other and killing each other, believing them to be witches. Today, the Super Smash Bros. community has turned into a witch hunt. The competitive community is mercilessly labeled as "bad", and is vilified by the casual community, despite only trying to play the game the way that they want to.
A deviantART version, with italics and underlines, can be found here: http://luigiiii.deviantart.com/art/SSB-Casual-vs-Competitive-126401582
The Great Smash Bros. Debate: Casual vs. Competitive
"Oh my god, some people are having fun, stop them!" – Egobuff of GameFAQS
"Oh my god, some people are having fun, stop them!" – Egobuff of GameFAQS
In the 1940s, the United States of America went through what is now referred to as the "Red Scare". The Red Scare was a period of time where communism in foreign nations was on the rise, and people were worried that it would spread to America. Communism was, in its most basic definition, a belief that stated that everyone should hold the same social status, and everyone should essentially be the same. During the Red Scare, people were desperate to keep communism from spreading to America. With the Red Scare in mind, why is a shadow of this belief spreading today? Super Smash Bros. is a series of fighting-genre video games released on consoles produced by Nintendo. In the game, the most recognizable Nintendo characters fight each other to build up their damage (measured by percentage) until the opponent is weak enough to knock them off the stage. The first game of the series was an instant hit, having sold almost five million copies worldwide, and became one of the most popular games to ever be released. With a game so popular, though, there will never be a point where the entire fan base will agree on one thing. This has caused problems, sparking a debate often referred to as "casual vs. competitive". The casual berate the competitive community, essentially telling them to "stop having fun".
The conflict began sometime during the reign of the second game of the series, Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is unknown when exactly the conflict began. Melee was popular for competitive play in tournaments, and players began to go above and beyond the skills that people previously saw as "the best". This was done through tactics known as "Advanced Techniques". Advanced Techniques are exactly what they sound like, techniques and strategies used in the higher levels of play. One of the most well-known of these techniques was called "Wavedashing". Melee had a system to dodge the opponent's attacks. In the air, this was done by the player causing their character to move suddenly in a direction of their choosing. Wavedashing was when a player jumped into the air and then immediately air-dodged diagonally into the ground. When done correctly, this created the illusion of suddenly sliding forward with no prior momentum. This tactic was deemed more effective than running due to the fact that the player could then use their normal standing attacks while in motion. Due to the difficulty of using it, casual players cried foul, saying that it was "not fair". However, wavedashing was completely fair. Crying foul to wavedashing is akin to crying foul to sacking the quarterback in American Football; it is a difficult thing to pull off, and has advantages when done correctly. The casual went as far to proclaim wavedashing a "glitch", and said that it was never intended to be in the game. The cries of foul did not stop even after Masahiro Sakurai, the director in charge of the development of all three games in the Super Smash Bros. series stated himself that he was aware of the technique's existence before Melee was released. The debate over wavedashing eventually slowed down, and is no longer a focal point.
Another argument that has recently died down but still exists now is the argument of items. In the Super Smash Bros. series, there are items that randomly appear on the battlefield. These items vary from healing items to weapons. In tournament play, items are banned from use. The casuals believe that this should not be the case; the game is meant to be played with items. This is a false statement. Items make the game unfair. A commonly used example is that a player knocks their opponent of the stage, and then the perfect item to keep them from returning to the stage falls at their feet. This is not a fair occurrence, and is why items are banned from tournament play. If the game is meant to be played with items, why is there the option to turn them off?
One aspect of competitive play that is still heavily debated to this day is the use of tiers. In fighting games, a tier list is a list of the playable characters in the game ordering them from most useful in tournaments to least useful in tournaments. The casual are outraged at the idea of tiers, claiming that the tier list is a proclamation that some characters are completely useless and should never be played. Other casuals argue that all the characters are equal and it all depends on player skill. Both of these arguments are flawed. The tier list is not an absolute ruling of which characters to use. Tony "Gimpyfish" Dennis is widely regarded as one of the best of all the "smashers" in the United States. Gimpyfish's regular character, Bowser, is very low on the Melee tier list, being ranked 23rd out of 26 characters, disproving the argument that the tier list is supposed to be absolute law. The second argument regarding skill of the player is also flawed in regards to the tier list. The tier list is meant to be a measurement when assuming that the two players are both of equal skill. The casual players refuse to accept these facts, however, and continue the argument to this day.
Recently, with the release of the third game of the series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the competitive community felt that they wanted more out of the game. With the advent of the "Homebrew Channel", a system used to run unofficial programs on the Brawl's console of origin, the Wii, it was now possible to go into the game and modify it to be more competitive. The project was dubbed "Brawl+", as the point was to take Brawl, and add to it to make it a better game in the higher levels of play. The casuals could never accept this. The casuals believed Brawl+ to be an attempt to make Brawl into a "Melee 2.0" of sorts. When Brawl was first released, there were complaints from the competitive that, indeed, Brawl was not the same as Melee when it came to tournament play. Some people refused to make the transition to Brawl, as they enjoyed Melee more. Due to this, the casuals believed that Brawl+ was supposed to essentially make Melee, but with more characters and better graphics. Some went as far to claim that Brawl+ added wavedashing back into the game, which was removed from Brawl. These are all false arguments. Brawl+ was not meant to make Brawl more like Melee. The fact that Brawl+ resembles Melee is merely a coincidence. The purpose of Brawl+ is to make slight modifications such as the amount of damage that certain attacks do, and other modifications here and there to balance the game, thus making the aforementioned tier list less absolute. Another false argument is that Brawl+ adds wavedashing back into the game. While a code to add wavedashing to Brawl does exist, it is rarely used for Brawl+. Brawl+ is not Melee 2.0. Brawl+ is Brawl+.
The final, and most jarring argument used by the casuals is commonly dubbed the "Stop Having Fun Guys" argument. It is a common misconception that the competitive community is made up of elitists that believe their way is the only correct way to play, and those who do not play this way are "noobs" ("noob" is a common derogatory slang term used to describe people with little experience). This argument is a complete fabrication, and a lie. The casuals believe that it was the competitive that fired the first shot in this argument and told them that playing at the lower levels was ridiculous, and the only way to play was "Fox only", Fox being the highest character on the Melee tier list, "no items", and "Final Destination", with Final Destination being the battlefield with the least amount of unfair elements, thus widely being regarded as the most neutral battlefield. In reality, it was the casuals that fired the first shot. It is a vast minority of the competitive community that believes in "No items, Fox only, Final Destination" being the only way to play. The casual, however, believe that competitive play is just that, and that the competitive are trying to impose their play-style onto everyone, when the reverse was true. The competitive welcome new members to their group, but never actively try to force people in. In the end, the casual are exactly what they claim the competitive are.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller was written as an allegory to the Red Scare. The play takes place during the Salem Witch Trials, and shows the horrors of the citizens of the puritan town of Salem turning against each other and killing each other, believing them to be witches. Today, the Super Smash Bros. community has turned into a witch hunt. The competitive community is mercilessly labeled as "bad", and is vilified by the casual community, despite only trying to play the game the way that they want to.
