Trust Your Instincts

[t!MmY]

"Trust Your Instincts"
You may remember this advice given to you by your father James McCloud, that is, if you were Fox McCloud on his way to destroying Andross and bringing peace to the Lylat system. If you are not Fox McCloud, then maybe you remember it from playing the classic game Star Fox 64. Either way, believe it or not, this advice can be applied to your Smash game!

How many times have you been playing an intense match and knew exactly what to do against an opponent only to cast the thought away and then miss the opportunity or - worse yet - end up taking damage or losing a stock because of your doubt? Had you trusted your instincts things would have turned out exactly the way you predicted!

There's a little more to this advice than simple faith, so let's go over a few things.

With Age Comes Wisdom
If you just knew someone was going to do something before they did it, this is called prediction. Predicting future actions is not some sort of mystic power or 'extra sensory' ability, especially in a video game. If you've played against someone a lot then you're likely to already know how they're going to react in a specific situation. Most players act on impulse and will throw out a given move in a given situation, and most will do it even after already being punished just prior. In this instance, you have a big advantage when you just do whatever comes naturally - keep punishing your opponent until they decide to change their tactics.

There are many options someone can take in a given situation, so you really have to know what your opponent is doing. What you do against your friend that you've played a whole lot can't usually be thrown out at any given opponent and expected to work. It is because of this that if you play a wide variety of people you start to be able to predict a variety of actions. When you get to a point where you can predict any given opponent without thought, that is when you can play instinctively.

Confidence vs Doubt
If you're going to do something, do it. You're much more likely to succeed at your attempts if you banish all doubt from your mind. If it doesn't work out don't sweat it, take it as a learning lesson and move on. Do not say to yourself "I knew I shouldn't have done that!" If you knew not to do it, then don't do it.

Doubt as an Asset
If you have time to doubt, then you have time to think. If you have time to think, then the moment to act is already gone. You will not have time to confirm that what you are going to do is going to work. Therefore, if you have any doubt or hesitation recognize it as a signal to delay your attempt until the doubt is cleared.

Knowing and Acting
If you know you should be doing something, then you should already be doing it. This is known as 'mushin' in Zen teaching. It is truth in motion. It is intent in action. Something that is false cannot be acted upon, so do not force yourself to take false action.

To know is to do.

This article has been reposted, originally appearing in "t1mmy's Kirby Tip of the Moment" #21.

 

[Kawaii Poyo]

Hmm just wondering, since it does have to do with my instincts vs other peoples' opinions. If I just lose a game or have a set going to game 3, do you think I should ask someone watching or just decide that myself?

Examples:

At SKTAR game 3 in one of my pools sets against a Fox/MK (not saying names anymore cause people have been namesearching all my stuff) I had lost a close game 1 to his Fox vs MK, game 2 I took him to Yoshi's and he changed to MK and I 2-stocked him in the ditto. Game 3, I'm not sure who to go cause I'm weary of the Fox that beat my MK game 1. My brother is watching the set though, so he tells me to go Kirby, so I do, my opponent stays MK and I get a nice 2-stock.

Although sometimes other peoples' decisions haven't always worked out for me. Cause at SKTAR in bracket, I played a Snake which also went to game 3 (I always go MK vs Snake, it's my most confident match-up, so no Kirby here, but I think the concept of the decision making you're talking about in this thread applies to the game in general) and I asked someone what to ban (I was thinking about either Battlefield cause I'm generally bad there or FD, cause Snake vs MK is pretty good there) and they told me PS1, a stage I don't actually have problems in MK vs Snake at, but I banned it anyway cause I was told to. I lose game 3 by a 1-stock around 30% on FD, so game 3 wasn't close and I was really regetting not banning FD.

So yeah, those are two examples that can come to my head about people telling me what to do, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Granted the advice to Kirby game 3 was from my brother, so he understands how I play/what it'll work good against players better than others and the PS1 advice was from a player from my state, but I haven't really played him that often outside of bracket matches.

So yeah, t1mmy, can you give me your thoughts on this? Cause I definitely think character choices, bans and CP choice can definitely be decisions affected by instinct.

 

[t!MmY]

The article was written with 'in-game' actions in mind, the fast-paced decision making that takes place on a moment to moment basis within a match. We can, however, still look at how it might apply to other aspects of the game, such as the decision making choices taking place between rounds.

Hmm just wondering, since it does have to do with my instincts vs other peoples' opinions. If I just lose a game or have a set going to game 3, do you think I should ask someone watching or just decide that myself?

Let's take a look at the choices you've provided:
1) Ask someone
2) Decide [for] myself

Since the article is about doubt and confidence, let us see how it applies to the above choices. Do you feel that someone who asks another for an answer is doing so because of confidence in their actions, or would it be more likely that it is because they have doubt in their own judgement?

In your first example, you were given advice by your brother to use Kirby in round 3. It was your choice to heed the advice or not, but what we are looking at is doubt vs confidence. Did you doubt your own decision in the matter? Did you feel more confident in your brother's assessment of the situation? These are the details that we are dealing with, and we cannot go much further without the answers.

In the second example, at SKTAR, you state that you asked someone what to ban. Was this because you doubted your own judgement? If you know the match-up, and you know what stages you do better on and those you do worse on, then perhaps this is the time to bolster your confidence and make the choice for yourself. Your confidence will follow you into the game and you it will benefit your game more this way.

The regret you felt for not banning FD was the "I told you so" that you hear when you know you should have trusted your instincts. You knew the player giving you the advice was not so familiar with your playstyle or your stage preference. Your instincts kicked in saying "Don't ban PS1, ban BF or FD". So go back and think about why you made your ban PS1. What were the thoughts going through your mind? How would you rate your level of confidence in the decision? You'll find that you already know the answers instinctively.

 

[MikeKirby]

Been meaning to get around to reading this. Glad I did! Good read! I should really visit the Kirby AiB boards, hah!