that's cool that sfl likes to maximize their chance to win, not gonna blast them on that.
However, maximizing win probability in brawl terms, in my opinion, kills the aspect of playing this game to learn. I believe that people that play this game love the game and have fun if they pursue it competitively. Especially brawl, considering how poor this game is. When playing to learn becomes less of an importance to playing to win, that's when the community starts dying.
Believe it or not, some people actually play to learn, myself being one of them. It reflects in my "reckless" playstyle as well. I emphasize reckless because it's not so much as reckless as i have control over what i'm doing and i have a plan that i go through every match. Sure i want to win, everyone does. No one wants to lose. But when that desire to win overrides my playing to learn and forces me to play to win or even not to lose, at that point i know i no longer have fun with the game. The game, which we sometimes seem to forget what it is, has now become a job; a chore; a responsibility.
Now, one may bring up how is maximizing win probability any different in other games. This is subject for another discussion but i would like to bring up a conversation with chris g, a top mvc3 and 3s player and competent player in ssfiv as well. He entered brawl at ceo, for what reason i don't know. He didn't do so well either and i engaged him to see why he entered. What came from just asking him a simple question to why he entered became a lengthy conversation on his thoughts of the game and how it compares with some other games. He did not enjoy playing brawl but it wasn't brawl he was mad about. It was how the players played against him. I watched all his matches and he played with a surprising amount of understanding. Sure, he doesn't play the game competitively (he has played it before) so not everything he said was taken to heart but players camping him with projectiles and not approaching what is a slow character (he plays ike at a lower level, we all know how good ike can be with hard work but that's beside the point) was very frustrating for him. He even stated that mvc3, the game in which he made his mark, is a scrubby game but you can work around it despite it's flaws. The more skilled player wins more often than not in that game as opposed to brawl and i agreed with him on that.
He didn't have to talk to me about his frustration with the game but he did and my respect for him grew tremendously. I begin to wonder why i continue to play this game when i share the same overall sentiment as he does. The difference is the time i put into this game. I don't want to make that time go to waste. I'm willing to deal with what i believe is a poor mindset for community growth for the betterment of myself and anyone who wants to help me along the way. With that said, i can not and will not speak for anyone else.
I mean no ill will in this post but that post just struck a nerve in me.